Free Movie Tickets: How to Get Movie Ticket Deals and Discounts (2024)

If you love movies but hate paying for them, we’ve got you covered with several ways to get really cheap or free movie tickets. Sure, there are plenty of ways to watch movies for free at home with streaming services, but sometimes you just want to be in the theater with the popcorn — the whole nine yards. So how can you see movies for free (or at least almost free)?

From the ticket itself to the popcorn to seeing movies in 3-D, things can add up quickly (especially when you bring along kids). But we’ve got lots of tips to help you cut down on your costs, and even ways to get free movie tickets, including free movie offers if you're an Amazon Prime member. We’ll tackle using discounted gift cards, theater loyalty programs, movie subscriptions, and more.

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Offers, prices, and local participation may vary.

Limited-Time Movie Ticket Deals

Get up to two $5 Fandango promo codes to see Deadpool & Wolverine.

Get $5 Fandango promo code for Deadpool & Wolverine when you place an order for $20 or more at Jack in the Box online or in the Jack app through Aug. 20. Place two orders and you can grab two $5 Fandango promo codes (maximum). Offer ends Aug. 20.

You'll receive an email with your promo code(s) and instructions on how to redeem.

Get $2 off movie tickets at Fandango.

Get $2 off a Fandango movie ticket when order online or in-app (through Aug. 21) and use the promo code BACK2SCHOOL during checkout. You can also save $2 off another movie ticket during the next Fandango promotion between Aug. 26 - 29.

Regal Movie Tickets: Save 39% - 78% when you buy through Launching Deals.

You can save between 39% - 78% on Regal tickets when you purchase them through LaunchingDeals.

Watch family-friendly movies for under $3 or free during the summer.

Theaters like AMC, Regal, Cinemark, and others offer cheap — we're talking $3 or less (per person) — to see hit movies like Despicable Me 3, Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie, Minions: The Rise of Gru, and more. To find out where and when you can take the kiddos to see one of the family-friendly flicks, check out our cheap summer movies list (complete with prices, dates, and showtimes).

Enjoy free advanced screenings with Amazon Prime Premiere and Gofobo.

Amazon Prime Premiere Free Advanced Screenings

Amazon Prime members can get free movie tickets to see new Amazon original content (movies and TV series) in select cities, for one night only, before their Prime release date. All you have to do is visit PrimePremiere.Amazon one week before the screening and reserve your ticket.

You can reserve two (per Prime account) free movie tickets. Plus, you (and your guest) will get a free small popcorn and a small soda or water.

Tickets are on a first-come, first-serve basis, so reserve your tickets as soon as they become available at PrimePremiere.Amazon. Prime members also get exclusive access to photo ops and special giveaways.

Gofobo Free Advanced Screenings

Movie studios love to generate buzz before movies officially release, and the way they do that is by offering advance screenings. Look for free upcoming movie screenings through Gofobo.

Screenings aren’t available in every city, but they're worth looking into.

Save 20% - 40% with discounted tickets from Sam's Club and Costco.

Sam's Club Discount Movie Ticket Deals

Sam’s Club members can save 20% - 40% or more on movie tickets when they purchase them online at Sam’s Club Services Hub page. Here are the theaters and their savings:

Not a Sam's Club member? You can join now for $50 per year.

Costco Discount Movie Ticket Deals

Costco almost always has deals on movie theater gift cards. Membership to Costco is about to get more expensive on Sept. 1, 2024. But for now, you can join for $60 for the Gold Star and $120 for Executive. You can grab discount movie tickets with either membership.

• AMC Black 2 Standard Movie Tickets + $20 gift card for $39.99

• AMC Yellow 2 Standard Movie Tickets + $20 gift card for $36.99 (not usable in CA, NY, or NJ)

• Cinemark $50 eGift card for $39.99

These gift cards are good for tickets and concessions and can also be used on discount movie days.

