How Do People Go to The Movies for Cheap in 2023?

So I recently went to see Oppenheimer at the cinema, my first time there since 2020.
Because of the popularity of the movie I went and reserved the seats online to avoid turning up and having to go home.

Hoyts charge an extra fee for you to print your own ticket at home, what bull!
I begrudgingly paid the for the tickets because I don't think I had a choice.
I also tried looking at the prices for different days of the week, because I remembered there used to be cheaper tickets on a Tuesday, that seems to be no longer the case.

So I'm asking here, what's your way to go to the cinema on the cheap in this day and age? Any discounts or hacks?

Please don't suggest piracy in the comments, I'm not desperate enough to watch someones dodgy camcorder work.

Comments

  • +31

    I'm not desperate enough to watch someones dodgy camcorder work.

    Do people still do this?

    Generally when people visit the high seas the quality is full quality rips. maybe not the current in cinema releases though.

    Don't some Credit Cards provide movie tickets or something?

    • +8

      Yarr! I don't think there's any quality rips if the film isn't on a streaming service or out on Blu-Ray

      • +2

        Yarr! If ye know the path to a treasure map, surely ye will find a treasure chest full of Blu-Ray coins. I be in possession of such a map that I will part for a handful of toucan and an white oak leg-peg.

    • +1

      I do it. Last movie I saw through a cam was Jurassic Park in the 90s.

      • +9

        last movie I saw through a cam was Jurassic Park in the 90

        So, you don't do it if the last time was 30 years ago?

        • +3

          I never consciously stopped doing it, I'd still watch a good cam if one came up I think. I just haven't done it in 30 years.

      • Mate, we want quality ok. Telecine and nothing less.

    • +7

      Do people still do this?

      I think they stopped for a few years but in the past few months have popped up again. For movie watchers who use their phone or tablet, I guess. Couldn't imagine someone dropping $5000 on an OLED TV and watching a TS or cam.

    • +7

      I prefer other types of camcorder work

      • +3

        YouRedHub amateur is the best.

        • Even that one has less camcorder type of videos now …

      • +5

        User name checks out

    • +2

      Yeah poor quality "cam" torrents come out in the first week of a new release, are easily ignored (well, for those without ADHD anyway) until a few weeks later when high quality rips from satellite streams appear. And if it wasn't available on a streaming service or Blu-Ray within weeks, then no-one saw it at the movie theater either because it wasn't popular enough to buy the rights to air it. e.g. I viewed a high quality rip of the new Top Gun while it was still airing at theaters. And where do people think rips from physical media sent to the movie theaters come from? (Theater staff.)

      So my solution is:

      • Torrent client
      • thepiratebay or 1337x
      • HUGE crisp plasma TV someone was giving away
      • Surround sound system someone else was giving away
      • And the money (and brain cells) saved by filtering out woke garbage goes toward trying different popcorn recipes on youtube
      • do you have a torrent client of preference? i'm still using Deluge after switching from uTorrent several years back. probably 2019 looking at the info screen.

        • +2

          I use deluge too and qbittorent

        • May I know why? Haven't used any torrent clients for years, but might have to look into those reasons if I feel like I need to grab something.

        • I found qBittorrent had the best feature set for me. It's the same as plain uTorrent but with some code mods. For example, when you click on a magnet link you get some option checkboxes (you can also right-click on the file later if you forget) to select "Download first and last pieces first" and "Download in sequential order". The first option is required by some video players/video file formats in order to start playing a video before it's finished downloading. And the second option allows you to watch the first say 5 or 10 minutes without any blank gaps (continuous video for the first few/several minutes). So by selecting both of these it allows you to start the download, download say 5 or 10%, then pause and play it to check it's what you want (video quality, in English, sound and video in sync, haven't already seen it but forgotten, etc). Because I use phone SIMs as my sole internet this saves wasting data, by not needing to download the entire thing before I can start viewing it. Because you can start viewing after just a few minutes, it also means you can keep viewing most files (depending on the number of seeds/sources) because the file often completes downloading faster than you can watch it. So it basically gives you access to options that should be available in uTorrent but aren't.

