5 Simple Movie Theater Tips That’ll Save You LOTS of Money
Do you love going to the movies…
… but not the spendy movie theater ticket prices and concession costs? Check out our five simple tips to help you save money!
1. Sign up for free loyalty programs.
It’s definitely worth signing up for your theater’s loyalty program as you’ll score coupons, exclusive offers, and more…plus if you visit more than one theater in your area, be sure to sign up for each of their loyalty programs! Here are a few loyalty programs for popular theaters across the country:
Regal:
When you sign up for the free Regal Crown Club, you’ll earn points towards free movie tickets or concessions. Plus, members can get 25% off candy on Mondays and 50% off popcorn on Tuesdays with paid admission (scroll down to the bottom of the page for more details).
AMC:
Become a member of AMC Stubs Insiders Rewards program (it’s free!) and you’ll be able to take advantage of $5 Ticket Tuesdays, a free large popcorn on your birthday, a free refill with large popcorn purchase, a $5 reward every time you reach 5,000 points, exclusive offers, and more.
If you’d rather, you can get AMC Premiere perks like free size upgrades on popcorn and fountain drinks. You’ll also earn points 5x faster than Insiders (100 points per $1 spent) – all for just $15 a year.
Cinemark:
Prefer Cinemark? Sign up for Cinemark Connections and you’ll get exclusive savings at the concession stand, early access to advance tickets, be able to enter contests and sweepstakes, plus more!
Atom Tickets:
Atom Tickets has also introduced a new Loyalty Program (free to join) where you can score a FREE Standard Movie Ticket (up to $20) when you buy tickets to four different movies.
2. Check for discount days at your local theater.
If your movie theater offers a discount for purchasing tickets on a particular day, grab the family and head to the movies!
As an idea, AMC offers $5 Ticket Tuesdays where tickets are just $5 every Tuesday with your AMC Stubs membership. Plus, on Tuesdays, get a cameo fountain drink & popcorn for $5!
Also, Cinemark offers various Discount Days (will vary by location), as well as other discounts for military, seniors, students, early bird options, and more. And, Regal Cinemas offers Value Days where you can enjoy discounted movie ticket prices (excludes holidays and opening days for new movies).
3. Save big on concessions.
Did you know that you can save on concessions at the movies? Here are a few ways that these popular theaters are offering up a few savings on things like popcorn, drinks, and candy:
AMC: If you have an AMC CLASSIC theater nearby (view the locations here), AMC Stubs members can score a refillable popcorn bucket for just $15.99 or $19.99 for non-members (plus tax). Then, you can refill your popcorn bucket for just $4.49 every time you return this year (through 12/31/18). If you’re a Stubs member, your second bucket refill will be FREE on same day visits!
Cinemark: Purchase Cinemark’s annual refill cups by 12/31/18 and refill them all year long for a discounted price. You can buy a 32oz cup or small popcorn for just $8 each OR a 42oz cup or medium popcorn for just $10 each (not eligible for free refills). You’ll also want to sign up for their weekly email so you can get their concession coupons sent to your inbox every week!
Regal: Download the Regal Cinemas mobile app and enjoy monthly coupons and discounts like 15% off or more (check out their other promotions here). Plus, AARP members get $3 off the purchase of a small (or larger size) popcorn and soft drink combination. View other savings here.
4. Consider subscription plans.
If you watch (or could watch! 😉) several movies every month, consider signing up for a subscription to MoviePass, a monthly service that provides unlimited access to movie screenings in your area with no blackout dates – and is available for all major movies and all major theaters (with over 3,700 theaters and more than 33,000 screens)! The cost starts at just $9.95 per month based on your location.
There are a few catches to the service, such as you can’t see more than one movie a day, you can’t see the same movie twice, and you can’t see any 3D movies. However, if you see a couple of movies every month, you’ve lowered your cost to less than $5 per movie ticket, which is an awesome price!
Other movie subscription plans:
AMC: Starting June 26th, AMC is adding the Stubs A-List to the AMC Stubs loyalty program. With Stubs A-List, you can see up to three movies every week – including ALL premium formats like Dolby Cinema, IMAX at AMC, PRIME at AMC, RealD 3D, BigD, and D-Box at any of their U.S locations for just $19.95/month. Go here for more details.
Cinemark: Pay $8.99/month to join the Movie Club and get one 2D ticket per month (unused credits roll over), 20% off concessions, waived online fees, and $8.99 add-on tickets!
