People has taken the surprise move of slashing its cover price in half, to $2.99, for the June 5 issue now on newsstands — the one with Pippa Middleton’s wedding on the cover.

The surprise move is aimed at capturing more readers with the tease of a royal-related wedding on the cover.

Single-copy sales of celebrity magazines like People have been sagging for years and Time Inc. brass hoped the price cut could help reverse the trend.

A second, single-issue price cut is planned for later in the year, a company spokesperson said.

The price cut makes People less expensive than In Touch and Life & Style, which cost $3.99, Star and OK!, which go for $5.99, and Us Weekly, which sells for $4.99.

People, which in its glory days was selling an average of 1.4 million copies a week on newsstands, was selling an average of 521,416 single-copy issues for the six months ended Dec. 31, according to the Alliance for Audited Media.

People would have to sell 900,000 single-issue copies of the current issue to break even on the price cut, one source estimated.