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Cinema deals, tips & tricks
Cut the cost of tickets for Cineworld, Odeon, Vue & more
Updated 4 July 2022
Let's be honest, the cinema isn't the cheap date it used to be. If you want to check out the latest blockbusters on the big screen, it can set you back up to £20 for a ticket alone – more horrifying than a bad B-movie. This guide has deals, tips and tricks to help you save at the cinema almost as many times as James Bond has saved the world.
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Quickly check which cinema deals you can use on a particular day
We want to make it easy to find the best deal for you, whether you can only visit the cinema on a certain day, or you just want to know when you can use a particular deal.
As you'll see from the table below, there's at least one deal available every day of the week. Select an offer for full information, how to get it, and any exclusions.
Top deals available each day
Have we missed anything? If there are any cinema MoneySaving tricks you use that we haven't got in our guide, let us know in the MSE Forum.
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Deals & tricks for multiple cinema chains
Further down we'll look at deals for specific cinema chains, but first, these are top tricks and offers that can be used at more than one chain or independent cinema.
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Trick to get a YEAR's 2for1 cinema tickets for about £1 – including new releases
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Meerkat Movies has been highly publicised by an enterprising Russian meerkat and his pal Sergei for a few years now. Buy certain insurance, switch utilities, or successfully apply for a financial product through comparison site Compare The Market, and you'll get 2for1 cinema tickets on a Tuesday or Wednesday for a whole year.
2for1 cinema tickets should never be your reason for choosing a product such as insurance – use other comparison sites and our insurance guides to check you're getting the best deal. However, if Compare The Market isn't cheapest/best for what you need, we've a trick so you can still get the 2for1 movies...
What's the cheapest product you can buy to qualify for Meerkat Movies?
The answer is one night's UK travel insurance for one person. If the insurance is dead cheap, you can get a one-day policy for when you're not actually travelling/needing it, just so you'll be eligible for the 2for1 deal.
When we did a quick search on Compare The Market on Friday 1 July, we found the cheapest single-trip travel insurance policy was £1.01.
At this price, the insurance is far cheaper than the cost of a second cinema ticket, so in most cases you'll save even if you use it just once. What's more, you'll also be given Meerkat Meals, which gets 2for1 starters, mains and desserts at many big chain and independent restaurants from Sunday to Thursday as well as other perks – see our full Meerkat offers info.
Search Compare The Market for single-trip UK travel insurance for one person
Buy the cheapest policy – when we checked on Fri 1 July, it was £1.01
Meerkat Movies is valid at most cinemas across the UK – the big chains (such as Odeon and Vue) as well as lots of independents – but not all of them. If in doubt, check with your local cinema before turning up. Unlike some cinema offers, you can use it on the latest blockbusters.
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Six free Odeon or Vue tickets with a Club Lloyds account
Lloyds Bank's Club Lloyds gives you six free Odeon or Vue tickets (normally £35-£65 depending on the location) per year. The account is fee-free as long as you meet its £1,500 a month minimum pay-in – there's a £3 a month fee if you don't. You can claim the free cinema tickets each year you have the account. Alternatively you can choose 12 digital movie rentals, a Gourmet Society membership, or an annual magazine subscription instead. ![]()
We're highlighting Lloyds here for the free cinema tickets, but other banks are currently offering big switch bonuses – see our Best bank accounts guide for how to get up to £170 to switch.
You can choose six Odeon or Vue tickets at the 'Choose Your Benefit' page when logging in to your Club Lloyds account. Tickets can be used for 2D or 3D movies and are valid for 12 months.
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Up to 40% off tickets via Lidl Plus – but always check it against other deals
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New and existing users of the free Lidl Plus app (Android/iOS) can register with The Cinema Society to get vouchers giving up to 40% off cinema tickets. The vouchers can be used at Odeon, Vue, Showcase, Empire, Reel Cinemas, Scott Cinemas, Savoy Cinemas, Grosvenor Glasgow and Perth Playhouse. Unfortunately, it excludes Northern Ireland.
How it works
- Sign in to the Lidl Plus app and select 'Partner offers', then choose 'Up to 40% off cinema tickets'.
- Select 'Redeem this offer' by Sunday 7 August, and then you'll need to register at The Cinema Society website.
- Choose your cinema and buy a discounted voucher (it'll be emailed to you) which you can then exchange for a cinema ticket at the box office or online, depending on the cinema.
You can buy up to 10 vouchers per day, which you can share with friends or family. In most cases, vouchers will be valid for at least six months and can be used on any movie at any time, but there may be exceptions, so always check the terms and conditions carefully. See The Cinema Society for more information.