      • PTP doesn't even allow cams, only clean retail releases. Though PTP has been down for ages now. Last update from the team was 29 July 💀 https://ptp.trackerstatus.info

      • -3

        What app/browser plugin to you have to filter out the woke garbage?

        • +9

          I VPN to mainland China for this

          They’re pretty good at filtering out human rights, choice, inequalities and all that other woke stuff.

        • -3

          Sorry, just my own research by watching youtube reviews mainly. I don't actively seek them out. When I go to youtube it puts suggestions on the home page for videos. The main one being a channel called "The Quartering" … He talks about any new movies that are woke, and why, and the stupid things its actors and studios say, the brainwashing foisted on kids, etc. So by the time they are released I already have a good idea what kind of slant it's going to have. e.g. I was planning on watching the new Snow White but then saw the stupid "diverse" photo you've probably seen that made it look like a bad school play, and then the repugnant comments from it's "star" - and I thought Barbie would be funny to watch, but then saw it was just another "all men are useless and stupid" film to comfort lonely obese feminist cat owners who have flushed their lives down the toilet to die miserable and alone.

          • @[Deactivated]: Help me understand this: do you think Disney are bothered by you saying that you wont steal their movie because some guy on YouTube told you that it was woke?

            You will only pirate movies that you deem “not woke”…

            You will only steal from the very people that you support!!? What the actual f.

            Bahahaha lmao

            • -4

              @2025: I don't care what Disney think. They've proven to the world they're groomers, proudly crowing about deliberately inserting groomer material in their movies. So I really hope they DO ignore people like me, keep getting worse, until as many parents as possible see them for what they are - a danger to children. I saw today they're making another toxic movie about a teenage girl who spread her knees for satan to impregnate her. They really are SICK IN THE HEAD, not much higher on the garbage scale above vile people who sex-traffick kids.

              As for "pirate"

              a) It's not "pirating" because the "pirate" is the one who does the rip, and…
              b) He's still not a "pirate" unless he sells it AND gets money from me.
              c) Just because something isn't 100% toxic doesn't mean it's good. I don't support the 5% of Pedowood who aren't addicted to kiddie love, until they "cancel-culture" the other 95% who still are.
              d) Every movie comes onto TV for free at some point. I'm merely watching it a bit earlier. For those who will now say, "But the advertisers pay for the movie and you watch the ads…" No, I don't. I'd turn the volume down or do something more enjoyable like go urinate. And if I had to pay, I wouldn't watch - so they're losing nothing.

              • +2

                @[Deactivated]: Yeah nah, piracy is simply partaking in the property of others without compensation. Distribution and downloading are both acts of piracy. I'm not being moralistic or even judgemental, just honest.

                • -1

                  @us3rnam3tak3n: Rubbish. I'm weary of people making dishonest statements about this. As I said if I had to pay I simply wouldn't view it. Or, I only view it because it cost $0. So either way, they would have, and did, miss out on exactly $0. Not only that, it's in digital form… they've lost no physical medium, and no digital medium either for that matter. No disc, no plastic case, no printed paper insert, no bytes lost either, so they still own all the original versions, everything they owned before. Nothing has gone, no quantity, no medium, no bytes switched from them to me, nothing reduced in count on their side nor added to mine after it's viewed and deleted. In fact if anything they have GAINED something from me. Because if If the movie is good I tell others who may decide to pay for it. (I do my best to convert people, but some are just stubborn, lol.) The reason all this is so silly is, if I instead said, "The library has it…" or, "The neighbour loaned it to me on disc…", or someone on Scumtree/Farcebook gives it away… Then me watching it for $0 would now be ok to the same people who said it's "wrong" to download it also for $0. By me not driving to the library or pick it up I "save the planet" a little from the fairy story for adults of climate change too.

                  The fact they took language relating to condos, cars, clothes, and cats (real theft of real objects) and applied it to digital bits and bytes instead, is complete nonsense. In fact if I could drive my car into some machine, scan it, then give someone an exact copy… I would. Because it doesn't cost me anything to share, because I still have the original. And so does the place with the movie.

