Cinema membership - is it worthwhile?

[Fandango52]

Hi all, random question but I’ve been wondering if it’s worth me getting a cinema membership.

Going to the cinema is so pricey that I’m trying to see if I can save money on my trips (currently trying to watch as many of the Oscar-nominated films as possible!)

The only thing is I only tend to go to the cinema when there’s a particular film I really want to watch though, and those films aren’t necessarily showing in every cinema, so I’m wary of potentially wasting money by buying membership for a specific cinema chain and then wanting to see a particular film not showing there. I quite like art house cinemas - e.g. Picturehouse - but their main membership perks are a couple of free tickets a year and a few pounds off cinema tickets, and I’m not sure that’s worth me paying a yearly membership for.

Any advice? Is it worth me just carrying on and doing my usual of just buying tickets to films I want to see rather than getting membership? Thanks!

A friend of mine had a yearly pass and he went to the cinema at least once a week. I'm not that into mainstream film so that wouldn't work for me. However the Prince Charles has a yearly pass and they do loads of films I like.

I love my Picturehouse membership, but I go a lot and pay on the cheap and discounted Mondays and use the members free tix at weekends of peak times.

V occasionally there is a free members screening or £1, and last year they added a free ticket on my birthday (to use within a month, I think).

When you renew after first years membership they double the cafe / bar discount to 20%.

It’s worth it for me, but who knows?

You can get cheaper tix signing up to the Odeon’s schemes I think but I can’t bear watching films in my nearest Odeon.

well its easy enough to work out - surely?

How many times would you expect to go? lets say 12.

which is more expensive: 12 x cost of ticket or the annual pass?

I have Cineworld membership as do a couple of friends and it's great as we go and see loads.

I’d have a look at the membership options, prices and what they include and weigh it up against your use to see if it’s worth it for you.

I used to have a Cineworld card years ago, at the time it was about £16 a month ish and a single cinema ticket was about £9, so basically if I was going to go to the cinema even 2x a month it was worth me having the membership and I did go often, 3 times a month easily so it was worth it. At the time having the card also got you 25% off food/drinks so it was saving me money that way too. BUT if I’d only gone once a month on average it wouldn’t have been worth it.

Do the meercat insurance people still do cinema tickets? Buy some cheap insurance to get the deal.

Amazon prime has a cinema ticket offer.

If you have access to perkbox you can get cheaper cinema tickets.

Basically check the perks, terms and conditions of anything you already pay for. You might find something useful.

The bit I was finding tricky to work out was that some memberships only offer discounted tickets - rather than letting you see as many films as you want each month - so I’d have to factor in the membership cost and the price of the tickets for each film I wanted to see.

I have a Cineworld membership and go to the cinema once a week, it’s a big part of my life so works out very good value for me.

I also do a lot of monthly subscription for MUBI, Curzon etc to access slightly less mainstream films. I have each membership for a month, watch as many films as I can and then cancel.

At the moment I’m working my way through Oscar nominated foreign language films for the last 20 years, it’s been a really good activity.

Check out Tastecard, they offer Picturehouse tickets at a slightly cheaper price.

Ooh thanks, really good suggestion. I have Amazon Prime, so will definitely make the most of that offer. Not sure why I hadn’t spotted it before! @ValentineValentineV a MUBI/Curzon monthly subscription would be right up my street - thanks for the recommendation.

I then Google best films on MUBI etc.

Happy viewing.