During your teen-age years, if you ever asked your dad for 20 bucks to go to the movies, you probably received a lecture about spending and saving money at the movies. And if grandpa was around, he probably contributed.

They might tell you a story about how they could buy popcorn, see a double feature — with a good opening cartoon — and still receive change from a $1 bill. (You may have already figured this out, but grandpa was telling the truth; dad was lying for effect.)

Those days are long gone. Average movie tickets are up to $9 apiece, but if you’re going to a 3D movie with reclining seats at night as an adult, you’ll play several dollars more than the average. And, based on the concession stand prices, who knew popcorn had become such a rare and valuable commodity? (Oil producers are jealous of movie popcorn producers in today’s economy.) It all adds up in a hurry.

Still, we pay these prices, because we love movies. To help you enjoy movies even more, we’ve compiled a list of nine ways that you can save money at the movies today. (That’s one tip for each dollar you’re spending on an average ticket.) These tips won’t allow you to go for $1 like grandpa did, but you’ll hopefully save enough that you’ll be able to tell your grandkids some of your own stories about how cheap things were in your day.

1. Join the Theater’s Loyalty Club

You will have to give out some personal information to join the loyalty club, but the rewards are worth it for frequent movie goers. Many theater chains offer discounts based on how much you spend over time. Others have special discounted tickets and concessions nights for loyalty club members.

2. Try a Monthly Pass

One interesting idea that may be worth it for frequent movie goers is MoviePass. It allows you to pay a monthly subscription fee and you then can see one movie per 24 hours all month long. You’ll manage all aspects of using MoviePass with a smartphone app.

Subscription prices vary depending on where you live, whether you want to lock into an annual contract, and whether you want to see fewer movies per month.

Not all theaters work with MoviePass, and even if your local theater does honor MoviePass, it may have restrictions. And you cannot see the same movie more than once. But on the plus side, some theaters will credit your ticket purchases at full price for their loyalty programs, rather than what you’re actually paying through MoviePass, which is great.

Before signing up, read through the details closely to ensure it’s a good deal for you at your local theater. And if your theater does not participate in MoviePass, it never hurts to ask if they will partner with the service or if they have their own monthly pass deal.

3. The Earlier, the Better

If you don’t mind going to the movies a little earlier than most people, you could save 15%-25% for a matinee movie ticket. Even if you only go to the movies every other week, you could save around $50-$60 per person annually. Most theaters offer these slight discounts before 6 p.m. on weekdays and before 4 p.m. on weekends. So consider flipping the traditional script and going to the movies first before going to a late dinner. (And you probably won’t have to fight for the best seats if you go earlier.)

4. Special Discount Nights

If you’re a senior citizen, a member of the military, or a student, your local theater chain may have a special night of the week where you’ll receive a discount. It probably will be on a weeknight, so don’t plan on this idea for a cheap Friday night date. My local theater chain offers $5 movie tickets on Tuesday nights for students, for example, which is half price. Some discounts for seniors are available at all times and can be as much as one-third off the regularly priced ticket. You just have to see what’s available at your local theater and then ask for the discount.

5. Gift Card Discounts

Don’t feel guilty about using this tip! There’s nothing wrong with buying a gift for yourself on occasion.

Around the holidays, your local theater chain may offer a discount for gift cards purchased in bulk. If you buy $100 in gift cards, you may receive a $10 gift card for free, for example. That’s like receiving a nearly 10% discount on your tickets.

Another option for cheap gift cards is a local warehouse club. They often sell gift cards for many places like restaurants and movie theaters at a discount to the face value of the gift cards. These discounts range from 5% to 15%.

Finally, you can visit sites like CardCash to find discounted gift cards for movie theaters. Just make sure the gift card is for your local theater chain and not a theater 30 miles away.

6. Avoid Extra Fees

Purchasing your tickets from online movie reservation sites can be convenient. But you may pay an extra $1 or $2 for the tickets. Sure, this doesn’t seem like much, but on a $10 ticket, that’s a 10%-20% surcharge. Buy from the box office or the theater’s own web site to avoid the surcharge. Or perhaps the theater has a mobile app that allows you to purchase tickets directly.