                  • -1

                    @[Deactivated]: Welp
                    Obviously you’ve never worked hard to create something.
                    Such a sense of entitlement to other peoples blood sweat and tears.
                    Sounds like communism tbh. I thought i had disconnected my VPN to China.
                    Perhaps you’re in the wrong society if you believe all that?
                    If you don’t believe in paying someone for their time, knowledge, and effort, what more can I say.
                    Anyway the point is, that by your own admission, you only steal, pirate, and feel entitled to the content from people you like. And you’re hurting them the most. What a joke.

                    • -1

                      @2025: Oh boo hoo. For the third time THEY'RE MISSING OUT ON NOTHING. Oh and most of HollowWeird/PedoWood ADORE communism and/or socialism. So they should be handing out free DVDs and working for a basic and much-reduced universal wage. But they only want communism and socialism for everyone else, not themselves.

                      • @[Deactivated]: China also feel the same with copyright/patents/intellectual property

                        Pretty sure you’re a commie

                        As I said if I had to pay I simply wouldn't view it

                        Even crack head car theives dont say “if i had to pay i simply wouldnt drive it” like what

                        • -2

                          @2025:

                          Pretty sure you’re a commie

                          Not sure how not wanting to be indoctrinated by woke movies by leftists who love communism and marxism qualifies as being one, but ok.

                          Even crack head car theives dont say “if i had to pay i simply wouldnt drive it” like what

                          A car thief… steals cars… so the owners no longer have them. Irrelevant example.

                          • @[Deactivated]: Oooo so if the thief returns the car before the owner notices its gone then everything is ok???

                            Counterfeit money must be fine too eh? You’re just making a copy? The original money still exists…

                            Im calling you a communist because you are stealing someone else’s hard work without a thought of compensating them properly. Not sure if you’ve ever worked, but generally in a capitalist society we get rewarded for work, and the right to protect our creations from theft. To suggest otherwise, that the creation is simply there for anyone to take, that it belongs to the people, etc leans too close to communism for comfort.

                            • -1

                              @2025:

                              • Thief steals car - it qualifies as "theft" because the car has been moved from the owner's driveway to the thief's, and the owner no longer owns it. (And why would he return it - pointless stealing it in the first place if he plans to do that. Anyway…)

                              • Person downloads movie - nothing was stolen, just copied, owner still has his, still owns it, and nothing needs returning.

                              It's not close to "communism" because communist GOVERNMENT (not individuals) take everything, then either keep it or meter it out to whoever THEY choose to give it to. They don't COPY your stuff, leave you with the original, then hand it out to others who WOULD HAVE paid for it, thus reducing your income.

                              I think it's dumb to pay for something that will be on FTA TV, or at someone's house on DVD three months from now when I drop by, or able to be borrowed from a library, or picked up from someone giving it away on Facebook marketplace, or a dozen other free sources, when one of those other free sources is a torrent.

                              a) They didn't lose their work because they still have it.
                              b) They lost no compensation because if I had to pay I wouldn't watch.
                              c) It doesn't belong to the people, it still belongs to him, he missed out on nothing, goto point A.

                              • @[Deactivated]: You are taking something that isn’t yours without permission. Simple as that.

                                How do you feel about copying money? Patents?

                                • @2025: I'm "taking" nothing so no permission needed. If I take their car that's something that theirs without permission. Simple as that.

                                  No point in comparing a bunch of unrelated things that have zero bearing on 1's and 0's. EVERYTHING else you can bring up will either be a physical object, and/or you're referring to someone losing the use of it, and/or the "new" person using it to make money for themselves. e.g. Counterfeiting. It's not the same so it's irrelevant. Check the original points again… They still own the original, if I had to pay I wouldn't use it (copy money) anyway, and neither the original seeder nor downloader are making any money from it (not buying stuff with fake notes).

                                  I will say many patents are nonsense. I've seen so-called "inventions" that are nearly exact copies of things 100 years ago, but because someone was the first person to "patent" it, they get to claim it as theirs. These are far more dishonest people than someone download, watching, then deleting a movie - which can be seen for free in weeks, while patents (they shouldn't have been able to register anyway) last what… another 100 years?

