The price of cinema tickets

[Hades]

I'm having an OK boomer moment

I've not seen anything at the cinema for a couple of years. On a whim I thought I might go and see The Bike Riders at my local cinema tonight. Nearly £19 for a basic seat. If my wife wants to come with me and then we have some food or drink that's going to turn into £60 to £70 easily. Thanks but I think I'll just wait for it to hit streaming. I think the only film this year that I will pay for at those prices is Deadpool vs Wolverine. No wonder cinemas are struggling.

EDIT: And to rub salt into the wound it's a £2.25 booking fee on top! Nope. Hard pass.

 

[tom_e]

Yeah it's not a cheap day out especially if the film turns out to be crap.

 

[Oh Ed not again.]

Blimey. What chain cinema?

Our Vue is £5.99 or something like that.

 

[Jokester]

Cineworld here are £6 a ticket, and it's about £130 for an annual pass. It's almost twice as much in some places like central London for the same.

 

[Hades]

Blimey. What chain cinema?

Our Vue is £5.99 or something like that.

Everyman. Not even central London. It's just inside the M25.

 

[Hades]

Cineworld here are £6 a ticket, and it's about £130 for an annual pass. It's almost twice as much in some places like central London for the same.

Thanks. I'll have a look at alternative cinema chains.

 

[Freakbro]

Everyman. Not even central London. It's just inside the M25.

Everyman have set themselves as a more 'boutique' cinema experience and are expensive nationally because of that.

Though prices in standard cinemas can vary wildly too. I use Meerkat a lot and have Club Lloyd's benefits for Odeon tickets to make trips a lot cheaper overall.

 

[Jokester]

Thanks. I'll have a look at alternative cinema chains.

Yeah, Cineworld basically have 3 tiers of pricing depending on your location.

 

[dave28]

i thought my local independent cinema was a rip off at half the price of the OP, £8.50 and £6 for kids.

 

[the shadow]

Out to buy or hire on tuesday

 

[ianh]

i thought my local independent cinema was a rip off at half the price of the OP, £8.50 and £6 for kids.

Fairly similar to my own 3 screen Indie, however where I live in Norfolk is understandably a bit of a blackhole for cinemas, so my closest (the indie) is a 50min round trip, my next two (Cineworld and smaller chain) are both 1hr30 around trip and my nearest Vue is a 2hr round trip, so any "cheap" cinema ticket prices get wiped out by travelling costs i.e. going to The Vue and back in my RS6 is about £28 just in petrol or even in my Citroen C1 with triple the MPG its still £9+.

So "cheap" tickets aren't really what I'm after nowadays, its more the "if I'm spending £50 and driving 1-2hrs anyway, lets try to find a good cinema" - i.e. last showing on a Sunday night as there usually no kids & no idiots eating from the loudest crisp packet in the world or using their phones every 10 seconds etc.

 

[n111ck]

Paying equivalent of £34 / month for unlimited Odeon and Cineworld..

 

[Journey]

You should check to see if you get any offers with your mobile provider. I get them for £3 on a weekend with Three.

 

[Semple]

Everyman have set themselves as a more 'boutique' cinema experience and are expensive nationally because of that.

Though prices in standard cinemas can vary wildly too. I use Meerkat a lot and have Club Lloyd's benefits for Odeon tickets to make trips a lot cheaper overall.

What's special about them? Can't say I've ever heard of them.

 

[Hades]

You should check to see if you get any offers with your mobile provider. I get them for £3 on a weekend with Three.

Thanks. Good idea. I could actually get 5 free cinema tickets with my bank account. But I went with a different perk instead. Although I love the cinema my work and home life is so busy I never know when I will have time for things like the cinema, so it's usually just a casual impulse thing so it's never really been my priority.

It looks like this film is streaming shortly so I'll simply buy or rent the film, get a bottle of wine and some food delivered and watch it with the family instead.

 

[Hades]

What's special about them? Can't say I've ever heard of them.

I assume they are all the same as my local Everyman, which has smaller screens and quite comfy sofa like seats. You can get food delivered to your seat too. So, to be fair, I don't think it is a typical cinema so I'm probably being unfair with my rant. I was jsut a bit shocked.

 

[Gray2233]

Blimey. What chain cinema?

Our Vue is £5.99 or something like that.

Same here, the upgraded seats are around £8.

No amount of service or comfy couches would get me paying the money the OP is, especially if it meant a smaller screen. I'd rather stay at home, I have a decent home cinema setup currently and plan on expanding on it come Christmas. Far more comfortable and better food, plus I can pause when I need to pull the ultimate geriatric move and get up to pee half way through.

 

[Glanza]

That's Imax pricing tickets around here, normal are up to £11 at our cineworld.

 

[tom_e]

What's special about them? Can't say I've ever heard of them.

Nice sofa style seating, proper food and beer table service generally a lot more pleasant than your general chain cinema

 

[Gepetto]

There seems to be a large variation in Cinema tickets.

Our Cineworld is expensive at around £12 a ticket and £18 for IMAX, but it's a lovely cinema with well chosen and friendly staff. It's modern, clean and tidy with good seats.

Our local Vue at Lakeside is a dump, I have literally seen a rat whilst in a showing, and not on the screen! But it's only £5 a ticket.

We're apparently getting a brand new, yet to open Vue in Basildon, so it'll be interesting to see where the prices are at that branch.