AIBU to be disgusted over cinema prices

[Summerisdone]

I was going to book tickets for the cinema with DS age 3 on Thursday. Now there's 5 showings of this film all day, but 4 of them are iSense 2D and only one of them is Standard 2D and that's not till 7pm, so already it means I'm being forced into a more expensive viewing as the buses don't run in my town past 6.30.
So I went to book tickets and they were £29 total for 1 adult and 1 under 12, even the 7pm viewing was priced at £24.
Now if I was to go as myself and 3 children at 7pm it would only cost me £22 total, but I don't have 2 other children to be taking and again I can't make the 7pm viewing anyway.

I take my DS cinema at leat every 2-3 months and I understand that it is school holidays, but I've never been charged even nearly this much before.

AIBU to think that The Odeon are taking the piss with their prices and also with the fact they make it even more expensive as only 1 showing out of 5 per day is for the only slightly cheaper standard 2D option.

I paid £11.40 for an adult ticket and £8.40 for a child ticket to take my ds to watch ‘The Incredibles’
Bought popcorn and a drink which costs £15.
Btw this was the local , rundown cinema

Don't they do junior showings?
They are usually a lot cheaper but maybe only at the weekends / mornings.
I wouldn't take a 3 year old to a regular showing.

I know it's been mentioned and linked to by PPs but I really second (third? fourth?) getting the meerkat movies. All you have to do is buy any insurance through the compare the market website. I bought one day's worth of UK travel insurance for £1.08 through them - now I have 2 for 1 movies and 2 for 1 meals through them full a full 12 months. By doing this you would only have had to buy the adult cinema ticket as the kids one would have been free - so worth it

We went to the cinema today (vue) it cost me £9:98 for the 3 of us thanks to my friend giving me a meekat code. The other two cinemas in the area would have cost more.

Avoid the big-name cinema chains and multiplex venues.

IME they are massively overpriced, understaffed, and frequently offer very poor service: not cleaned properly, big queues, unfriendly, and too many adverts. I went to one at the start of this hot spell and found the reconditioning broken. They didn't warn us, just sold me the tickets and left us to find out for ourselves, then refused a refund.

We have Cineworld passes at £18 per month, there brilliant can go as much as you like and snacks are cheaper think kids passes are even cheaper. Obviously only if you love cinema my neice does so it works out cheap for her mum

Me and DH went to ours when Everest was on a couple of years ago. It was only 3D so we thought go on then.

£36... just for the film...

Yep, odeon and showcase are shockingly expensive!! We have a Reel cinema near us and they have a family ticket (2 adults and 2 children) for £18.80!! They only have one screen so only have 3 showings per day but that’s fine with us, I refuse to pay over £10 per ticket!!

It is ridiculous.

Plus, they’d sell far more tickets if they were reasonably priced.

Where we are, we have a cinema in the big city one way that wants £11 for an adult ticket, and a cinema in the town the other way that wants £6. No prizes for guessing which one is packed, and which one has 8 people per showing at best.

LunaTrap same here, £4.99 at all times cinema not too far away + Poundland down the road for snacks etc..it's my go to cinema. Cinema prices elsewhere are outrageous.

BFI Waterloo with the huge screen is the only one I've paid over the odds for if there's a film on there we want to see, and fancy a meal and stroll along the South Bank afterwards too - but some cinemas nowhere near BFI standard still charge hefty prices.

I see a lot of films and now only go to the independent cinemas.

The highest single ticket price I pay is £6.90. I,ll be seeing some 'summer specials' for £3.50. Weekend Family matinees £3.90. One local independent does a family film every weekend and every day in the holidays for £2.

Took the little ones to the Peppa Pig film last year a team £2 per child, accompanying adult free.

I have a membership at one which gives discounted tickets, free tickets and 20% off everything in the the cafe bar.

The staff area brilliant and you can tell the whole organisation likes film rather than taking your money and not giving a damn.

It is a joke BUT Cineworld does a kids for juniors showing which is only 2.50 for kids and adults. Has the latest family films.

In the SE here and my Odeon wants £13.25 for me and £9.00 something for my child for a midweek, during the day, Jurassic World showing that came out 2 months ago!

wow just wow!
I go to the cinema only two or three times a year now because of these stupid prices. I really miss it. I have looked around at all the other options and it's pretty much the same.

I will however try the meerkat offer so I can at least go during these summer hols.

@MyParentsSuck they do Saturday and Sunday morning showings for kids, but DS has been waiting months for this film and has been really looking forward to going, so I don't' really want to make him wait any longer when he's been doing a countdown.

Do you shop in Tesco? You can use Clubcard vouchers for Odeon cinemas. It was £8 in in vouchers to go yesterday for a child and adult ticket. Otherwise Odeon is really expensive!

I understand that prices have to be enough to cover the overheads for a cinema to stay open, but tbh my cinema is rarely very busy and I think it's because of the prices of tickets. If they were cheaper then I'm sure they'd have a lot more custom and therefore cover their overheads better.

Also does anyone know if the meerkat deal is for specific days only or any day use? I only take him cinema Thursdays or Saturdays because I'm at work all other days.

So happy that we have a local independent cinema. 4 screens (one of which is massive in terms of seating), £3.50 a ticket weekdays and £4.50 weekends. And it’s only just gone up to that from £1 cheaper too. Same film. Much more enjoyable knowing it’s not breaking the bank. Reasonably priced snacks too. And the main screen is like an old theatre (with nice new seats). It’s fabulous. Been ripped off by the big names far too many times in the past.

Adult tickets here are around $14 (10 and a half quid roughly), with a discount for the first show of the day.

Much more expensive than my local cinemas (lucky me has three to choose from).

Sadly no independents within a reasonable distance of here

Our local paper headline story this week is that our local Vue charges more than anywhere else in Scotland

If I have to go I use the Monday discount but would rather go to the cinema at the local university which is half the price !

The Odeon in my local town only charge £4 each of £12 for a family of 4! It’s crazy how much it varies. I think they lowered the price when a new cinema opened in the town so they need to compete.

Agree with pp. I have a Cineworld Unlimited Card.

Go loads and there isn’t no restrictions at weekends etc. I very rarely buy the rubbish food but if I do I get 25%. My company also offers the half price tickets as well which I use when taking the rest of the family.

So don't go.

Wait till it comes out on DVD or see it on Netflix and Sky.

All those saying it's expensive to run a cinema, how do other cinemas manage it so cheaply then? The one local to my Mum is £4 a ticket no matter your age or time of day when you go and it's all the current films. We have two locally:

1. an extortionate Odeon with crap seats thats always dirty that charge £12 for a standard ticket and add on all sorts of extra money for 'premium films' (wtf the is a premium film?)

1. a Showcase (with leather reclining armchairs, air con and is always clean) that is £10 normally or if you join their FREE club it's £7 all day mondays and tuesdays and after 7pm on a sunday.

Why is there such a price difference? Answer is because Odeon are taking the absolute piss.