Best movie and popcorn combo prices in South Africa

Visiting the cinema is becoming increasingly expensive, with a movie ticket averaging over R100 — and then there’s the cost of snacks on top of that.

However, by taking advantage of the promotions cinemas are offering to win back their pre-pandemic audiences, the price can become much more affordable.

The four cinema chains in the country considered in this comparison were Ster-Kinekor, Nu Metro, Movies@, and CineCentre.

We compared the price of a regular ticket and a medium popcorn and drink combo to the cheapest specials cinemas offer for all the items. The cheapest medium combo was used in the comparison.

For example, buying a ticket and regular popcorn combo from Ster-Kinekor costs R244.90 when purchased separately: R119.90 for the ticket and R120 for the medium popcorn combo, which includes a drink, regular popcorn, and sweets.

However, the cinema chain currently offers “The Epic Deal”, where customers can purchase a 2D or 3D movie ticket, regular popcorn and a drink for R149.

To qualify for this promotion, customers must have signed up for the Ster-Kinekor Club, which is free.

The promotion is only valid from Mondays to Thursdays.

Nu Metro’s standalone cost for buying a regular 2D ticket and a medium combo is R190. The combo includes a medium slush, medium popcorn and sweets for R80 — or R75 with a soda — and the ticket costs R110.

The cinema chain does not offer an all-in-one combo but does offer discounts for customers who qualify for selected rewards programmes. These programmes include Absa Rewards, Nedbank Greenbucks, Sanlam Reality, and Momentum Multiply.

If users are part of these rewards programmes, they can purchase tickets for R55 regardless of their rewards level. This promotion lets customers buy a ticket and a snack combo for R135.

CineCentre offers rewards in the form of delayed gratification rather than a discount on movie tickets.

With each ticket, which costs R89, users receive coupons worth R1,029, as well as coupons worth R1,909 when purchasing snack combos. A medium snack combo consisting of popcorn, a soda, and sweets costs R90.

Combined, the total movie experience will cost customers R179.

Movies@’s total cost for a movie experience with snacks is R190 — R100 for the movie ticket and R90 for a large combo, as the cinema does not sell medium combos.

The cinema chain is currently running a promotion until 5 August 2024 that offers all snack combos at 50% off. Using this promotion, customers can bring down the total cost of a ticket and snack combo to R145.

The table below shows the prices of movie tickets, snack combos, and promotional prices.

Cinema	Promotion	Ticket price	Medium combo price	Price without promotion	Cheapest price for ticket and combo
Nu Metro	50% off tickets from rewards programmes	R110	R80	R190	R135
Movies@	50% off snack combos	R100	R90	R190	R145
Ster-Kinekor	“The Epic Deal” (Mon–Thu)	R119.90	R120	R239.90	R149
CineCentre	No promotions	R89	R90	R179	R179

South African cinemas have struggled to bring customer turnout back to pre-pandemic levels.

The release of films like Barbie and Oppenheimer last year helped the industry bounce back, but events like the writers’ and actors’ strikes have been a drag on theatres.

This year, Marvel Studios’ Deadpool and Wolverine have given local cinemas a boost after the movie broke records in its opening weekend in South Africa, bringing in over R14.8 million.

This huge turnover made the 24 July release the biggest opening weekend in South Africa in 2024 so far.

Prior to the release of Deadpool & Wolverine, Inside Out 2 was the biggest film of 2024 at the South African Box Office, also becoming the highest-grossing animated film of all time.

Deadpool & Wolverine was also hugely successful in other parts of Africa, becoming the biggest opening weekend of the year in West Africa and the biggest opening weekend since the Covid-19 pandemic in East Africa.

The film also performed exceptionally well globally, making an estimated R8 billion in its opening weekend and breaking the record for the biggest opening of an R-rated film.

In South Africa, Deadpool & Wolverine is rated 16 with warnings for drug use, strong language, prejudice or negative stereotyping, and violence.