While it offers up to 40% off tickets, its discounts are based on 'peak-time' prices
In other words, the most expensive full-priced ticket at each cinema. This means it's always worth checking against available deals elsewhere to make sure you are getting a saving, especially if you're not seeing a movie at peak-time.
- Sign in to the Lidl Plus app and select 'Partner offers', then choose 'Up to 40% off cinema tickets'.
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'Free' cinema ticket for someone accompanying a disabled person
If you're disabled and need extra assistance at the cinema, a CEA Card (developed by the UK Cinema Association) costs £6 a year and allows you to get a free ticket for a companion each time at most cinemas. To get the free ticket, you'll need to buy a full-price ticket for yourself for the same showing.
You can apply for a CEA Card online or by post. To be eligible you must be receiving either Disability Living Allowance, Attendance Allowance, Personal Independence Payment or Armed Forces Independence Payment, or hold a Severely Sight Impaired or Sight Impaired registration.
The UK Cinema Association says about 90% of cinemas accept the card, including big chains such as Cineworld, Odeon and Vue – see participating cinemas near you. You'll need to have your card when you book.
See our full guide on 30+ MoneySaving tips for disabled people.
Cineworld & Picturehouse deals
101 cinemas across the UK – find your nearest
Picturehouse cinemas (with 26 locations across England and Scotland) are part of the same group as Cineworld, so some offers can be used at both chains – we've made it clear below where that's the case.
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Swap Tesco Clubcard vouchers for 3x value on Cineworld & Picturehouse tickets
If you've Tesco Clubcard vouchers, you can use them towards Cineworld or Picturehouse cinema tickets*. You'll get three-times the value you would if you used them in-store at Tesco, as every 50p in Clubcard vouchers becomes £1.50 when exchanged for a Cineworld or Picturehouse code.
If you've got at least £10 in Clubcard vouchers, you can use them to get three-times the value towards a Cineworld Unlimited* card – so £10 becomes £30. See our other top picks to use your Clubcard points on.
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£3 Cineworld or Picturehouse ticket Friday to Sunday for Three mobile customers
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If Cineworld or Picturehouse is where you go to see movies on the big screen and you're a Three mobile customer, you can get a code for a £3 adult cinema ticket via the Three+ rewards app. It's for any 2D movie once per week at any time on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday.
How to claim a £3 Cineworld or Picturehouse ticket
- Search 'Cineworld' or 'Picturehouse' in the Three+ app and select 'Get Reward' to be shown your code. When you're ready to use your code, select 'Use reward code now'.
- Claim the code online at Cineworld (75p booking fee) or Picturehouse (70p booking fee), or by showing the code at the box office (no booking fee).
Codes are valid until 11.59pm on Sunday. After that, you'll need to get a new code for the following weekend any time from 00.01am on Monday.
- Search 'Cineworld' or 'Picturehouse' in the Three+ app and select 'Get Reward' to be shown your code. When you're ready to use your code, select 'Use reward code now'.
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Some can pay just £10 a month for unlimited movies at Cineworld but it's a location lottery
Cineworld's Unlimited membership allows you to see as many movies as you want at its cinemas. Prior to May 2021, everyone paid £18.40 a month for all cinemas except London West End, which was £2 more a month to have included.
Since then, it's created two cheaper price groups, with some now able to pay just £10 or £16 a month – but whether you can get the cheapest Unlimited membership prices depends on where you live and if you're happy only using your membership at limited locations.
Cinemas have been split into four groups (check which locations are in which groups below) and you can only use your Unlimited membership at cinemas in your group and any groups below it, without incurring an additional cost. For example, 'Group 2' £15.99 a month membership can be used at all cinemas in 'Group 2' and 'Group 1'.
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£2.50 child AND adult tickets for selected Cineworld screenings
With 'Cineworld Movies for Juniors' screenings you can get £2.50 tickets for kids (aged 14 and under) and accompanying adults on weekends and school holidays. If booking online, there's a 75p per ticket fee.
Rather than brand new releases, it's generally recently or previously-released films. What's on offer will vary by cinema. See Cineworld for current listings.
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Odeon deals
113 cinemas across the UK – find your nearest
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10,000 free weekly Odeon tickets for O2 phone and Virgin Media broadband customers via Priority
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Customers of O2 or Virgin Media broadband can get one free Odeon adult ticket each week for any 2D screening on a Sunday or Monday, or for an Odeon Kids screening (Sundays only). There's no booking fee.
Codes are limited so you'll need to go fast and furious when they're released as they're likely to get snapped up.
How to get a free Odeon ticket
- Search 'Odeon' in the free Priority app (Android/iOS) – free ticket codes are released each week at 12pm on Wednesday, for example if you want a code for Monday 11 July, they're released on Wednesday 6 July.
