Several Wyoming movie theaters will be selling tickets for $3 on Saturday, Sept. 3 as part of their participation in National Cinema Day, a special nationwide promotion sponsored by the non-profit Cinema Foundation. The hope is to increase theater ticket sales, which dramatically decreased during the pandemic.
“So, it’s been pretty slow the last few weeks but I’m hoping this brings extra people in,” said Melissa Cogan, manager of the six-screen Foothills Theatres in Gillette, which will be participating. “You know, movies can be expensive, and we understand that, so maybe that three-dollar ticket will bring a few extras in.”
Cogan said that they’ve had a very good summer attendance-wise with popular movies such as Top Gun: Maverick driving people to the big screen. This year’s ticket sales are in line with pre-pandemic attendance after a disastrous 2020 and 2021.
“Since about December, well even November really of last year, is when we started to see some light at the end of the tunnel from COVID,” she explained. “We really had a great summer with Top Gun and Thor and a combination of other movies, but it just kind of just celebrate[s] just being in the theater back where we used to be, and hopefully we can stay there.”
Cogan said she doesn’t have any idea of how many moviegoers will show up but is optimistic that it will be a good turnout.
The multi-screen theater in Sheridan is also participating in the National Cinema Day promotion.
“I think it’ll be a lot more than we have been [for attendance] and I think it’ll be a pretty busy weekend for us,” said Kendra Tanner, manager of the six-screen Centennial Theaters. “I am hopeful.”
Overall, she said this year’s attendance figures are still lagging from where they were pre-pandemic, but there are positive signs as more people start to fill theaters once again.
“I think we're finally getting back into it with the release of more popular movies like the Marvel movies [that] are starting to come out,” she said. “People are wanting to watch those and big movies, like Top Gun, has been really popular for us because I think it's a lot of nostalgia, and just a good movie overall. And they did it really well. So, people have been wanting to like see movies like those.”
The price of movie tickets has steadily increased over the years. The last time that a regular admission ticket cost $3.00 was in the early 1980s. National Cinema Day is the first large-scale promotion of its kind.
Other participating theaters in the state include those in Casper, Cheyenne, Laramie, Rock Springs, Evanston, and Jackson.
