The Cinema Foundation, the nonprofit organization from the National Association of Theatre Owners, will expand its successful National Cinema Day campaign to four special events hosted by movie theaters nationwide, including the first-ever showcase of sneak peek footage shown at CinemaCon in April.
The quarterly events will begin with the return of National Popcorn Day on Jan. 19, with thousands of theaters nationwide offering discounts and other promotions such as unlimited popcorn refills. The event will take place on the opening weekend of Universal/Blumhouse’s “Wolf Man” and Sony/TriStar’s “One of Them Days.”
Then, on April 19, NATO will host Sneak Peek Saturday, inviting moviegoers to a showcase of behind-the-scenes featurettes and sneak peek footage from upcoming summer and holiday films that will have first been shown at CinemaCon, NATO’s annual trade show for movie theater owners.
The Cinema Foundation will also host “Date Night @ The Movies” on Aug. 19 and “Family Day @ The Movies” on Nov. 9, with more details on those events to come later in the new year.
“The Cinema Foundation is committed to this year-long campaign by offering exhibitors opportunities to engage with their communities in fun and exciting ways,” Bryan Braunlich, executive director of The Cinema Foundation, said. “This is the result of months of hard work and collaboration among our industry partners, and we cannot wait to invite moviegoers across the country to participate in what will be continued enjoyment at the movies.”
The Cinema Foundation was established in 2022 by NATO as a nonprofit dedicated to supporting the movie theater industry at a time when it has been beset by multiple setbacks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the recent Hollywood strikes, both of which led to release slate delays that lasted well after theaters reopened after a year of closures in spring 2021.
