Hundreds of cinemas across the UK will offer customers £3 tickets this weekend (September 3) as part of a new National Cinema Day celebration.

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More than 600 cinemas across the country including major chains and smaller independent venues will offer the cut-price tickets to celebrate the occasion.

The event comes from industry body Cinema First alongside the Film Distributors’ Association and the UK Cinema Association.

Cinema First chair Iain Jacob said: “There seems no better time than now to celebrate UK cinema-going, one of the nation’s favourite out-of-home leisure activities. Coming off the back of a very strong summer for the sector and looking forward to further film highlights over the rest of the year, we wanted to give everyone a chance to enjoy the big screen experience.

“While all the evidence confirms that cinema-going is amongst the most low-cost, best value-for-money leisure opportunities, we also of course recognise that there are significant impacts on household finances, brought about by the current cost of living crisis and wanted to do our bit to make a trip to the cinema even more affordable for the whole family. We look forward to National Cinema Day being a huge success.”

Find a full list of all cinemas participating in the first National Cinema Day here.

Breaking News…Cinema First's inaugural National Cinema Day is here on Sept 3rd. Fabulous cinema experience at £3 a ticket! @LoveCinemaUK #NationalCinemaDay pic.twitter.com/aqdIwND3KM

— iain jacob (@iainjacob) August 28, 2022

Earlier this month it was revealed that Cineworld, the world’s second-largest cinema chain, was preparing to file for bankruptcy after it failed to recover quickly enough from the impact of the COVID pandemic.

The London-listed company, which operates 751 sites in 10 countries including the Cineworld and Picturehouse chains in the UK, ran up debt of more than £4billion ($4.8billion) after its cinemas were closed during the global health crisis.

News of the chain’s bankruptcy, as first reported in The Wall Street Journal, has contributed to its share price dropping from 20p to 2p. Before COVID it was trading at £1.97.

The group said that it was in “active discussions with various stakeholders” and was evaluating strategic options to obtain additional liquidity and potentially restructure its balance sheet to reduce debt.

A statement said further: “Despite a gradual recovery of demand since reopening in April 2021, recent admission levels have been below expectations.

“These lower levels of admissions are due to a limited film slate that is anticipated to continue until November 2022 and are expected to negatively impact trading and the group’s liquidity position in the near term.”

Cineworld is expected to file a chapter 11 petition in the US and is considering insolvency proceedings in the UK.