Cinematics 2013

This time last year, I wrote about the number of films I’d seen in 2012, thanks to that Cineworld Unlimited ticket.

Last year, in six months I saw 26 films.

This year, I ended up seeing 65 films – and all for the princely sum (over the year) of £192. Cineworld raised the price of the card to £16 per month – from £15 – but that still means that seeing more than one film a month means the card pays for itself. And that doesn’t include the extra discounts (now 25%) on any food/drink I happen to buy at the cinema. (not that I bother in general, but still, it’s the spirit of the thing)  That’s a pretty sweet deal for someone as geeky as me.

When you work it out per film, that means I paid £2.95 per film. That’s ridiculous. Hell, I don’t even pay for parking at the Milton Keynes Xscape one – if you go during the day and pay for parking, you tear off one part of the ticket, and they refund that too.

I really don’t understand how Cineworld makes money off these tickets – except, I suppose, that it’s guaranteed income for the year. One assumes that they hope that the majority of card holders come and also pay for food/drink/popcorn (sorry, but popcorn just isn’t food) which boosts it up. It’s either that, or they hope it’s like gym membership, and people sign up for the year, then don’t come as often as they expect/plan to.