                                  • @[Deactivated]: The fact that its 1 and 0s has nothing to do with it.

                                    So old school pirating, VHS tape to VHS tape is bad? But digital is OK?

                                    If its just ones and zeros then surely revenge porn is ok? No one loses the original? No one gains anything? Its not done for profit? Your ex is free to copy and share those compromising photos of you and those things… Because the original is still there… No one would pay for them anyway…

                                    Or rewind a few decades - using your logic, surely its ok for the photo lab guy to run a few copies of your family photos while developing them for his own private viewing? Then make copies of those and hand them around to many anonymous people he meets? And everyone who gets a copy is ok to do with those snaps what they please because nothing tangible has been stolen?

                                    I guess its an honour system isn’t it. Content creators have basically said “i will create this piece that will give you value, in the form of entertainment or something to look at for a couple of hours, if you pay for it”

                                    You might've said to your ex “yes ill put that in there, you can take photos but…”

                                    You’ve decided yeah nah ill take it anyway…

                                    • @2025:

                                      The fact that its 1 and 0s has nothing to do with it.

                                      It absolutely does. It's now in an intangible, valueless, format. The data (a movie stored as 1's and 0's) holds no real value. Now if i were to CONVERT it to another format, burn it onto a DVD-R and then SELL it… NOW they've missed out on something.

                                      So old school pirating, VHS tape to VHS tape is bad? But digital is OK?

                                      VHS to VHS is the same… No one lost nuthin'.

                                      If its just ones and zeros then surely revenge porn is ok?

                                      Is someone copyrighting and selling revenge porn!? :-O No, so it's another unrelated example. No one made, copyrighted, or sold an original of revenge porn in theaters. So no one is missing out on money either. (We hope.)

                                      using your logic, surely its ok for the photo lab guy…

                                      Photos? Who'd bother. Even so I wasn't selling them myself, so if he does he's still not stealing from me because I lose nothing. Good luck to him. And I wouldn't know about it anyway so why/how would I care. Just like the company some think is "missing out on income" by me downloading their movie. They don't know I downloaded, viewed, then deleted that either (and again, if I had to pay I wouldn't watch, so they lost nothing). So like with the photos, they don't know about it to care about it.

                                      I guess its an honour system isn’t it. Content creators have basically said “i will create this piece that will give you value, in the form of entertainment or something to look at for a couple of hours, if you pay for it”

                                      Well the fact I choose not to pay doesn't prevent them making it. They still create it whether I pay or not.

                                      You might've said to your ex “yes ill put that in there, you can take photos but…”

                                      Not sure what this one was about. Nude pics of the wife developing at the photo place maybe? That's why I bought a digital camera before smartphones were a thing.

                                      You’ve decided yeah nah ill take it anyway…

                                      I decided to download, watch, and delete something. While taking nothing.

                                      • @[Deactivated]: Oh so many little qualifiers to justify it.

                                        It has to be made for theatres. You wouldn’t know about it so you wouldn’t care. Then in the next breath you say it’s why you got a digital camera. So much for not caring.

                                        According to you - people’s digital lives, photos and videos are free for the taking because, well, the reasons you give. I might decide to show someone a video, and now apparently that justifies a thief coming along and stealing all my photos and videos and showing them to other people. I sure hope you lack the ability and intelligence to actually carry that theft out.

                                        Just because someone doesn’t know about a crime doesn’t mean it didn’t happen lol.

                  • @[Deactivated]: That's a lot of words to say, "I don't grasp the concept of digital piracy".

                    • @us3rnam3tak3n: It's not that I don't grasp it, I don't accept the concept itself is valid. The theft of a car, wallet, pet, generator… is not the same as a digital copy of a movie. It just ISN'T. No matter how hard try to hammer that square peg into a round hole. It's not a theft, at least not without someone SELLING and PROFITING from the copy INSTEAD of the original owner. Nearly all (real) thefts involve person one taking something from person two, so person two loses access to it, never sees or gets to use it again, suffers from the loss because they have to buy a replacement, or go without because they can't afford to. None of these are true with "piracy."

