Miss the cinema but it feels too extravagant to go now

[paddleboardingmum]

Anyone else? I used to go to the cinema a lot. But having to watch the budget and it's just so much. Such a shame really.

My local cinema is £6 (London). I think it’s good value for a night out. I bring my own drinks and snacks (including a mini bottle of wine decanted into a water bottle to keep cold).

An old cinema near us has just reopened as an independent. It's fabulous! A year's family membership for £30 and then it's £4 per ticket. I'm going with DH tonorrow and a friend on Sunday.

Ended up saving up and getting myself a projector at home, it’s paid for itself but also I love not having to deal with bad behaviour (phones on, talking etc)

First direct customers have half price cineworld, o2 priority 2 for £9. I never pay full price

depending on budget obviously but my local - very nice - cinema cost £4.50 and we’re not rural. if i go to vue it’s 8.99

the cinema costs £6 for me. Has your local cinema got any offers on or 2 for 1 tickets? I love the cinema.

I go all the time, but where I am (not the UK), we can buy an unlimited monthly pass. It's my luxury. I don't even always buy or bring snacks. This week I watched two films on the same day. Bliss.

A cinema a little away from us has a Wednesday night deal. Myself and a friend split a medium popcorn, but a drink each and sneak in sweets! (We’re mid 40s btw)

£5.50 at our local odeon. £5 if you sign up for the free membership with 10% off on a monday.

I take my son regularly… if we’re doing a big treat it’s odeon luxe. £10

compared to cineworld who charge like £15 a ticket that’s a bargain

Ps there’s also a kids club so cheap in on a Sunday morning for kids

I would really recommend a club Lloyds account. I've had one for years and love it.

• You can choose a benefit with one of the options being 6 free cinema tickets (you can choose odeon or vue). I always go for this and on odeon you even get the nice premium seats/3d movies etc - I don't know about vue as odeon is my local!
• Another option is free Disney + for the year so if it's you and your partner you can both get it and choose a benefit each. Get your family on it etc.
• You need to have £2,000 a month to come into your account or it costs you £5 a month. So either switch your salary to be paid in or set up a direct debit
• Im happy to share a referral code and you get £50 if you don't know anyone with a Lloyds account! Just PM me

Genuinely I've had my account for years and most my friends have it for the cinema tickets. We all love it.

I would far rather go to the cinema, there is no comparison really, you miss so much by seeing movies on a small screen. I've never heard people chatting amongst themselves while a movie was screening, or having their mobile phone out - you need to find another cinema!

Do you have Amazon Prime? I can get two tickets Mon - Thurs at Odeon for £10 which I am surprised more people don't know about. It's once a month but I don't normally want to go more than that anyway.

We had a Vue open up, and it was £4.99 to see a film, which was great. Then they had a refurb, and it is now a tenner.
Personally, I have found there is not much worth watching at the cinema anyway.

I get tickets for odeon 2 for £8 through Vodafone rewards. I think there’s normally ways of getting cheaper tickets if you go through all the schemes you belong to.

@paddleboardingmum how much do you spend on streaming services per month?

Until Covid I didn’t even have a TV licence and hardly watched anything at home. (Went to the theatre a lot and cinema occasionally.) Then lockdown happened and I signed up to everything.

But in the last year, actually prompted by a comment on MN, I started gradually divesting myself of most of my streaming subscriptions. (Hard because one’s inevitably drawn back for some unmissable show.) And realised it would be more fun to spend that money actually going out to see films.

The local Odeon has closed down, and there’s no Everyman here, but Curzon offers a £25 monthly Cult membership which gives 7 tickets a week (and 10% off drinks and food). I obviously don’t go seven times a week! If I were only to see two films a month on Sunday afternoons (£14!) I’d make back my monthly fee - but as it happens, I’m going more and more; often twice a week. It helps that the cinema is an exceptionally nice hour’s walk from home (pretty streets and then glorious wooded riverside) so I’m very incentivised to go as often as possible. I’ve increased my weekly step count and get to talk about films as soon as they’re out. So far it’s well worth it.

(I gather Odean membership is cheaper - so if you have one near you …)

If you have a club Lloyds account,you get 6 free cinema tickets a year

Have you got Amazon Prime? I got 2 tickets for £10 the other week.

Just discovered this, it's great isn't it! Used it for the first time last week.

We gave this up 3 years ago £100 quid for 2 n half hours for my family to get in that's not including the hours drive and any food before or after...we got the Disney pass as it's one of the benefits of a Lloyds Bank account cheap and once a week on a Sunday evening hubby makes a nice tea then we all sit together as a family popcorn,ice-cream etc and movie cheaper and easier

Franchise or independent?

For Meerkat movies, if you book travel insurance for your one night UK stay with minimum cover that costs £1 for a year’s two for one cinema tickets so it pays for itself after one use.

There are only a few films that I want to see; could you save enough to go once a month? Our cinemas vary wildly in price with one having cheap Mondays.

I have cineworld monthly membership as do a few of my friends. It’s something like £17.99 per month and because of the pass we go and see lots of things so its 2-3 nights out per month for that price which I think is good value. I love going to the cinema though.

We never buy any drinks or snacks, prices are ridiculous. I have had to tell DH he isn’t allowed to come if he gets nachos- £7.50 for some stale tortilla chips and horribly processed salsa.

Thanks for the tip about Amazon Prime! Didn't know that

I do get the Vodafone 2 for £8 voucher once a month - this month i put it towards Imax tickets so they ended up being £27 (for 2) rather than £50. Can't resist Scream 7 on an Imax screen tho!