You’ll also pay added fees to see a movie in 3D or in IMAX resolution. Sometimes this extra feature is worth it, but not always. If you’re really fired up about seeing a particular movie, go ahead an splurge for 3D or IMAX. But if you’re unsure if you’ll like the movie, go for the traditional 2D and save a few dollars.

7. Download the Theater’s App

Some theater chains will push discounts to you through their app every few weeks. And if you’re a loyalty club member, it may work in conjunction with the app for other discounts and reminders of special deals. (Just don’t use the app during the movie — rude!)

You also can follow all of your theater’s social media accounts, as they may occasionally announce ticket and concession discounts. But in most cases, using the app and signing up for the loyalty club is an easier way to receive consistent discounts from a particular theater chain.

8. Save Money on Snacks

One of the great things about the theater experience is the snacks. It’s just part of the cost of the movies for many people. But they’re expensive, so it helps to save a bit of money here.

You may receive discounts on snacks as a loyalty club member. And some theaters offer a snack bundle — aimed at kids — for a much lower price than buying the items individually.

Let’s be honest: No one needs as much popcorn as most theaters serve. But perhaps sharing a bucket among a family isn’t overdoing it too much. If your kids will fight over the tub, bring some paper lunch sacks and divvy up the tub, so everyone receives a fair share. And if you have a really big family (or if you’re addicted to movie theater popcorn), many theaters now offer free refills on the largest tub of popcorn.

Finally, quietly bring your own snacks. For example, you can buy theater sized candy boxes at grocery stores usually for around $1. This can be as much as a 75% discount versus what you’ll pay at the theater for the same box. Understandably, theaters don’t tell you to bring your own snacks. But as long as you aren’t obnoxiously flaunting the fact that you brought your own candy, most theaters will look the other way.

9. Deal Sites

There are movie deals floating around the Internet, if you just know where to look. Admittedly, it can be a huge hassle to track multiple sites. But that’s where we at Ben’s Bargains enter the picture, ready to help you save money. We regularly collect special deals on movie tickets, so check with us before you buy those tickets and you’ll be saving money at the movies!

Try These 9 Tricks for Saving Money at the Movies

Most people who love Stephen King books really love King’s books. (I’m not going to admit to how many of King’s books are crammed onto my bookshelf, but a few of the shelves may be bowing quite a bit.)

Fans of King are looking forward to the Aug. 4 release date for The Dark Tower, an adaptation of King’s seven-book series, portions of which were published over an incredible 26-year period. Some people are describing The Dark Tower movie as a sequel to the series, so don’t assume the movie will follow the same path as any particular book in the series, which was called The Dark Tower series. (The seventh book also was called The Dark Tower.)

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Books Into Movies

The Dark Tower is just the latest movie made from King’s books and stories. So many movies, TV shows, and TV movies have been made that you could binge from Friday at 5 p.m. to Monday at 8 a.m. and still not see them all.

With such a famous and popular author, it’s no surprise that many of his books have been translated to the big screen and the small screen. (Notice I didn’t say they’ve all been successfully translated.) Granted, it can be difficult to translate King’s books to movies, just because of the psychological nature of the horror King creates. But there have been some bad, bad movies.

There have been some absolutely great movies made from King’s books too. We’ve narrowed the list to the three best movies and three worst movies based on King’s books, while keeping our fingers crossed that The Dark Tower will deserve to belong on the best movies list.

Best Movies

It was tough to narrow the list to just three movies, as I hated leaving Carrie (the original version), Apt Pupil, The Green Mile, and Stand By Me off the list. So after much consideration, here are the 3 best Stephen King movies made from his books.

1. The Shining (1980)

King was disappointed in how Stanley Kubrick’s screenplay adapted the book into a movie. But it still ranks as the best movie made from a King book. Kubrick’s filming techniques in The Shining have been borrowed from many times. And Jack Nicholson’s performance was tremendous.