                      • @[Deactivated]: Nobody is claiming that digital and physical piracy are identical. The loss is potential profit. If someone gives you a drive with a digital copy of something that you were never going to pay for under any circumstances then I agree, that loss is nil. However by torrenting the same file you are participating in the distribution, allowing others to download it who might have paid under different circumstances.

                        It might be easy to dismiss the losses of wealthy organisations such as Disney rather than some garage band making a few bucks from Spotify but the act is the same regardless of the victim.

                        • @us3rnam3tak3n: But that's my point… it's only potential profit if someone would pay, if they couldn't download for free. I wouldn't. I'd just forgot about it and watch or do something else. There's been movies I've wanted to see that weren't available. I found some on youtube (so much for copyright, piracy, etc). A few I found on sites like Vimeo. And a few I never found - so no great loss, I didn't watch them. So yes, it is the same, no one, large or small, lost a cent due to me.

        • Definition of woke: modern slang word meaning "being nice to people"

          • @bmerigan: Nope. Woke people are actually the most toxic, miserable, controlling, and racist people I've seen in my life.

    • +10

      A: 10
      V:10
      Thanks YIFY!!

    • Theres still tons of cams for every popular movie. So someone obviously watch them. I set it for no cams to come up on my streams. Everything comes up in high quality for pirates around the same time.

  • +13

    Tightarse Tuesdays still exists for cheap movie tickets

    • event cinemas still have it

  • +11

    +1 for cheap Tuesdays. Otherwise find cheap tickets via your car insurer membership, superannuation membership, employer perks etc.

  • Justify it into the price, though there are cinemas which might be a bit cheaper.

    I personally would rather pay a bit extra and get something like a recliner, maybe larger screen, than scrimp and go the pov spec

    • Pov spec?

    • +1

      i agree once you've had wine & pizza in a comfy gold class recliner it's hard to be back in the pleb seats munching stale popcorn with watered down coke

      • BYO drinks and snacks?

  • +4

    What ever happened to 3D movies? Is it only IMAX these days? Still have the glasses, haha!

    • +14

      I'm glad they went the way of the dodo, same as 3d TV's!

      • It's very niche I still see some appreciation for it

        Too jarring for me personally.

        But if it's the red/blue 3D instead I will watch it for nostalgic sake

    • +3

      I think the 3d movies trend dropped off in the 2010s.

    • +2

      Avatar 2 was in 3D in non-IMAX cinemas. But yeah, 3D seems to have dropped off quite a lot, ~10 years ago there were heaps of movies coming out in both 2D and 3D variants.

      • +1

        3D movies are more of a novelty these days if you still got a 3D Bluray player happening

        • +2

          True, I would say they're a novelty in general. 4D movies are definitely novelty to the extreme.

        • Same with Gaming. VR is a novelty in gaming as well.

        • home 3d is dead as a dodo i think they stopped making 3d tv's back in 2016

    • +1

      4K came along, and I guess they chose that moment to abandon it

      I believe there were less than a handful of 4K 3D TV's ever made

        • That's the one!
          I up voted them too hhaha

        • there was some talk about them developing a new type of 3d screen that you didn't need glasses for
          lots of issues to work out because it apparently needed sensors to track the head movement of everyone in the room to project 3d properly

      • There were heaps of models released that support 3D through the 2010’s, although practically zero these days.

        • Not 4K tho…

    • I watched the 2012 Olympics on my 3D TV. Only time I used the glasses.

    • +5

      3D movies is a fad that comes back every couple of decades. It won't be long.

      For home theatre, curved screens are still a thing. When that dies out, if they can't find a new fad, 3D may return.

      • They'll come back when tv sales start to fall again.

      • +1

        Didn't they say they'll broadcast the World Cup in 3D?

