In 2024, the average price of a cinema ticket was £7.73, but at many cinemas, you can end up paying significantly more.
Odeon Luxe, Everyman and Picturehouse Central offer premium experiences, with fully reclining seats and enhanced audio and visual – but it comes at a hefty price tag of up to £20 per ticket.
But there are a few ways around this…
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2-for-1 for a year
Meerkat Movies has been a staple of the movie ticket-saving scene for years now. If you buy any insurance through the Compare the Market website, you can get 2-for-1 tickets every Tuesday and Wednesday. While the easiest way to qualify for this is to use the site to buy insurance, you can also buy it by purchasing the cheapest travel insurance policy available.
At the time of writing, a single trip policy covering one day’s travel in the UK (which I’m not actually going to be taking), would cost £1. Purchasing this then makes you eligible for Meerkat Movies.
Bank switches
Lloyds Bank currently has an offer where, if you switch banks to its Club Lloyds account, you will get either six free Odeon or six free Vue tickets. There is a bit of small print to be aware of though – the account is fee-free as long as you meet its £2,000 a month minimum pay-in – there’s a £3 a month fee (rising to £5 a month from 2 June) if you don’t.
Check your work benefits
If your work is signed up to some kind of employee benefit system (Perks at Work being quite a common one), you may find you can purchase cheap tickets through that. This will give you an instant access code you can use to buy your ticket. However, it’s worth double-checking any of the offers below to see if they come in cheaper. I’ve previously paid £10 for an e-code, only to realise I could have bought the ticket via a different scheme for less than that.
Odeon Cinema
Amazon Prime
If you already pay for Amazon Prime, then you’ll already have a way to buy cheap(er) tickets. You can buy two standard tickets for £10, or two recliner tickets at an Odeon Luxe for £15. However, this offer is only available Monday to Thursday and can only be used once a month.
Vodafone
If you are a Vodafone or Voxi customer, you can get two standard tickets for £8, or two Luxe tickets for £13. This offer can be used at almost all Odeon cinemas. If you’re with Vodafone, you can use the offer once a week, while Voxi customers get it once a month.
MyOdeon
If you sign up for a MyOdeon account, you can get cheaper tickets all day Monday, and on some selected screenings Tuesday to Sunday. Odeon says you’ll always get cheaper tickets by booking online than you will at the box office.
OdeonKids
With this offer, families can attend OdeonKids screenings for £2.75 per ticket, and adults pay kids’ prices at a number of selected cinemas.
ScreenUnseen
This one could go either way (I speak from experience having once got stuck watching a 2.5-hour-long Western film), but if you like a lucky dip, you can spend £6 on a ScreenUnseen showing at Odeon if you are a member. It’s £7 if you’re a non-member, and a further £1 if you book at the box office instead of online. The catch is, you don’t know what you are watching until the lights go down – unless you are able to solve some very cryptic clues they post online.
Silver Screenings
If you are aged over 60, you can bag a £3.50 ticket to select screenings – plus Odeon says you’ll even get free coffee, tea and biscuits before the movie starts.
Vue
Vue cinema
Sky Cinema subscribers
If you are already paying for a Sky Cinema package, log into your app and you’ll find two free tickets every month to use at a Vue cinema.
O2 priority
O2 and Virgin Media customers can buy two tickets for £9 (it used to be £6, but like everything else, the price has gone up) or four for £18, which they can use at any Vue location.
MightyMornings
If you have children aged between four and 12, you can get tickets for them for £2.49 for some showings after 10am. They must be accompanied by an adult.
Cineworld and Picturehouse
File pic: Geoffrey Swaine/Shutterstock
Cineworld and Picturehouse belong to the same group, so any offers can usually be used across both chains, but make sure to read the small print.
Tesco Clubcard
You can double the value of your Tesco Clubcard if you put your points toward cinema tickets. So £1 clubcard means £2 to spend at Cineworld.
Three Mobile
If you’re with Three, you can claim a £3 adult cinema ticket for any 2D movie once a week via the Three app. This is valid any time on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday.
Child and adult screenings
Cineworld Movies for Juniors costs £3.99 for kids and accompanying adults if you are going on a weekend or school holiday. However, it is rarely brand-new releases.
CineSeniors
If you are over 60, you can get a £4.50 ticket every Wednesday – but this is only valid at five cinemas (Boldon Tyne & Wear, Basildon, Hinckley, Swindon – Shaw Ridge, Witney).
