Is there a website to compare movie ticket prices?

Cafe Society
1

There are many websites where you can easily see what movie showtimes are. But I’m having a harder time finding movie prices for different theaters, unless I go to their website (or Fandango, or MovieTickets.com), and click on a specific movie time and see what comes up.

It would be nice if I could somehow see movie prices along with times. I’m not going to drive an extra half hour for $1 cheaper tickets, but I might drive a few extra minutes for saving $3. It seems like there might be something that has this, but I can’t find it.

And feel free to share any other movie related money saving things. I go to the movies a lot, but I figure if I can do it for cheaper it would be nice. If you go to Alamo Drafthouse or Studio Movie Grill, there are often discounted tickets you can buy there. I think Costco has a way you can buy cheaper tickets, but I’m not a member of Costco so I’m not sure if I could get those.

2

CostCo is worthwhile just for the cheap movie tickets if you go a lot. AMC passes are two for $15.99 for Golden passes that are good everywhere for non-3D showings. That’s a great deal in Chicago at the River East 21 by Navy Peir where a single ticket can cost $13.

But cheap movie going is more about when than where. Most chains have discount days during the week, and all have “twilight” cheaper tickets. The CostCo passes are one of the few ways to get a discount for weekend prime times.

3

Really? To save $3? How much gas mileage do you get? I bet it costs you at least ⅓ of the gas savings to drive the extra distance. Now you’ve saved 2. Extra maintenance on the car is prolly .20; now your savings is like $1.80.

IME movie tickets prices from one theatre to another vary by maybe $1.25. Today, even a minimum wage earner makes $2 every 17 minutes or so. I realize YMMV but saving less than $2 isn’t something I would waste time doing by driving extra distance; I’d just go see what I wanna see where I wanna see it.

That said, CostCo has movie passes, as gaffa clarified. I’d also recommend 2nd run theatres & matinees. We have an excellent 2nd run theatre here in Vegas (the Regency on Tropicana) that still charges just $2 per ticket ($3.50 for a 3D movie) and Tuesdays are $1 ($2.50 for 3D).

4

I’ve never heard of a discount at twilight, but the first showing of the day (which can be as early as 10:30am) is often discounted.

5

I’ve never heard of evening discounts either. That’s like the peak movie-going time it seems.

AMC has lower prices for all showings before noon each day.

6

Yeah, the timing definitely helps, but it’s annoying because the different theaters have different times for matinees. I’ve been to theaters early before and expected to pay a cheaper price and then see that they have the normal pricing then. It looks like Regal and Sundance have cheaper prices before 4, Cinemark has cheaper before 6, and the local Landmark theater only has cheaper pricing for the first show of the day.

But Cinemark does have cheaper pricing for Tuesdays. I saw Mission Impossible yesterday for $5.15. And got a rain check because power went out for a second during the previews, so double bonus there.

Well, there’s the Regal theater that’s closest to me, or the Cinemark theater that’s another 5 miles away. Most of the time, the Regal is $1 more than the Cinemark. But Cinemark has matinee prices until 6:00, and the Regal has matinee prices until 4:00. So if it’s late afternoon on the weekend, if I drive the extra 5 miles, I’ll save $3. And I hadn’t done the math before, but after you asked about it, I do get around 30 miles to the gallon, and gas prices average $2.38 in Houston right now, so I’d spend an extra $0.40 in gas driving the extra distance, plus maybe the $0.20 in maintenance. So I’d save $2.40, not a huge amount, but I do go to the movies fairly regularly.

I’d love to buy the Costco passes, but it looks like you have to be a member to buy them, and I don’t know if a Costco membership would be worth it for me.

I wish there were dollar theaters closer to me, but I’m pretty sure all of them are on the outskirts of Houston and the distance I’d have to drive to any of them wouldn’t make the savings worth it.

I’ve gone to free advanced screenings a few times before. I don’t know if the time spent standing in line would be worth it for me, but I might start thinking about that for movies I would somewhat like to see, but not enough to pay full price for.

7

Guess what? You DON’T need to belong to Costco to buy movie tickets online. You can even get the print-at-home e-tickets, and save even more on gas. Costco carries Regal, AMC, and Cinemark e-tickets. They do charge a 5% non-membership surcharge, which makes it $8.93 per ticket ($8.50 with membership).

8

I think needscoffee just won the thread; good post.

9

One other approach, if you want to see a LOT of movies is Moviepass.com. When it was first announced, I flamed it. But they’ve changed a lot about their plan - the early termination fees are less onerous, they switched from Discover to Mastercard, they are in a lot more theaters. They still have a smart phone requirement which annoys me. But $30 - $35 a month for one movie a day, at any time, might just be an excellent deal for you.