5. Purchase discounted movie gift cards.
If you have a Costco or Sam’s Club membership, you can save a few dollars per movie ticket when you buy these bundles in-store or online. Costco sells a 4-pack of Cinemark Theatres Platinum Supersaver Movie E-Tickets (valid for ANY movie at ANY time) for $33.99 delivered – just $8.50 per ticket!
Gift card website Raise.com sells discounted gift cards for hundreds of businesses, including all of the major movie theaters. Other marketplaces like eBay.com, Newegg.com, Groupon, and Amazon also occasionally offer up discounted movie theater gift card deals.
Finally, select grocery store chains (such as Kroger or Safeway) offer gift card discounts whenever you purchase them in-store or load eCoupons to your loyalty card.
I LOVE my MOVIEPASS. For me its been the biggest bargain I think I’ve ever come across!
Me too!! I tell everyone about it!!!
Moviepass really sucks nowadays. The only way it would be a good deal is if u had
e-ticketing. I have an annual membership and live 4 hours away from an e-ticket theatre.
U r supposed to be able to cancel your membership through the app, but I had to call. The rep canceled the membership and sent me a confirmation email. (Of course no refund)
Edwards in West Covina California every ticket is always $6.75 all day every day. It also has Tuesday and Wednesday summer movies for a $1. I like to go on Tuesdays because popcorn is half price. For less than $10 at 10 am this Tuesday my kid and me enjoyed a movie and a large popcorn ($7.50 before tax). They allow you to bring your own water bottles but I earn enough in points to get a free small drink fast. It’s cheaper than AMC $5 Tuesdays if you want popcorn with your movie.
Thanks for the local tip. I have found that a lot of deal sites such as hip2save are not based in cali and some deals are not redeemable. I have been looking for deal sites and groups that are not only in cali as well as close to my city I use to use Christian clippers but unfortunately their not as active as before if at all and I to live in the INLANnd Empire OF CALI which is not far from covina any help would be much appreciated.
Check out Dealflicks. Groupon often has good deals for this, like $40 for $20. You load the funds into your account then use the App to purchase your tickets & show them on your phone at the theater. Most tickets come with popcorn in the deal.
Sign up for Coke rewards and watch out for free movie ticket offers from food companies too! We’re getting ready to take 5 people to the movies for free with drinks and popcorn since I’ve saved up rewards from Coke and the current free ticket offer for buying 3 juicy juice products!
You don’t have to be a Connections member to get $5 Tuesday tickets at Cinemark. My Cinemark has $5 Mondays for seniors and $6.25 for the first matinee showtime every day.
The Cinemark Movie Club isn’t a good deal in my area if you go on $5 Tuesdays, $5 Senior Mondays, or $6.25 First Showtime. If you pay $5 for a ticket and $11 for concessions, that is $16. If you pay $6.25 for a ticket and $11 for concessions, that is $17.25. With the movie club, your ticket is $8.99 and the same concessions are $8.80. That is $17.79.
While it is true, please ignore the first sentence. I confused Cinemark with what you said about AMC.
Also, Cinemark Connections gives you a free large popcorn in your birthday month. Assuming your birthday isn’t the last day of the month, you can join the program or add your birthdate to your account after your birthday and still get the free large popcorn.
AAA also has discounted movie tickets for Cinemark and AMC and in my area, it’s cheaper than Costco. $8.50/tix for Cinemark, AMC is a bit more, but I haven’t bought them at AAA vs Costco $34.99/ 4 tix for Cinemark or $21.49/ 2 tix for AMC. Even if you don’t go to AAA, it’s still cheaper to go to Costco to get tickets vs buying them at the theater at full price. Most places charge more for the weekends.
I find the best way to save on concessions is to hit the Dollar Tree before going and smuggle them inside in my purse. 🙂
Me, too! This is especially true for drinks. I often go to the movies solo and carrying a bag of popcorn and soda is hard to do. A bottle of soda is easy to put in my purse.
I have discovered a way that is saving us half the cost! Many theaters offer movies at 10, 10:30, 10:50 am on the weekends at HALF the price of later show times. We love it!
I Liked movie pass until it changed it’s terms 5 times in just one month, and took literally every movie away.
Not worth it anymore. And when it kept having all its glitches after almost going bankrupt, I had to pay full price for the movie that day anyway because moviepass was having week-long “technical” issues
Moviepass really sucks nowadays. The only way it would be a good deal is if u had
e-ticketing. I have an annual membership and live 4 hours away from an e-ticket theatre.
U r supposed to be able to cancel your membership through the app, but I had to call. The rep canceled the membership and sent me a confirmation email. (Of course no refund)