Been To The Cinema Lately?

 

ron burgundyHave you been to the cinema lately? We have. It’s expensive. It was for the husband’s birthday, and it was just the two of us, and I was genuinely shocked at how much it was. Am I just getting old?! It cost us £8.50 each, and then, as we were out treating ourselves, we also got a hot dog and a small drink each – how much? Go on, guess. £7.25. Each. How is this possible?! Ticket price aside, that much money for refreshments is absolutely appalling, and I cannot see how they can justify it. I feel sorry for the staff who have to charge it, and deal with people complaining about it.

cinemaNow, we do like our films. In our life before children, we’d regularly go to the cinema, so I’m not sure whether it’s gone up a lot since we used to go, or whether we were simply more wasteful back then! We have a Lovefilm subscription now, that costs us £7.99 per month. With that we get instant streaming on our TV and an unlimited amount of films per month. I can buy a big bag of sausages and a packet of hot-dog buns for around £3. I know, I know, that it’s just not the same. There is something about the cinema experience, but quote honestly, it concerns me that we’re not going to be able to justify a family trip to the cinema when Little Man is old enough to go. It’ll be nearly £30 just to get in, and there’s no way we’ll be buying food again – we’ll be the family with the sweets and drinks in my handbag. I just think £30 is a lot for a film, when we could watch one at home every single week (or even every single day!) for just £8. I remember going to the cinema with my family when I was little and it was an exciting trip. I’m sad that we’re unlikely to be doing that very often. There’s just better things for us to spend that amount of money on. We’ve always eschewed any film piracy here, and despite these astronomic prices, we will continue to do so, as I don’t want to see the film industry damaged, and really, if we can see films for that £8 per month, that seems more than reasonable for me. I can see why it happens, though, and I’m unsurprised that we were sitting in a near empty screening. I think we’ll be having a family film night, once a week, with popcorn, pic’n’mix – whatever the kids want, with the lights dimmed, and we’ll have to just create an experience out of that for them.

Having grumbled on, I’d love to know what everyone else thinks? Is it worth the price for the experience? Is it a regular outing on your family’s agenda?

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14 thoughts on “Been To The Cinema Lately?”

  1. It is extremely expensive, its dearer than that at our cineworld. We only go to the cinema on Wednesdays now using the orange 241 deal. It cost £8.10 but I still take snacks in my bag.
    Vue cinema do Saturday am deals which are £1.50 pp but the screenings are early and older films.
    It is dear. There should be family tickrts at least!

    1. It’s really expensive, isn’t it? I think, as you mention, I’ll take them to the Sat am deals when they’re older, as even though the films are older, they’ll at least get the cinema experience that way. Thanks x

    1. It’s unbelievably expensive, isn’t it?! Such a shame, I think, but there’s just loads of other ways that I’d rather treat them with that amount of money. Thanks for reading 🙂

  2. Personally I don’t think it is, unless it’s for one of the Epic big screeners like a new Bond movie or Avatar. We’re like you – at the cinema twice a week before the kids, but now, taking the family is just prohibitive, especially as the DVD is out so quickly these days

    1. Yes, I understand it a bit more for the epics, but even then, it’d have to be impressive for us all to go. Looks like we’ll be sticking to creating the effect at home!

  3. OH MY GOD I SO TOTALLY AGREE

    In fact I have written my own similar rant. You pay more for the sweets and popcorn than you do tickets and then some sod sits next to you and rustles the whole way through.

    or eats a stinking hot dog.

    I hate the cinema

    1. I’m getting that vibe from you…! It’s ridiculously expensive, especially the food, so it’s just not happening here any more!

  4. Yep! Totally with you! Is daylight robbery – I completely refuse to buy food at the pictures now! And avoid going at all unless there’s a voucher for it somewhere!

    1. It’s outrageous! How are they getting away with it?! It seems everyone agrees, yet they’re still able to charge it?!

  5. We take our own snacks and drinks. I don’t care what the “policy” is. I use the fact that my husband and son have food intolerances as my reason, and that the cinemas don’t provide food they can eat, and if they give me any hassle, I make a huge fuss. It’s insanely expensive. A trip to the cinema with two adults, two kids, and snacks etc, can cost as much as it would for my husband and I to go out for a cheap meal, if we add it all up! Last time, we spent nearly £45!

    1. It’s just not worth that effort and money, is it? Families are priced out – maybe they’re not targeting us any more?! Thanks for reading 🙂

  6. It’s funny because I literally just posted a blog post about a film we saw on the weekend. I am afraid I am going to be the only one to disagree. Not because I think it is cheap, but because I love going to the cinema so much that I have always found ways for it to be cheaper. There are so many cheaper options, just to give a quick flavour from my cinema, they have tuesday cheap night (1/2 price tickets), wednesday is 2 4 1, saturday and sunday mornings £1 kids movies and finally for us we have the unlimited card, it costs us £15 per month each but because we go at least twice a month it is worth us paying it. So really it depends on your priorities, cinema is a priority to me so not expensive, but I can understand how it can be if you have to buy full price. You have inspired me to write a blog post about this though, so thanks.

    Food – we get 25% off with our unlimited card, but usually we take snacks in with us.
    Kat x

    1. Wow – so many great tips! You should definitely write a blogpost sharing them all. We do enjoy going, but just cannot justify that sort of expenditure, so your tips would be really welcome 🙂

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