Andrew Heinzman
Most major theaters in the United States will offer tickets for just $3 on September 3rd. This nationwide discount is in observance of National Cinema Day—a made-up holiday that just happens to fall on Labor Day Weekend, a historically slow weekend for theaters.
Clearly, National Cinema Day presents a cheap opportunity to watch a movie with your family. If you go in before noon, you’ll probably find a comfortable seat without a big crowd.
But this discount shows that movie theaters are still in the wrong mindset. Instead of fixing key problems, they insist that poor attendance is due to some kind of “forgetfulness;” if people would just visit the movie theater, they’d remember how much they love the movie theater!
A one-day discount may encourage people to visit the movies for the first time in two years. But it will not solve theaters’ biggest problems—high prices, sub-par video and audio equipment, boring movies, inattentive crowds, convoluted rewards programs, and direct-to-streaming releases.
We hope that everyone enjoys their Labor Day Weekend and National Cinema Day. But we’re not going back to the theaters.
Source: Associated Press