The Shining follows a caretaker and his family who are isolated while taking care of a hotel during the winter in the Rocky Mountains. They don’t know it’s infested with evil spirits that prey on the caretaker’s dark personality.

Bottom line: The Shining was a great book. And even if the movie didn’t perfectly follow the book, it still was a great movie. If you have never watched the original movie in its original aspect ratio, you’re missing out on a classic.

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2. Misery (1990)

Rob Reiner directed Misery, a creepy adaptation of a King novel where a fan finds her favorite novelist injured in a car crash. She nurses him to health but holds him hostage, forcing him to rewrite a book after she didn’t like that he killed off one of her favorite characters.

Kathy Bates was tremendous in Misery, winning a best actress Oscar. The movie captures the dread and tension in King’s book very well.

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3. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

This movie was adapted by Frank Darabont from a King novella called Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption. The story about dealing with prison life appeared in King’s collection of four novellas called Different Seasons, which was published in 1982.

The movie’s two stars, Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman, delivered tremendous performances that play a huge role in The Shawshank Redemption making our list.

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Worst Movies

Unfortunately, plenty of King’s books have been made into God-awful movies. We’d recommend skipping the screen version and sticking to the books here. You can thank us later.

1. Children of the Corn (1984)

King’s short story Children of the Corn, which was published in Night Shift, has been made into numerous movies and made for TV movies. This is understandable. After all, the idea of creepy little children causing mayhem just screams horror movie.

Trust us: All of them are terrible. But the original Children of the Corn from 1984 tops our list, where a young couple enters a town where only children are alive, and everyone over 18 must be killed. It works as a short story, and maybe it would work as a roughly 8-minute movie … which means the 1984 movie was only about 84 minutes too long.

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2. Maximum Overdrive (1986)

The title sounds like it should be a great movie, but it’s not. In the movie Maximum Overdrive, trucks come to life and start killing people after a comet comes close to the earth. Little known fact: Yeardley Smith of The Simpsons fame was in this movie. She couldn’t save it.

Maximum Overdrive was based on King’s short story Trucks, which was part of the Night Shift collection. (Even though that’s two of the worst movies coming out of the Night Shift collection, don’t let that dissuade you from reading Night Shift, which has many really good short stories.)

King wrote the screen play and directed the movie. He said afterward he’d never direct again. We’re glad he focused on writing.

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3. Cell (2016)

If you missed this movie in theaters, don’t feel bad. So did a lot of other people. In the story, people worldwide receive a call on their cell phones that scrambles their brains, causing a world-ending apocalypse. Only those without cell phones remain sane. John Cusack and Samuel Jackson are in the movie, but they couldn’t make it worth watching.

When King wrote the book Cell in 2006, the technology was new enough that the story was an entertaining twist. By 2016 though, the movie’s plot made no sense. After all, no one uses a cell phone for talking anymore.

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Guilty Pleasures

Now for the embarrassing part of the article. There are a few movies adapted from King’s books that many critics hated, but that I have admittedly watched more than once. Maybe even more than twice. So here are some movies that I like, but I make no guarantee that you’ll like them.

1. The Stand (1994)

The Stand is an apocalyptic story where a virus kills most of the world’s population that morphs into a battle between good and evil for the soul of the world. It was published originally in 1978 and is a little different from many of King’s other books.

The Stand was made into a four-part miniseries in 1994, and it included Gary Sinise and Molly Ringwald. Like most made-for-TV-miniseries, it had plenty of cheesy moments. And it clearly wasn’t as good as The Stand book, which is one of my all-time favorites. But if you haven’t seen the small screen adaptation, it’s worth a look. Read the book first though; you’ll be glad you did.

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2. The Running Man (1987)

This movie adaptation of a King book written under his pseudonym, Richard Bachman, had Arnold Schwarzenegger in all of his action-hero glory, along with Richard Dawson, both in completely over-the-top roles that were all the rage in the 1980s. What’s not to like?