  • +2

    I'm not desperate enough to watch someones dodgy camcorder work

    I am… Then if its good enough to go to the movies to see, worry then… walked out of many movies after paying full $

    Or wait for a good DVD rip…

    I dont need to be one of the first 2 people to see a movie… usually months down the track is fine by me

    • Or wait for a good DVD rip…

      What's a DVD?

  • +3

    Cinema membership provides cheaper tickets, special pricing for certain days, sessions, free ticket for birthday, etc.

  • +12

    If you're a member of RACQ (or equivalent club), they offer discounts when purchasing through their portal. We pay $12.50 for adults and $10.00 for kids for standard tickets. There is a small surcharge if VMAX or Fri/Sat nights from memory.
    You have the option of using them on the cinema website to book but they charge a fee PER SEAT which I dislike greatly… we just take the voucher on a phone screen to the counter to avoid this, although, this might not be a good idea for busy times where they potentially sell out.
    Hope this helps!

    • +1

      I do this also. However they just raised the prices to $13.50 for an adult ticket now. Also the VMAX upgrade is more than a small fee I believe, think those tickets end up being $17.50-$18.50? You also need to still pay a booking fee when you redeem these vouchers online.

    • I used to also get the $6.50 popcorn and drink from RACV. Is that still a thing?

    • Yep this.

      With RACV and they do random deals every now n then. Restricted Monday tix are currently $9, which used to be $8 a few weeks ago. Saw Barenheimer for that price xD But yes, easier to just rock up and scan rather than pay the extra fees.

      Otherwise good ol Cheap Tuesdays.

    • Also do the same here with RAC in WA. Sneak in a $1 frozen coke and some gummy lollies in the wife’s handbag and we’re set.

      There are also a few charity/community outdoor cinemas that run during the summer which usually play new movies and are usually pretty cheap and you can often bring your own food/drinks.

      In Perth there is also a drive in cinema in Kingsley which is $22 per car on Tuesdays, or $11 per adult other days.

  • +1

    Telstra account (you don't need to have an active service)

    • How do you get this? Buy a prepaid service?

      • At worst yes, but I'm not even sure that you even need that?
        I dunno, I'm old enough to have had a landline…

        My last Telstra account was ~5 years ago? back in the day of Telstra Prepaid Plus, an OzB favourite.

        $12 movie tickets (no booking fee) if I remember correctly.
        There may even have been a Code posted on OzB a month or 3 ago so that you didn't even need the Telstra account.

        • Hmm interesting, I've got a telstra account because I got Boost, but I don't think I have access to the bonuses. They might have disabled it for new accounts?

          • @ozziekhoo: It's part of Telstra Plus I think.

            I'd be surprised if it was restricted knowing Telstra's pretty terrible billing system

    • This (cheap tickets without an active service) stopped working recently :(

      • No it didn't, at least not in WA with Event Cinemas. I used Telstra Plus for $13.50 tickets last week.

  • +3

    How about the new one…. anyone ??

    67-metre wide cinema screen opens in Australia

    A game-changing new cinema with an outrageously wide screen has just opened, with plans to open several locations across Australia.
    https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/movies/67metre-wide-ci…

    • +2

      Next thing you know someone will invent drive-ins. Again.

      The side screens are pointless. After a few minutes, without thinking about it, everyone will revert to the middle screen only because that's where the real movie is happening, because that's how movies are designed - for the greater amount of screens out there. This is why we can watch any modern movie on a 4:3 screen and still miss nothing in 99.99% of movies. Those stupid dividing lines also guarantee it will die. If it were one continuous 3x wide screen with no separating lines, then he might have a point. But again, everyone is still going to revert to the middle area without thinking. It's just another gimmick that will be dead in a couple of years.

      • Was sad to see Dandenong drive in screen get ripped down last week :(

  • +1

    Some hoyts are cheaper than locations (same state).

    • "Send me location"

  • +6

    How Do People Go to The Movies for Cheap in 2023?

    Just walk in. Nobody checks at our local cinema…

    • +1

      More fun to hide 4 people in the boot.

    • Isn't it reserved seating?

      • +4

        There's usually 10 people max in a given movie at my local. Probably 100 seats so its never a problem

        • Which cinema is it!

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