Save money at the movies
photo by mathwizxp
Going to see a movie at the theater has become a luxury. Tickets and snacks cost a small fortune. Even if you eat beforehand, it can be hard to resist the Junior Mints or the buttery popcorn. Two people going can cost $40 easily. But there are some movies that you want to see on the big screen. Fortunately, you don’t have to wait for a movie to be released on DVD to avoid the high prices. You can try independent or drive-in theaters or go to a matinee.
Do you sneak in snacks? How do you save money when you go to the movie theater?
Here are a few tips to make movie going cheaper that exclude food smuggling. 
AAA: If you’re a member of AAA, it offers a plethora of discounts, one of which is discounted movie tickets for some areas. Visit www.aaa.com/discounts to find which discounts apply to your area.
COSTCO: It offers discount movie tickets to Regal, AMC and Cinemark. The tickets are sold in groups of five. There is a shipping charge if you buy online at www.costco.com, so check your local store. Online prices are Regal $37.50, Cinemark $37.50 and AMC $39.99.
ENTERTAINMENT BOOK: The 2010 book became available Aug. 12. Typically, the cost for a book is $30 to $56, depending on your location. Included are discount movie tickets that range from $6 to $8.50 per ticket, depending on participating theaters. They sell two tiers. One ticket level is for newly released movies, and the other requires a 12-day waiting period after a show first appears. These tickets are ordered and shipped, so there is a shipping fee. There’s an eight-ticket minimum purchase, too.
ANGIE’S LIST: Thousands of consumers share their ratings and reviews on local contractors and companies in more than 425 different categories. Membership costs an average of $6 per month. Membership perks include discounts from dozens of retailers and organizations such as Blockbuster Total Access — 50 percent off first month and discounted movie tickets. The cost for tickets is $5.50 to $6.50, usually restricted to two weeks after release and includes most major theaters. Visit www.angieslist.com.
SPECIAL PROMOTIONS AND DISCOUNTS: Check your local movie-theater Web sites, or give the theaters a call. Ask whether they have any special promotions. See whether they offer student, senior or military discounts. Many theaters offer specials during the summer, bulk-ticket deals and loyalty rewards clubs, so you can earn concession food or tickets. Sometimes your local newspaper, grocery store or hotels might run a promotion, too. For example, Marriott offers four free tickets when making reservations until Sept. 7. Call (800) 228-9290, and ask for promotional code LLS when making your reservations, or visit www.marriott.com/landofthelost for details.
GO BIG: Buy the larger-sized popcorn and drinks for the best savings. Many theaters offer free refills, too. One reader, J. Moffitt, shares: “When buying snacks, buy the big one and share. Our theater lets us get extra cups for free, and we use these to dole out the popcorn. Everyone gets a cup of popcorn, and when they need more, they just pass the cup back. This is a handy way of sharing the popcorn, as everyone can reach it. You can also get extra cups to share a drink without sharing the germs. Use the large drink as a pitcher, and pour everyone their own drink.”
BUYING ONLINE: Check gift-card Web sites such as Cardavenue.com, GiftCardRescue.com, Plasticjungle.com and Swapagift.com, where you can buy, sell or swap gift cards. Some offer free shipping. You can check Craigslist or eBay.com, too. Or visit www.workingadvantage.com, a discount portal providing discount tickets and shopping to corporate employees nationwide. They service more than 10 million employees at 8,000 participating companies and offer discount tickets for movies, theater, ski resorts, theme parks, as well as hundreds of online shopping sites. If your company or organization is not currently a member of the Working Advantage program, fill out this form and a Member Services representative will contact your Human Resources department to enroll your company.
Posted by Sara Noel
on September 3 2009. Filed under Frugal & simple living.Sara Noel owns Frugal Village, LLC and is a nationally syndicated columnist with Universal Uclick. Bio, Follow me on Twitter, Join us on Facebook
These are great ideas. I know that the cable company Optimum Online also offers free tickets to the movies on Tuesday nights if you participate in their Triple Rewards package, which is using Optimum for cable, phone and internet. If you do the research and it turns out to be a better deal than what you currently have, free Tuesday night movies is a nice bonus. Of course, if it’s not a good deal for you, the free movie doesn’t really make it worth your while.
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check the matinee. My local theater has $4.50 or $5.00 matinee, and usually the theater will have very few people in it.
2I haven’t gone to the theater in years! $40.00 for two people is way too much for me! Last time I went to the movies it cost exactly that for a family of four and I balked at the expense! We usually get movies free from the library! I have seen many excellent movies and haven’t had to pay a penny! I am also enjoying the many shows on PBS they have some great movies as well! The snacks I get at a discount store so we don’t go broke watching a movie!
3My youngest son sneaks chocolate bars in the theater! He even says the chocolate is alot more tastier! We usually go to the movies on Tuesdays the acces is cheaper.We also buy a 10 time acces card for $60.00 witch is the rate on tuesdays, but with this card we can acces anyday at the tuesday rate!
4I microwave popcorn, a bag or two, and toss in my backpack prior to heading out to a matinee. A quik stop at the 99 cent store for some necco wafers or m&m can be had for a low price. Dont forget to toss a drink or two in you pack too. Works great.
5Check with your employer!! Mine offers “group tickets” that can be purchased through HR and they simply take the money out of your check. I get 2 movie tickets with no restrictions on when you can go or which movies you can see, plus 2 snack vouchers good for small popcorn and small soda pop for $21.50.
6We make up for “movie weeks” by working the odd 1/2 hour stretches of overtime that come available here and there.
Sometimes, we get the tickets free as performance incentives, too!
If you can wait a couple of months, you can see just run movies at a discount theatre cheap cheap cheap. I go to one that has a $2 Tuesday.
7during the summer, our movie theaters do free kids movies on certain days of the week. all the movie theaters in our area do them on different days and play different movies. the movies are ones that are already out for home viewing but little kids just want the experience of the movies and if they haven’t seen them then it is still new.
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