Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

A family cinema trip is a treat surely? not an every day occurrence?

204 replies

LittleBookofCalm · 01/09/2018 12:53

According to the news, end of the news, someone talking about being really badly off and saying they couldnt have a family trip to the cinema and how wrong it was that they couldnt afford this

I would argue that it is a Treat, spending that sort of money -

OP posts:
mydogisthebest · 01/09/2018 17:12

BewareofDragons, but a lot of cinema prices haven't gone up that much over the years. Plus there never used to be Meerkat Movies or Groupon deals or Tesco clubcard points.

Of course some people can't afford to go but I don't buy that it's that unaffordable for the majority of people.

Even £10 is good value for an hour and a half to two hours entertainment. A cup of pretty awful coffee in Starbucks is around £3 I believe and people seem to be able to afford that

manicinsomniac · 01/09/2018 17:16

Yes, definitely a treat and not one that's worth paying for because you can wait a few months and watch it for free. You can get theatre tickets for not that much more than an Cineworld/Odeon ticket (we sit in the Gods) and that's something you can only see by going out to watch it. I don't understand family trips to the cinema at all. I don't mind going with friends instead of children (so only pay for myself) and don't mind sending one of my children with a group of others. But I'm not paying for 4 tickets at once for something I can watch at home.

grasspigeons · 01/09/2018 17:18

It's a treat but I think it used to be cheaper in relation to other things and people had smaller tv's and had to ages wait for videos of lesser quality to come out so it seemed more worth it. The cinema near me is around £40 for the family. There are so many other things to do at a similar cost.

VeryBerryAugust · 01/09/2018 17:20

It's an expensive treat.

RedneckStumpy · 01/09/2018 17:23

It’s a treat our local one is a reasonably priced restaurant where you watch the film while you eat.

Blankscreen · 01/09/2018 17:43

I can't believe some.of you can get cinema tickets for £5.

Our local independent cinema is £12 each and then the big Cineworld is £11 each or more for 3d.etc.
Dh took DSS and DS to see the Meg last week and it was £36.

They took their own sweets etc. I think it's really expensive.

MerryMarigold · 01/09/2018 17:46

Blankscreen, don't know where you are but Stratford picture house is £20 family of 4 and Premiere (romford) is £14 family of 4 plus £4 for an extra person. It's not exactly lux cinema but you get to see the movie in a seat Grin.

bruffin · 01/09/2018 17:47

Blankscreen*
Went to cineworld when we stayed cardiff and paid £5 for adult ticket.
Our local is over £10, but having Cineworld card and meerkat movies we don't pay that.

DroningOn · 01/09/2018 18:30

Out vue is 4.99 each every day

£20 for a film is a pretty regular thing for our family, wouldn't be if we paid the £10/11/12 prices you see elsewhere though.

Seniorcitizen1 · 01/09/2018 18:37

When my mother was young she went to the pictures 5 times a week everyweek - but this was in the 1930s. We certainly could afford to go every day now but have been known to go 2-3 times when a spate of good films come out at the same time. Not being able to go to the cinema is not in my view a sign of poverty

Thesearmsofmine · 01/09/2018 18:58

We tend to just go on a Saturday morning for the movies for juniors which is £2.50 each and we will go maybe 5 times a year.

We rarely go to see a brand new film because it is expensive for us.

AlexaShutUp · 01/09/2018 19:17

Our local odeon charges £4 a ticket. Pretty affordable, I'd say. The newer, nicer, shinier Cineworld charges £6.50 for adults and £5.50 for kids. Still not bad.

JynxaSmoochum · 01/09/2018 19:47

3 major chains in my city plus an arts cinema that rarely shows mainstream films. We went as a family of 4 recently to an old multiplex cinema that still has its 90s decor and is the cheapest of the chains. We didn't get much change out of £40.

When I think of other family treats around that price, it's pretty poor value. The staffing costs are much lower than a restaurant. We can get a family ticket to a day at a museum with free return for less. We can wait 3-4 months and buy exactly the same film on DVD for less than half of that then watch it indefinitely. Watching at the cinema is a better, more immersive experience but is over priced, particularly for children's tickets which are only a pound or so less than the adults. As a couple, the price is more reasonable... except it still costs the same for a babysitter as it does to bring the kids. The end result is that we only go once or twice a year if there is something that we will mutually want to see.

I can't remember how long it is since I saw the cinema look busy and suspect the prices are driving people away.

IncyWincyGrownUp · 01/09/2018 19:53

The tickets at the two local cinemas here are a £5 flat rate.

I don’t take the family too often as they don’t like it, but I could afford to take them weekly if there were enough decent films about to see.

Everyoneiswingingit · 01/09/2018 19:58

Treat.

VeryBerryAugust · 01/09/2018 19:59

There are done cheap prices about. My child went recently with friends and tickets were over £10.

WaxOnFeckOff · 01/09/2018 20:24

A story about my local:

www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/local-news/cinema-chain-charging-film-fans-13027304

VeryBerryAugust · 01/09/2018 20:33

"Dynamic pricing": thats a fancy term for it.

I guess thats what we got stung by.

In our case it just means my kids only go with a friend and I go for a walk round the shops and maybe a cuppa elsewhere.

WaxOnFeckOff · 01/09/2018 20:36

Yep, well now you see where i get my view that it's a treat since tickets for two adults and two kids are about £45 and I have teenagers so even if they go with a friend or whatever they are a tenner a time.

buckeejit · 01/09/2018 20:37

In our house even 'cinema on the sofa' with a bowl of popcorn is a treat

cheminotte · 01/09/2018 21:15

This thread has reminded me we haven't been to the cinema this holidays as the weather has been so lovely. We have a Vue and an Odeon in our town. Christopher Robin on Tues for me and 2 DC would be £28 at Vue or £21 at Odeon.
Still cheaper than holiday club for one but not that cheap. I'd be interested to know where Vue is only £5.

TornFromTheInside · 01/09/2018 23:46

The Island Cinema in Lytham is about £4.00 - £6.00 per ticket!

BrokenWing · 01/09/2018 23:56

Our odeon is silly money for tickets and sweets.

Ds goes with a £4.50 tesco clubcard ticket (adult as he's over 12) and £3 worth of popcorn, sweets and drink from the supermarket. I wouldn't pay full cinema prices unless it was a outstanding film.

Birdsgottafly · 02/09/2018 08:36

Its an example of relative poverty. Which is very damaging to children.

We know this, that's why Child Tax Credit, Children's Centers etc came into being and why the EU had Child Poverty Legislation. The UK did, until the Bedroom Tax and UC.

Things are only going to get worse for many Families.

I don't understand the acceptance of all that is happening in the UK.

Life is supposed to get better. In the late 70's/early 80's, we went to the pictures and swimming. I saw Grease, as many did, at least seven times. This was impoverished Liverpool.

We didn't pay to get on buses.

Are those saying its still doable counting in the transport costs, or are you lucky to be in walking distance?

Is it right that whole groups of children, are homeless, use food banks and won't experience what the lower WC did, in the 70's or 30's?

That's the point.

VeryBerryAugust · 02/09/2018 09:52

Cinemas were VERY different in the 70s and cheaper. Cheapest of all were the fleapits of my dad's youth where he watched Tom Mix films and adults went to watch the newsreel.

TV at home makes it unreasonable to compare then and now, in the particular case of cinema prices.

It was still a treat for us in the 7Os and we never actually went as a family looking back!