Regal Offering $1 Family Movies All Summer Long

James Rolfe recently did an excellent piece about everything wrong with big-chain theaters lately. One of his chief complaints, and he’s hardly alone on this, was that everything is way overpriced for what you actually get. I’m fortunate enough to live in a big city with several independent, one-screen, non-Conglom-O theaters that show new movies for just $10 a head ($5 on Tuesdays!) and there is NO ASSIGNED SEATING! But if you aren’t that lucky….

In what feels like an open acknowledgement of their own crapitude, Regal Cinemas is offering $1 movies aimed at family audiences all throughout the summer. That price doesn’t just cover the kids…Mom and Pop can get in for a buck as well. “Then they’ll get us on the refreshments,” you say…no, the popcorn and soda pop will be discounted too. What it comes down to is that Monday through Thursday at 11 AM are slow hours for Regal, and they might as well use it on an experiment to get people to fall in love with movie-going again.

There will be two different $! movies offered each week. We perceive no pattern here — offerings range from the brand-new to the age-old, from massive hits (The Wild Robot) to outright flops (Animal Farm). The only common thread is that most are animated, but then the final pair (The Sandlot and Muppet Treasure Island) break the chain.

Regal Summer Movie Express starts with KPop Demon Hunters (sing-along version) and The Wild Robot on June 15 through June 18.

• KPop Demon Hunters (June 15-18)
• The Wild Robot (June 15-18)
• The Bad Guys 2 (June 22-25)
• The Garfield Movie (June 22-25)
• A Minecraft Movie (June 29-July 2)
• Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (June 29-July 2)
• Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (July 6-9)
• How to Train Your Dragon (July 6-9)
• Scoob! (July 13-16)
• The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants (July 20-23)
• Animal Farm (July 20-23)
• Paddington in Peru (July 27-30)
• Dog Man (July 27-30)
• Charlie the Wonderdog (August 3-6)
• Despicable Me 4 (August 3-6)
• The Sandlot (August 10-13)
• Muppet Treasure Island​​​​​​​ (August 10-13)