Local cinemas to offer €4 tickets for National Cinema Day

This Saturday IMC Cinema Athlone and Omniplex Cinema Ballinasloe will celebrate National Cinema Day with admission tickets at participating cinemas reduced to just €4 including Premium seats, screens and 3D screenings. The 2023 initiative is supported by Screen Ireland.

Last year’s National Cinema Day was a huge success in Ireland, with over 200,000 admissions for that single day, making it the biggest cinema-going day of the year. The industry is looking forward to welcoming even more visitors to the big screen for National Cinema Day 2023.

Approximately 99% of cinemas in the Republic of Ireland will participate in this initiative, offering a wide variety of new and recent releases for audiences to enjoy, including family favourites that all the family can enjoy as a treat as schools reopen. Cinemas in every county in the Republic of Ireland are participating, meaning easy access for audiences to big screen entertainment in their home county.

The highest grossing Irish filmmaker at the global box office this year with Evil Dead Rise, Lee Cronin, said: "There's nothing like the magic of going to the movies. The shared communal experience of enjoying films as they were meant to be seen, on the big screen with a captive audience, is one of my favourite things to do. I'm really looking forward to celebrating National Cinema Day by catching as many films as I can, and re-watching some of the great movies I've already enjoyed at the cinema this year."

Screen Ireland is the official supporter of National Cinema Day 2023. Chief Executive of Screen Ireland, Désirée Finnegan, commented:

“Screen Ireland is proud to support National Cinema Day this year. We join with the wider industry in thanking audiences for their continued support of Irish film and loyal cinema-going. The support from Irish audiences has made the incredible success of Irish film in the past year possible. We’re delighted to promote the Irish films available to choose from as part of this initiative and we hope audiences around the country will have a wonderful experience connecting with those stories on the big screen.”

Director of Omniplex Cinemas, Mark Anderson, added: "We’re thrilled to welcome Screen Ireland on board as supporter of National Cinema Day this year. Cinema has been much loved in Irish society for over a century and we are delighted, alongside most of the other cinemas in the country, to participate in National Cinema Day by offering €4 tickets for all shows, all day, including new releases. It is important for the industry to celebrate cinema and what better way to do that than by enjoying a movie or two on the 2nd of September. There will be something for everyone to enjoy. See you on Saturday, and remember, book early to make sure you get to the movie of your choice!”

Off the back of a blockbuster summer and the massive popularity of both Barbie and Oppenheimer, the cinema industry in Ireland has united to celebrate the ritual of cinema-going and the important place it has in Irish life. For many years, Ireland has had the highest cinema attendance per capita in Europe.

The Republic of Ireland also has the highest screen density per capita of any European country, with an average of one cinema screen per 10,000 people, demonstrating the Irish public’s love of cinema.

Tickets can be purchased through the websites of participating cinemas, and at the box office. Audiences are advised to check local cinema listings and can also visit www.cinemaday.ie as a central online location to check out what’s screening at their local cinema.

Some of the movies showing include Irish titles such as Ballywalter, starring Patrick Kielty, which will have special previews on the day, along with Tarrac which will also have special previews on September 2nd. Irish comedy Apocalypse Clown opens in cinemas on the weekend of National Cinema Day. Popular titles will also continue to screen on the day, including The Equalizer 3; The Blackening; Passages; Barbie; Oppenheimer; The Meg 2: The Trench; Theater Camp; Gran Turismo; Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem; Blue Beetle; Strays and Haunted Mansion.