- Select 'Use Now' to get your code. You'll be redirected to Odeon's website to book. Add your Priority code into the 'Have a special code?' box at the checkout. When you need to do this by depends on when you want to use your code for:
- Free Monday ticket (6,000 available): Use your code by 11.59pm on the Sunday before you want to use your free ticket, for example by Sunday 10 July to see a movie on Monday 11 July.
- Free Sunday ticket (3,000 available): Use your code by 9pm on the Sunday the code is valid for.
- Free Kids' screening ticket (1,000 available): Use your code by 2pm on the Sunday the code is valid for.
If you're going with others, you can add extra tickets when you book. O2 says other Priority members can also book a free ticket at the same time with their own unique code. The free ticket code will also work alongside a myLimitless pass or MyOdeon 'Member Monday' discount, but won't work with any other deal.
- Search 'Odeon' in the free Priority app (Android/iOS) – free ticket codes are released each week at 12pm on Wednesday, for example if you want a code for Monday 11 July, they're released on Wednesday 6 July.
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Save up to 60% when signing up to MyOdeon for free
Sign up for free to MyOdeon and you can get cheaper tickets all-day Monday and on selected screenings on Tuesday to Sunday.
For example, when we checked on Monday 20 June, MyOdeon membership gave us £6 tickets for Jurassic World at Brighton instead of the normal £11 – a 45% saving, and £7 at Glasgow Quay instead of £16 – a 56% saving.
You can use MyOdeon membership to book at the cinema or online, but Odeon says members will always get cheaper tickets when booking online than they would in-person at the box office.
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To get the cheapest tickets, sign in to your MyOdeon account and look for the yellow 'MyOdeon Saver' banner against the movie time. You can then select the MyOdeon Saver ticket when booking and it'll be valid on all tickets in the same transaction, so friends or family can benefit too.
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Odeon myLimitless membership is now £15 a month (was £18 a month)
Odeon's 'myLimitless' membership allows you to see as many standard 2D movies as you want in a month at its cinemas. It was £17.99 a month (£19.99 including central London) but you can now get it for £14.99 a month (£16.99 a month to include London West End cinemas).
Odeon says this is an ongoing price reduction, but of course it could change that at any time. What's more, you usually have to sign up for a minimum of 12 months, but Odeon has confirmed there's currently a three month minimum term only when paying monthly.
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£2.50 child AND adult tickets for selected screenings
With 'Odeon Kids' screenings you can get £2.50 tickets for kids (aged 14 and under) and accompanying adults on weekends and school holidays for MyOdeon members booking online (£3 for MyOdeon members booking at the cinema). If you aren't a MyOdeon member, you can sign up free, otherwise you'll pay £3.25 online or £3.75 at the cinema.
Odeon offers a small selection of movies per week (usually two or three, labelled with 'Odeon Kids'). See Odeon for current listings.
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See 'mystery' movie preview screenings for about £6 via Odeon Screen Unseen
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If you'd like a sneak peek of a movie before it's released to the masses, there's a much better solution than streaming some dodgy illegal copy filmed on a camcorder.
If you're someone who doesn't mind surprises, you can catch preview screenings of upcoming movies for £6 if booked online at Odeon with free MyOdeon membership (or £7 in-cinema), or £7 online without MyOdeon membership (£8 in-cinema).
The catch is, you won't know which movie you're seeing until it starts
Odeon says it'll always have a rating from 'U' to '15' and won't be a horror movie – they're reserved for its separate Scream Unseen.
Previous Screen Unseen movies include Free Guy, Another Round, Parasite, Extra Ordinary, and Booksmart – so based on this, you probably shouldn't expect a blockbuster of the magnitude of Avengers, but if you're someone who likes to go see movies in general, this can be a good and fun way to get your hands on a cheap ticket.
Register at Odeon Screen Unseen and you'll be emailed when a movie is available to book.
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Vue deals
90 cinemas across the UK – find your nearest
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TWO Vue tickets for £7 to any 2D movie on any day for some Vodafone phone customers
Vodafone mobile customers can get two adult tickets for £7 (£3.50 each) at most Vue cinemas to see any 2D movie each week through the My Vodafone app. This popular offer is now back, and Vodafone has confirmed it's ongoing.
You'll need to have a Vodafone pay monthly or small business contract, or if you're a pay-as-you-go customer you'll need to have topped up £10 or more in the last 60 days.
How to get the deal
- Download or sign into the free My Vodafone App, select the 'VeryMe' button to access a list of available offers and choose the Vue deal.
- Visit the Vue link within the deal and you'll be able to claim a promo code for two tickets for £7.
