One of the best ideas I had for my personal enjoyment was deciding to invest in a cinema pass. If you don’t know what a cinema pass is, it’s almost like a Netflix subscription. You pay a certain amount of money each month, and get to watch a certain number of movies for free (excluding the tax imposed). You also gain access to various other benefits, like waived online fees or a discount on snacks. How many movies you’re allowed to watch depends on which cinema you’re paying the subscription to.
At Cinemark, you pay $10.99 per month which gives you access to one free movie per month, with any unused tickets rolling over. Alamo Drafthouse offers a series of plans, with the lowest plan starting at $16.99. With this plan, you can watch one movie each day of the month and all you have to pay for is the tax fee, which is usually one dollar and a few cents. My personal favorite is Regal Cinema, where you just pay a fee of $21.49 per month for the opportunity to watch as many movies as you’d like per day, as there is not a limit to how many you can watch.
When I first learned what a movie club pass was, I was a little hesitant to subscribe and make that monthly payment commitment. But when I really gave it some thought, I realized that I would ultimately save more money if I subscribed rather than if I bought tickets individually, especially as one singular ticket can range from $10.00 to $15.00 depending on which movie theater you go to. And even if I only attended the cinema on discount Tuesdays (which offer are the cheapest days, where tickets are usually marked as $5.00), I would still be losing out on more money than if I had a subscription.
And yes, you can just choose to watch these movies from the comfort of your own home at no extra cost, but where’s the fun in that?
I’ve found that I can only fully appreciate the art and beauty of a movie when I’m watching it at the cinema. A few weeks ago, I came across a comment that read “why else would theaters exist if not to elevate the movies” and I genuinely couldn’t agree more. The clear-cut audio, the dimming lights, the big screen—all of these contribute to the ambience of the movie theater. And these are not the only significant factors that should be taken into consideration when deciding whether to watch a movie at home or not.
The sacred location, uninterrupted attention, the shared joy and sadness with strangers—these are what truly encompass the extraordinary feelings that you encounter at the movie theater. Going to the cinema allows you to undergo an unforgettable experience that is so much harder to achieve within the confines of your living room.
And that’s not to say that I don’t like watching movies at home, but some of the most memorable and engaging movies that I’ve seen have been the ones where I’ve come out of the theater with my hand over my stomach because of how hard I was laughing at the varied reactions of the audience.
So if you’re an avid movie watcher who frequents the cinema like me, consider getting a movie club pass. I promise you won’t regret it, and even if you do, you can cancel it at anytime (and no, this is not sponsored, I just really love going to the cinema).