The cost of seeing a movie goes up every year, according to the National Association of Theatre Owners the average cost of a movie ticket in 2008 was $7.18. However, in many big cities movie ticket prices are more like $12 and up for an evening show. When you’re a student on a tight budget that’s enough to give you pause before doling out the cash. Fret not, there are a few ways to get some student discounts on movie tickets and alternative methods of purchasing tickets that can bring down the average cost.
The first thing you should do is call the theatre you want to see the movie in and ask if they have a student discount, often theatres near to a college will offer at least a $1 off regular price tickets or there might be certain days on which students can get cheaper tickets. You’ll have to show your student ID for this discount.
If you have the Student Advantage card you can purchase AMC Theatre tickets for $6.50. You have to pay $20 to get the Student Advantage card, so it’s probably not worth it just for this movie ticket discount, but there are several other benefits to the Student Advantage card such as 12% off your monthly T-Mobile phone bill, 10% off at Target.com, 15% off Amtrak – and many other offers. You can click here to see more Student Advantage discounts and sign up for a card.
If you are a AAA member you can purchase movie tickets ahead of time to score savings. You buy tickets in a pack of 4 or 5 for around $30 and end up saving about $2 - $4 per ticket depending on what the cost is for a movie in your area. Check out the AAA movie tickets page for more information.
If you have a membership to Costo you can also buy tickets in bulk to save money. Costco offers movie ticket packets of 4 – 5 tickets that on average saves you $2 - $3 per ticket. While you can order tickets online from Costco.com, shipping is $2.50 so it’s better to head to the store and pick them up.
Another place you can order tickets in bulk is via BulkTix.com, again it’s about a $2 - $3 savings on the average ticket price if you order tickets this way.
Many people are familiar with the Entertainment discount book, it’s a book that you can buy for around $20, depending on your area, and has savings for local restaurants and entertainment. This years Entertainment book has a coupon for $6.00 movie tickets at AMC and Regal theatres. There are also coupons for food concession.
Finally, if the movie theatre you most often go to has a frequent buyer program, sign up for it as it’s free to join and rewards can add up quickly. For instance, with the AMC Movie Watcher program you get two points for each movie ticket you buy. Once you reach 10 points you get a free small popcorn, at 20 points a free small soda and at 30 points a free movie ticket. You can add 4 points to a card at a time if you and a friend or loved one share a card and buy tickets together. The more points you get the better the rewards get.
So there’s a few ideas for saving on movie tickets. This year so far movie ticket sales are up 22%, while it may be a recession, movies are still a lot cheaper than going to see a live show that can cost $60 and up. That said, there’s no reason to be spending $12 per ticket and for those that make the effort to look there’s always a way to save.
