The summer of 2023 will likely be remembered as the season where audience members came back to the movies. It actually began when The Super Mario Bros. Movie took off at the box office, becoming the first movie this year to cross the $1 billion mark. That movie soon would be joined by Greta Gerwig’s Barbie, which stars Margot Robbie as the titular hero and continues to dominate at the box office, setting all sorts of miraculous records for Warner Bros. While reflecting on the push of moviegoers returning to multiplexes in droves, NATO Executive Vice President and General Counsel Jackie Brenneman compared the sensation around Barbie to another powerhouse blonde who took America by storm this summer… Taylor Swift.
Jackie Brenneman appeared on CinemaBlend’s official podcast ReelBlend to promote the upcoming National Cinema Day, which is scheduled for Sunday, August 27th. On that day, discounted admissions for all movies at participating U.S. theaters in all formats (including Premium Large Format screens) will be no more than $4. This means you can catch Barbie, Oppenheimer, Blue Beetle or the new release of Gran Turismo, in 4DX and IMAX, all for $4 a ticket. It will be a remarkable celebration of the moviegoing experience. And it reminded Brenneman of the community sensation that rallied around every stop on Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour this past summer. As Brenneman explained:
A lot of people that came to Barbie hadn't been (to the movies) in a while. I think that's wonderful. But when you combine Barbie and Oppenheimer, what it also demonstrates in a really strong way for the first time in modern moviegoing (history) is the impact of creating a community online and then having that community online translate in real life. We all want to feel like we're part of something. We want to feel like we're in a community, and everyone knew what the homework was. They knew the assignment. They knew they were supposed to come in pink. They knew you were supposed to pose in the Barbie box. And we saw this with Taylor Swift, right? I did not go to a Taylor Swift concert. … But I know that if you go to a Taylor Swift concert, you wear friendship bracelets. That's what you do. And I think people are really figuring out how to show that they're part of the story online and then in real life. And I think we have a lot to learn from that.
I can tell you this is true from experience, and I’m certain so many people reading this far can attest to it, as well. When we saw Barbie over opening weekend, I watched people exit the theater, all wearing pink, and waited in line to take their picture in a life-sized Barbie box, likely to share on social and report to their followers that they’d seen the movie. Like Jackie Brenneman says, they wanted to show that they had been part of a community.
And moviegoers will have the opportunity to feel like they are part of the community again by participating in National Cinema Day, a celebration that was created last year, but this year will occur on a weekend and will feature a 200 percent increase in available upcoming 2023 movies. To buy tickets or see a list of participating theaters, visit NationalCinemaDay.org, and your local movie theater’s website or app. And enjoy the savings, which are always appreciated by people looking to go to the movies.
