$3 Movies All Day Saturday In Santee For National Cinema Day

SANTEE, CA — To beat the heat this weekend, San Diegans may be enticed by a sweet deal offered by movie theaters county-wide.

Taking in a movie Saturday, Sept. 3, in Santee will cost only a fraction of what it usually does at theaters participating in “National Cinema Day,” an effort to lure movie lovers back to the theater to see a film and revive flat box office sales.

For Santee residents, the nearest participating theater is Regal Parkway Plaza in El Cajon.

As many as 3,000 participating theaters nationwide, including those owned by Regal, AMC, Cinemark, Fridley and other chains, will knock down ticket prices to as low as $3 as part of the effort, an initiative of the National Association of Theatre Owners’ nonprofit Cinema Foundation

Participating theaters in San Diego County include:

• AMC Chula Vista 10
• AMC DINE-IN Poway 10
• AMC Fashion Valley 18
• AMC La Jolla 12
• AMC Mission Valley
• AMC Otay Ranch 12
• AMC Palm Promenade
• AMC Plaza Bonita 14
• AMC UTC 14
• Cinepolis Del Mar
• Cinepolis La Costa Town Square
• Cinepolis La Costa Paseo Real
• Cinepolis Vista
• Landmark Hillcrest Cinemas
• Regal Edwards Mira Mesa IMAX & RPX
• Regal Parkway Plaza
• Regal Edwards Rancho San Diego
• Regal Rancho Del Rey
• Regal Cinemas Escondido Stadium 16 IMAX
• Regal Edwards San Marcos
• Regal Oceanside
• Regal Carlsbad
• River Village Cinema Is D’place
• UltraStar Mission Valley at Hazard Center

Participating theaters are offering the $3 tickets for every showing on Saturday, and in all formats.

Movie theaters nationwide were shuttered for months during the COVID-19 pandemic, but came back this summer to see box office activity return to near normal activity with releases such as “Top Gun: Maverick,” “Minions: Rise of Gru,” “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" and “Jurassic World Dominion.”

Movie ticket sales are about 20 percent less than in pre-pandemic 2019, but there have been about 30 percent fewer releases this year, The Associated Press reported.

“After this summer’s record-breaking return to cinemas, we wanted to do something to celebrate moviegoing,” Cinema Foundation president Jackie Brenneman said in a statement. “We’re doing it by offering a ‘thank you’ to the moviegoers that made this summer happen, and by offering an extra enticement for those who haven’t made it back yet.”

Before the movie begins, theatergoers will see a reel of upcoming releases from A24, Amazon Studios, Disney, Focus Features, Lionsgate, Neon, Paramount, Sony Pictures Classics, Sony, United Artists Releasing, Universal and Warner Bros.

National Cinema Day could become an annual event. Other countries have experimented with cheap movie tickets to lure people to their local movie houses, but this is the first time such an endeavor has been attempted in the United States, according to the AP.