Hongkongers queued up at cinemas and major movie ticket sites crashed around midday as tickets for "Cinema Day" went on sale on Wednesday.

On Sunday, moviegoers can get discount tickets for just HK$30 as part of the "Happy Hong Kong" campaign to boost consumption and promote tourism.

At one point, nearly 20,000 people were queuing up on the Broadway Circuit website, while the MCL Cinemas website said the wait could be more than one hour.

At a cinema in Kowloon Tong, university student Gloria hoped to see more of these promotions in future.

"Because it's really cheap. It's like 50 [percent] discount and I think it's a good time to relax before exams. I think it's good to have more discounts like this because it will attract more customers to buy movie tickets," she said.

Mrs Li told RTHK the movie discount was a chance to spend more time with her loved ones.

"It's good. It's cheap and I just want to spend time with my family together. I bought two [tickets] and I will take my kid under three years old [to the movies]," she said.

However, some people told RTHK the discount was not really attractive due to the limited options at cinemas and the popularity of online streaming services.