Note: AMC no longer sells black or yellow tickets (tickets you can use across multiple AMC locations) directly. However, they never expire, so you can still buy them at places like Costco and use them.

• Black tickets: Good at any AMC location in the U.S.

• Yellow tickets: Good at any AMC location in the U.S., except CA, NY, and NJ

Pay with discounted movie gift cards.

Buy discounted gift cards from sites like Raise, Gift Card Granny, and Amazon, and save 10% or more. Watch for deeper discounts around the holidays and during big sales like Prime Day.

Watch a movie on Mondays for $5 before it's released at AMC, Regal, and Cinemark.

On select Mondays, AMC, Regal, and Cinemark show $5 mystery movies that the general public hasn't seen yet.

AMC Screen Unseen

With AMC Screen Unseen, moviegoers can watch a mystery movie for $5 (plus tax) at select theaters.

AMC will announce the movie rating, but not the title, until showtime. After the movie, they'll ask you to share your thoughts on X (formerly known as Twitter) for a chance to win a prize pack. You can order advance tickets online or in the AMC app.

Regal Mystery Movie

Regal Mystery Movie Monday is a promotion at select Regal theaters that lets you watch a movie before it premieres (hence, the mystery) for $5. You can buy up to 10 tickets.

Cinemark Secret Movie Series

Cinemark Secret Movie Series offers moviegoers a chance to watch an unknown movie before it's debut on the big screen.

Save up to 50% by seeing movies at certain times or on specific days, like Discount Tuesdays.

Plenty of theater chains — including AMC, Regal, and Cinemark — try to entice people to see movies midweek by offering $5 or $5.50 movies days like Discount Tuesdays.

AMC and Regal require you to be part of their free loyalty programs to get cheap tickets. Check with your local theater and skip the weekend rush to easily save 50% on movie tickets. Cinemark, on the other hand, offers their Discount Tuesday deal to all moviegoers.

Watching matinees (typically movies shown before 2 p.m. or 3 p.m.) can also save you up to 30% on regular ticket prices.

(If you’re someone who’d rather watch movies at home, we know all of the free streaming services offering access for your movie fix.)

With Regal’s Family Ticket, everybody pays $2 (yes, adults too!).

With a Regal Family Ticket (purchase online, in the Regal app, or in theaters) you can bring your kids (12 and under) to any Regal theater and pay child admission prices for everyone, including yourself. Here’s how it works: the family ticket is for a family of four, which means you can have two adults/two kids or one adult and three kids. If you have more than three children, you can just buy extra child tickets. The family ticket is not valid for R-rated movies.

Save on movie tickets with military, student, or senior discounts.

If you're a military member, student, or senior, look for information about specialty discounts on a theater's website. We found specialty discounts can save you up to 51%. Whether your local theater offers specialty discounts depends on several factors such as location, movie, and day of the week.

When buying your tickets at the ticket booth, be prepared to show valid ID. Here's a look at specialty discounts offered by AMC, Regal, Cinemark, Showcase, and Marcus theaters.

• AMC Regular Price: $12.49 Senior Price: $11.49

• Regal Regular Price: $11.50 Senior Price: $7

• Cinemark Regular Price: $11.25 Senior Price: $7

• Showcase Regular Price: $15.75: Senior Price: $7.75 (Wednesdays)

• Marcus Regular Price: $13.25; Military Price: $8.50; Student and School Faculty Price (Thursdays): $7.50; Senior Price: $10.25

Note that we checked prices in Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, and Ohio.

Join a free theater rewards program for movie discounts.

If you're looking to save on movie tickets and get other perks and freebies, sign up for a free rewards program. Here's a quick look at some of the benefits when you join the nation's three biggest theater programs:

AMC Insider

The AMC Stubs Insiderprogram gives you 20 points for every $1 you spend, and after 5,000 points you get a $5 reward that you can use on tickets. Members also enjoy a free large popcorn for their birthday and no ticketing fees when they buy at least four tickets online. Plus, members get access to those $5 Ticket Tuesdays.

