HOUSTON – Nine dollars is about what you'll pay for a movie ticket these days. Add the cost of concessions and extra tickets, if you're taking the whole family, and you can easily spend about $75. You can pay a lot less by signing up for some movie discount clubs.
"I like Gerard Butler," Sandra Joseph Taylor said. "John Travolta and Denzel Washington, doesn't matter what they are in, I'm going to see it. I don't care what it is."
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And Joseph Taylor could go see her leading men in all the movies they could make because she's an official card-carrying member of Movie Pass. For $9.95 a month, you can see a movie every 24 hours.
"In a weekend, I'll go see a movie Friday, Saturday and Sunday," Joseph Taylor said. "If nobody's doing anything, OK- movie weekend!"
When she joined Movie Pass three years ago, the price was $35 a month. Last year, Movie Pass lowered the price to just $9.95 a month. You can only have one movie pass per household or address and it must be linked to a smartphone because it works with an app. Movie Pass shows you theaters near you where you can get tickets and available show times. When you choose one, you have half an hour to go get your tickets at the theater.
Cinemark recently started its own Movie Club. For $8.99 a month, you can see one movie and get 20% off concessions. If you don't go see a movie in a month, you can roll tickets over each month and save them. This may be good in some cities, but at local Cinemark theaters we checked, adult tickets are only $6.90. On Tuesdays, you can see any movie at Cinemark Theaters for $5.50.
If you're not ready for either commitment, you might like Cinemark Theaters Oscar Movie Week lets you see all 9 Academy Award nominated best pictures between Feb. 26 and March 4.
Regal Cinemas Best Picture Film Festival starts on Feb. 23. The series pass at both chains is $35, which comes out to $3.88 a movie.