- You'll be emailed two e-codes which you can exchange at the box office or online (but not over the phone).
The offer refreshes each week at 00.01am on Mondays, so if you've had a code before, that's when you can pick up a new code to go again.
What's particularly good about this deal, is it can be used to see any 2D movie, on any day of the week, including weekends when discounts are rare. However, depending on the price of tickets at your local Vue, you may be able to get a better deal on a Tuesday or Wednesday using Meerkat Movies.
- Download or sign into the free My Vodafone App, select the 'VeryMe' button to access a list of available offers and choose the Vue deal.
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£2.49 child AND adult tickets for selected screenings
With 'Vue Mini Mornings' screenings you can get £2.49 tickets for kids aged 2-12 and accompanying adults on weekends after 10am and every morning during school holidays, when booked online or via the Vue app (if bought at the cinema, tickets are £3.49 each).
What's on offer will vary by cinema. See Vue for current listings.
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Showcase deals
20 cinemas across Great Britain – find your nearest
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Sign up for FREE membership to save about £4 on Showcase cinema tickets on selected days
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If you've a Showcase cinema near you (see all locations), you can get tickets to see 2D movies, including new releases, for £7.50 (£9.50 at Bluewater) from 7pm on Sunday, and all day Monday and Tuesday. Tickets normally cost up to £11 (£15 at Bluewater).
All you need to do is sign up for free to Showcase's 'Insider' membership. You'll be sent a membership card by post but you can print off a temporary card, or show it on your phone, to use it before it arrives, or use it immediately online.
You can book the cheap tickets by showing your card at the box office, or online by selecting the 'Insider' ticket option (there's a 60p booking fee).
14 cinemas across England and Scotland – find your nearest
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£2 child AND adult tickets for selected screenings
With 'Empire Jnrs' screenings you can get £2 tickets for kids (aged 14 and under) and accompanying adults on weekends at selected cinemas. If booking online, there's a 70p per ticket fee.
You can usually choose from a couple of movies each week, which will be recent (but not the newest) releases or classic family movies. See Empire for current listings.
General cinema cost cutters
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It's no surprise to anyone that snacks and drinks bought at the cinema often have a high mark-up. Although that waft of popcorn when you enter the cinema lobby can easily tempt many, you'll be paying a lot more than if you brought your own snacks – though it's long been thought that cinemas don't allow this, so MoneySavers have been sneaking snacks into their bags, pockets and socks (maybe?) for years.
However... Cineworld, Odeon, Vue, Empire and Showcase all told us its policy is that you can bring your own drink (as long as it's non-alcoholic and not in a glass container) and food, as long as it's not hot nor has an overly strong odour – so you shouldn't be whipping out a cheeseboard or egg sandwich, but chocolates or sweets, or a bit of fruit are fine – just be mindful of loud crunching.
While the big cinema chains we asked shared the same policy, it may not be universal at all cinema brands or independents.
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There's nothing worse than sitting through a terrible movie for two hours, especially when you've paid to watch it. Save yourself (and your money) from any modern day equivalent of Jaws: The Revenge by checking out reviews from other cinema-goers first.
The two most popular free movie review sites are IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes. You can get a quick glance at a movie's overall user rating, read reviews from the public, or see what critics thought. Don't worry about spoilers, reviews that include those are clearly marked.
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Cineworld and Odeon have both offered paid-for memberships for many years now which allow you to see as many 2D movies as you want at their cinemas for a set monthly fee.
These subscription deals are generally for serious movie buffs who tend to see three or more movies a month – and of course it's only worthwhile if you live or work near that brand of cinema. Yet as memberships for some are now as little as £10 a month, it may now be worth it for more people.
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With the proliferation of video streaming services such as Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video and Now over the past few years, there is less need to venture to the cinema to get your film fix – and with packages for the big services mentioned costing less than £12 a month, you can watch a lot more movies for your money at home – see our TV MoneySaving tricks.
Of course, watching a movie from your living room sofa is a different experience to the cinema, but if you're not so fussed about the night out element, or giant screen, then streaming services can be a good alternative to forking out for a cinema ticket, especially if you're paying for one or more of them anyway.
While the majority of big studio blockbusters will get their first showing at the cinema, there's been a trend in recent years – which became even more prevalent during lockdowns – of some movies being released on streaming services at the same time as their cinema release.
Some movies don't even make it to the cinema at all – Netflix for example, produces its own original movies – see our Netflix hacks for how to cut the cost and get more from your subscription. Disney+ has also previously skipped the cinema and offered movies exclusively on the streaming service such as the live-action Lady and the Tramp and Hamilton – see how to get Disney+ for £5.99 a month (normally £7.99) if you're an O2 customer.
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