A Life in Wanderlust

So you’ve been to the cinema, you’ve seen the limitless advert and you’ve come away wondering; is it worth it? Here I breakdown the pros and cons and help you judge whether it is worth it for you.

Back in the summer of 2019, I had just moved home and started job hunting. I was living with my brother and near lots of my friends and I thought to myself: is this the time to try limitless? Well I took the plunge and never looked back. Since then I have had many ups and downs with life and considered whether this was still a worthwhile purchase for me to be committing to every month. Currently, I haven’t seen a reason to cancel it. But my lifestyle is very different to many of you so here are my pros and cons to help you decide if this is the membership for you.

Key information

So the limitless membership only covers Odeon cinemas, best to make sure that your local cinema is an Odeon otherwise you can stop reading right here! There are two types of membership to choose from:

£14.99 a month will give you access to all the films you like every month all over the UK excluding London (specifically the West end so maybe some in other areas are covered).

£16.99 a month will cover all cinemas in the UK, for as many films as you can fit in!

These prices also exclude luxe Odeons, and there are some other extras that you will have to pay for, be careful of these.

Before buying consider: How much do you really go to the cinema?

For me, that was multiple times a month, but this was 2019 and we were all unaware of what the next year would bring. Sadly, while many would argue that the film industry has picked up again, I would say that it is still lacking something that it had before 2020. There are still less films and sometimes I look through the listings, wanting to go but not finding anything worth seeing. Yes while the statistics report ‘bouncing back’ with blockbusters such as James Bond and Top Gun: Maverick raking in the big bucks, for me there is still something lacking. Also, this might just be Bath but check your local cinema (or cinemas if you’re lucky) to see how long things are shown. Here in Bath most films are having a shorter run and I’m not sure if this is a post-pandemic consequence, as the film studios and cinemas lost millions, or if because it is a smaller cinema show times are shorter.

If like me you go more that twice a month to the cinema, then the membership is probably worth it for you. The average trip to the cinema costs £8 per visit. Prices can vary depending on when you visit (peak vs off peak times) and what you are seeing (sometimes Odeon shows films at particular times aimed at a specific group i.e. kids club, or my Odeon saver). But on average it is around £8 per visit, meaning if you go twice in a month, great news, you’ve already paid off your card!

Do you want to limit yourself to only one cinema brand?

Maybe you live in an area with more than one cinema, maybe you like to support the small independent one. There are many reasons for going to many cinemas, maybe the Cineworld down the road has better parking facilities or is cheaper. Either way, these are important factors to consider. If you go to the cinema 4 times in a month but 3 of those times are more likely to be another cinema, this card won’t make you feel limitless, it’ll limit you.

The Pros

• visit as many times as you want for £14.99
• Big blockbuster releases are covered in this
• Can upgrade (each time you visit) for a premium seat for only £2
• 10% off food and drink
• If you really love a film, you can revisit and watch again, and again, and again with no guilt over how much you’ve spent
• Limitless members only screening – I’ve never managed to actually catch these but I imagine it’d be fairly empty so win win!

The cons

• Only 10% off food and drink, their food is on the pricey side and 10% just doesn’t make enough of a change (for me personally)
• Some months, you may end up not making it feel worthwhile. Sometimes there just aren’t the films on or they aren’t on at convenient times. But other months you may make your money back three times over
• There is a minimum 3 month sign up, but you can pay monthly and cancel when you want after that
• Limits you to only one type of cinema brand

For me, this has been one of the best memberships. It has been almost as beneficial to my mental health as my gym membership has been. I could even argue more as I never question going to the cinema but I’m sure we can all agree that sometimes we drag our heels when it comes to going to the gym!

I hope this helps you make a choice, let me know in the comments what you think and if you have one!