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In this photograph taken on June 17, 2025, a man looks at a film poster, Love Guru, featuring Pakistani actress Mahira Khan, outside a cineplex in Lahore. While conflict raged between the powerful militaries of India and Pakistan, a battle was also fought on the cultural front lines despite years of shared love for films and music. With Pakistan producing just a handful of movies each year under strict censorship rules, Bollywood has always proven popular among viewers. Photo by ARIF ALI/AFP via Getty Images

Dhaka — Star Cineplex is marking its 22nd anniversary today with a one-day ticket offer that doubles a counter purchase. Buy one ticket at any branch and a second ticket is free, for any film and any show screening on Thursday. The chain says the promotion is valid only on 8 October, and only when tickets are bought directly at the counter. Online bookings do not qualify.

The company has added a second anniversary hook. Viewers can try to win a free movie voucher by sharing a favourite memory of watching a film at Star Cineplex on the chain's official Facebook page. Further instructions are posted there.

Spokesperson Mesbah Uddin Ahmed used the anniversary to thank audiences rather than talk only about the discount. "This journey has undoubtedly been a joyful one," he said. "Many new developments come with time, but their true value is realised when people embrace them. The love of our audiences has been the driving force behind Star Cineplex's success. We are immensely grateful to them for being part of this journey."

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He also tied the celebration to the health of local cinema. "Audiences are always eager to watch good films. Rather than relying solely on foreign productions, we want quality films to be made regularly in our country. We hope to see cinema halls consistently filled with audiences eager to watch Bangladeshi films."

That hope sits against a longer change in how people in Bangladesh go to the movies. Star Cineplex opened on 8 October 2004 as the country's first multiplex. Before that, most filmgoing still meant single-screen halls. The new format offered larger auditoriums, modern sound and a cleaner, more controlled viewing space, and it helped bring families back into cinemas together. Alongside Bangladeshi titles, the chain began screening Hollywood films on their international release dates, so Dhaka audiences no longer had to wait for a delayed local print.

Demand has often run ahead of the box office window. For anticipated releases, moviegoers have queued from early morning, and tickets for some titles have sold out online as much as a week before the first screening. Those rushes are part of why a one-day counter offer is likely to draw crowds today: the deal applies across every branch and every show, but it disappears at the end of Thursday.

The network is now wider than the single hall that opened in 2004. Star Cineplex runs branches at Bashundhara City Shopping Mall, Shimanto Shambhar in Dhanmondi, SKS Tower in Mohakhali, the Military Museum, Sony Square in Mirpur and Centrepoint in Uttara. It also has a hall at Shimanto Tower in Narayanganj, and two in Chattogram, at Bali Arcade and Finlay Square. The company says preparations are under way to open branches in Bogura and Rajshahi this year, with further sites in Dhaka also being discussed.

For a chain that built its name on a new kind of night out, the anniversary offer is simple: one paid ticket, one free, counters only, today only. Whether the halls fill with local films or imported ones, the chain's own message is that the next 22 years depend less on the discount than on how often Bangladeshi audiences still choose to leave home for a screen.
Details of the offer come from a Star Cineplex press release, as reported by The Daily Star and The Times of Bangladesh.

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