Regal Crown Club

At Regal,Crown Clubmembers earn 100 points for every $1 spent, which adds up to free movies and concessions. You’ll get 1,000 points just for signing up and confirming your email. Plus, you can also earn extra points by visiting your local Regal theater a number of times per year. Same as AMC, you can use your rewards on movie tickets.

Cinemark Movie Rewards

In addition to discount Tuesday savings, Cinemark Movie Rewards members can redeem points (earn one point for every $1 spent) for movie tickets and get access to screenings.

Sign up for a movie theater subscription if you’re a frequent moviegoer.

Remember when MoviePass was the only game in town? Now there are plenty of movie theater subscriptions available — including a relaunched MoviePass service.

If you’re someone who wants to pay one monthly fee and then get the equivalent of tons of free movies, you’ll want to know all about how we compare the top seven movie theater subscription programs. If you see a lot of movies, this can be a solid way to save a ton of money.

Join Fandango VIP to screen movies for free, plus get other perks.

Fandango’s free loyalty program offers a bunch of perks, but every time you see four movies, you get a $5 credit — which you can use for movie tickets, digital rentals, or other purchases. In addition, VIPs get invitations to free movie screenings and exclusive events.

Fandango VIP works with theaters’ rewards programs. So make sure to sign up for those to keep getting reward points.

TIP: Fandango has an entire special offers page where they give free and discounted movie tickets to people who complete certain tasks or buy certain items. For example, moviegoers could get a free ticket worth up to $10 to see Despicable Me 4 when they spent $25 or more on select products in one transaction at Kroger. It’s worth bookmarking this site as these deals rotate throughout the year.

Grab BOGO movie tickets at Atom Tickets.

Atom Tickets is an online ticketing service that lets you buy movie tickets, preorder concessions, and skip lines when you order through their app or on AtomTickets.com. Keep an eye out for Atom Ticket promos like a $5 ticket for a select movie or BOGO ticket deals.

Other Ways to Score Discount Movie Tickets

Get free movie tickets from Applebee’s.

Yep, for the last few years Applebee’s has given away free movie tickets. In May of 2022, it was tickets to see Top Gun: Maverick. The most recent giveaway was in June 2023 for the newly released movie Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. All you had to do to get yourself a free ticket was spend $35 - $69.99 in a single transaction at your local Applebee’s. If you spent over $70, you could get two movie tickets.

You could only earn two tickets per transaction, up to a total of four tickets. To redeem, you had to enter your receipt information at activaterewards.com/Applebees by July 24, 2023. Fandango ticket promo codes were sent via email within 24 hours of validating your info.

As soon as we hear of a new movie ticket promotion at Applebee's, we'll share it here.

Look out for product partnerships to get free movie vouchers.

We’ve seen Target offer a free $7 Atom Tickets movie voucher when you bought select movies on DVD or Blu-ray.

We’ve also seen General Mills offer Fandango credit on purchases of cereals, Yoplait, and Ziploc. Keep an eye out for movie promotions in the grocery aisle.

Second-run movie theaters can offer big savings.

Sure, it’s hard to avoid social media when everyone’s talking about the plot of the latest Avengers. But if you can handle the wait, second-run movie theaters offer much cheaper ticket prices — we're talking $1 - $5, depending on your area.

For a family of five, you’d save more than $40 on average per cinema trip by waiting a month or so to see that new movie. During the summer, several theaters offer cheap summer movies for the family.

KCL TIP: When you work at a movie theater, you can watch movies for free. Employees at AMC, Regal, and most corporate theater chains get to see free movies. That’s a benefit very few employers offer!

Related Reading

• Cheap Summer Movies: Where to See Movies Under $3 or Free

• $4 National Cinema Day Tickets in 2024? Here's What We Expect

• 7 Great Movie Theater Subscription Programs That Are Worth the Price