The cost of going to the movies versus renting or streaming

Back in the 2010s, I wrote about how much it’d cost to go to the movies versus digitally renting a film at home (in the pre-“streaming wars” era). I concluded that renting was a much better value. Of course, there are reasons to go to a movie theater: a bigger screen; getting out of the house; a date night activity; and seeing a popular movie now instead of waiting months for it to hit Netflix or Disney+. That said, one major downside of movie theaters is they’re expensive. But how expensive are they these days? I look at the cost of a stereotypical trip to the movies versus other options below.

Criteria

• The average movie ticket price in 2025 is $11.31, according to website The Numbers.
• Concessions prices are from AMC Theaters’ site for Seattle (though checking other cities, they aren’t much cheaper).
• Rental prices are from Amazon Prime Video.
• Snack prices are from Walmart’s website.
• Prices exclude fees and sales tax.

Movies (single person)

• Ticket: $11.31
• Concessions:
  • Popcorn (regular size): $9.79
  • Soda (regular size): $7.29
• Total: $28.39

Movies (family of four)

• Tickets (4): $45.24
• Concessions:
  • Popcorn (large size): $10.79
  • Soda (two regular size drinks): $14.58
  • Kids pack (two small bags of popcorn, two small drinks, two fruit snacks): $17.58
• Total: $88.19

Rental

• “Sonic the Hedgehog 3”: $6
• Snacks:
  • Popcorn (6 pack box): $3.58
  • Soda (2 2 liter bottles): $5.48
• Total: $15.06

Streaming

• Netflix: $17.99 (one month, without ads)
• Snacks:
  • Popcorn (6 pack box): $3.58
  • Soda (2 2 liter bottles): $5.48
• Total: $27.05

My thoughts

Just going to the movies for one person can get pricey, and more so if you want anything to eat while there (I’ll assume one isn’t sneaking in food). But it’s far worse to have a “family night” at the movies—the cost for four people is almost $90. Even ignoring concessions, it’s still pretty pricey to take kids to see the latest Pixar movie.

Unsurprisingly, renting a movie is vastly cheaper. For little more than the price of a single ticket, an entire family can watch a movie and have snacks. Even buying the movie outright digitally or on Blu-ray might be cheaper than what two movie tickets cost. A streaming service like Netflix or Paramount+ costs more than renting, but it’d still be cheaper for a group of people.

That said, theaters are trying to make going to the movies more appealing. For example, AMC offers AMC Stubs A-List, AMC’s subscription service (which fixes the flaws of the failed MoviePass service). It allows subscribers to see up to four movies a week, and costs between $20 and $28 a month (depending on what US state one’s in). Seeing just three films a month (at the most expensive tier) would make the pass pay for itself, so it might be worth considering for film buffs.

Image by Sebastian Gößl from Pixabay