The $3 promotion, according to Money Magazine, was announced Aug. 28 by the Cinema Foundation, a nonprofit branch of the National Association of Theater Owners. Aiming to boost in-person attendance in the streaming era, it allows moviegoers to enjoy discounted admission capped at $3 on Saturday at more than 3,000 participating theaters.

However, if you still like staying at home, just want to hold on to a movie for more than one viewing, or maybe want to see an oldie or a foreign film, people should visit the basement of the Orem City Library. They, too, will be celebrating National Cinema Day.

While many Orem residents may be familiar with the Orem Library offerings, traversing to the basement is not always on the “visit the library” list. The basement houses nearly 35,000 movies in DVD, Blu-ray and 4K formats and may be rented for $1 per movie a week. Some multi disc shows are a bit more.

“The media department has been described as the crown jewel of the Orem Library’s collection on many occasions, and I agree wholeheartedly. It’s a treasure trove of movie titles and an incredible resource for our patrons,” said Charlene Crozier, library director.

Isaac Hale, Daily Herald file photo

Before tax payers get concerned their money may be going to movie titles they don’t approve of, Richard Downey, assistant librarian, noted that movies are purchased from rental fees collected, not tax dollars.

“In the course of my life I can remember seeing roughly 15,000 movies. Part of that was during film school where I was watching 1,000 movies a year,” Downey said. “Our collection philosophy has always been to build the breadth and the depth of the collection rather than buying 50 copies of the latest new release.”

Weekends and evenings are the busiest times for checking out the movies, music and audio books. Some items in the collection are the more difficult-to-find titles, according to Downey, but patrons re welcome to suggest additional titles for acquisition.

“My family loves to put together a varied list of movies that we haven’t seen in a long time and put the library collection to the test. So far, they’ve had every title we’ve wanted from old westerns to my favorite romantic comedies, and watching the films has been a lot of fun. We’ve enjoyed some old TV series as well,” Crozier added.

There is no one who knows that collection like Downey. He has worked for the library for 31 years and developed an instinct for recommending the right movies for the right patrons. For example, Downey says, the foreign language films are consistently popular with the local college students taking language courses.

The movie collection started with VHS tapes and later transitioned to discs as the formats changed. In addition to movies, the library offers music and audiobooks in the same area in the basement.

“We appreciate the community’s support of the media collection. We do charge a small fee to rent our feature films ($1 for a week), but that rental revenue is invested back into the collection, allowing us to build and grow an outstanding selection for many decades,” Crozier said. “Those who aren’t familiar with the collection ask me if the DVDs are still being checked out, and they are. We circulated almost 57,000 DVDs, Blu-rays and even some 4K titles in 2021, and we’re showing an increase in circulation so far in 2022.”

The library is in the process of using grant funds to acquire portable DVD players that patrons can check out, according to Crozier.

“One of my favorite things is to hear of patrons sharing their favorite movies with their kids and grandkids, and the library can be a great resource for locating a cherished favorite or a hard-to-find movie,” she said. “Come in and enjoy the lost art of browsing for a movie title.”

In the meantime, Saturday could be a big day at the library as they celebrate National Cinema Day.

But for people who want the grandeur of the cinema and the big screen paired with a bucket of popcorn, soda and candy, Saturday is $3 ticket day throughout the county and the country.

All Cinemark theaters, Larry Miller Cineplex locations, AMC, Regal and many independents like the SCERA Theaters in Orem are all having $3 ticket day Saturday.