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3. Christine (1983)

Yeah, I liked this movie. And that’s all I’m going to say.

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The 3 Best Stephen King Movies Made from His Books (and the 3 Worst Movies)

If you’re a regular attendee of your local movie theater, you know how quickly the cost adds up, leaving you looking for ways to save money at the movies. One way to reduce that movie theater bill involves joining the best movie rewards loyalty programs.

Each of the largest movie theater chains, as well as some smaller chains, provide loyalty clubs, which involve giving club members free or discounted movie tickets, concessions, and merchandise, as well as exclusive offers.

You will have to share some personal information, and you may have to make use of the theater’s smartphone app to join the clubs. But if you don’t mind receiving some promotional materials and notifications in exchange for saving some money, these clubs are great.

Here is some of the best movie rewards information for the five largest theater chains. Just look for the movie theater chain or chains that are available in your area and sign up online or in person. (All information is current as of the time of this writing.)

AMC Stubs

The free AMC Stubs club uses a points system to award cash back you can use on food purchases at the theater. And there’s a discount on Tuesdays of $2 per ticket (but only on full-price tickets). You can receive free concession upgrades as a club member. Additionally, club members sometimes receive notifications about special screenings.

The movie chain has created a smartphone app you can use to track your points and potential rewards.

Frequent movie goers at AMC may want to spend an extra $15 annually for a Stubs Premiere membership to accumulate points faster and to receive bigger Tuesday ticket discounts. Online ticketing fees are waived too for Premiere members.

Cinemark Connections

The Cinemark Connections rewards program is free to use. You’ll receive savings on concessions and movie tickets.

Cinemark offers a number of exclusive offers for members, including promotional screenings, behind-the-scenes footage, contest entries, free movie posters and other promotional items, and various digital downloads. The Connections app is the best way to track rewards.

Cinemark Connections also teams with other entertainment venues, such as amusement parks, to give club members access to discounted tickets.

Cineplex Scene

The free Cineplex Scene rewards club provides 10% discounts on concessions and Tuesday movie tickets. Members earn points for every dollar they spend that they can redeem for discounted or free movie tickets.

Additionally, Scene club members receive notifications about other discounts, contests, and exclusive offers.

The Scene app works on your smartphone, meaning you don’t have to carry a card. You also can earn points toward your Scene membership by shopping at certain restaurants and stores.

Marcus Theaters Magical Movie Rewards

You can sign up for free at Marcus Theaters for the Magical Movie Rewards club, where you’ll receive plenty of concessions rewards, including free refills on fountain drinks and free popcorn during $5 Tuesday movie deals.

Online or mobile ticketing is free for club members. Additionally, club members earn points toward future purchases and will receive notification of members-only screenings.

Other one-time offers are available from time to time as well. Just download the Magical Movie Rewards app to receive notices.

Regal Crown Club

When visiting Regal Entertainment Group theaters, you can join the Regal Crown Club program. Members earn credits toward movie tickets, merchandise, and concessions. You can manage all aspects of the Regal Crown Club, including selecting rewards, through the web-based Reward Center or through a smartphone app.

Additionally, Crown Club members are allowed to enter club-only sweepstakes and see exclusive sneak previews of yet-to-be-released movies. Other exclusive offers to club members may be released from time to time as well.

The Regal Crown Club is free to join.

Other Local Programs

Your local theater chain may have a free loyalty program, even if it’s a small chain. These smaller programs may not be quite as extensive as the larger programs listed here, but they still offer some nice savings.

For example, one theater chain offers a free t-shirt to those who sign up for the loyalty program, rather than using a card or an app. Then when you wear the t-shirt to the movies, you receive a free popcorn. Another small chain allows frequent movie goers to purchase a loyalty club reusable cup for discounted soda refills for the year.

Just check with your theater for any deals it offers. And if you’re looking for more ways to save money at the movies, check out the list we created earlier this summer!

The 5 Best Movie Theater Rewards Loyalty Programs