At €4 a ticket, it would have been silly to not go to the cinema on National Cinema Day, and Irish audiences agreed - and broke records in the process.
Figures released this morning confirmed that approximately 217,000 people across Ireland attended the cinema on Saturday September 4th for National Cinema Day, an impressive 8.5% increase over last year’s inaugural National Cinema Day.
Most cinemas reported sold out shows throughout the day, with many venues having their busiest single day in their history as audiences attended a diverse mix of current and recent film releases as well as much-loved classics.
Some of the best-performing titles on the day included Denzel Washington's 'The Equalizer 3', 'Ballywalter' starring Patrick Kielty and Seana Kerslake, 'Apocalypse Clown' and 'Tarrac', with audiences making the most of the discounted tickets and flocking to summer favourites 'Barbie' and 'Oppenheimer'.
National Cinema Day was developed by the wider Irish film industry and mirrored similar initiatives taking place all across the world, including the UK, US and others, and was supported this year by Screen Ireland.
Welcoming the success of the event, Mark Doherty, Managing Director, Century Cinemas Letterkenny, said "Approximately 217,000admissions is one of the biggest cinema-going days ever in Ireland - what a celebration of cinema!
"National Cinema Day was an incredible success all over Ireland with admission records smashed, most shows sold out and an amazing atmosphere in every cinema. Hardworking cinema staff and management all over the country deserve huge thanks for making it such a wonderful occasion, and of course we want to say a huge thank you to audiences who came out to the big screen in their thousands."
Fingers crossed we get a National Cinema Day 2024, and with these numbers, they'd be silly not to.
