Update 2/6/19: Sinemia has added a roll over feature where unused movies can be used the following month. In addition the referral bonus has been increased to $20 for both parties. Hat tip to Miles to Memories
Update 1/24/19: They now have two unlimited plans:
- $29.99 a month for 30 movie tickets per month (really it’s one ticket per day. You can’t use it twice in one day), includes 3D & IMAX-4DX
- $19.99 a month for 30 movie tickets per month (really it’s one ticket per day. You can’t use it twice in one day), doesn’t include special screenings
Keep in mind all of the recent issues with Sinemia. Given you have to sign up for a yearly plan and Sinemia seems intent on making retroactive changes there is no way I’d recommend signing up.
Update: They have added a new ‘unlimited plan’. You get 1 movie per 24 hour period. It costs $29.99 per month, you either pay yearly or pay monthly and pay a $29.99 initiation fee. Keep in mind this is only for 2D screenings. Hat tip to MtM.
Update 08/16/18: You can now get $10 when you refer a friend, your friend also gets $10 (normally it’s $5). This is available to people moving from a competing service such as MoviePass or AMC A-List. Hat tip to Forbes via MtM.
Update 07/30/18: They have added monthly plans. Same pricing as yearly plans but you pay an additional $19.99 set up fee. Hat tip to Bhavik
Update 07/28/18: Prices are down a further $1 per month across all plans. Keep in mind you pay for an annual subscription, might be a bit of a risk considering issues with MoviePass currently.
Sinemia is a competitor to MoviePass, both are subscription services to movies. MoviePass offers unlimited standard movie screenings, where Sinemia has four different plans currently. All Sinemia plans include no black out dates and the ability to purchase tickets in advance.
Pricing
The plans are as follows:
- $3.99: Includes one standard movie ticket per month at any theater
- $6.99: Includes two standard movie ticket per month at any theater
- $8.99: Includes two movie tickets per month, one of these can be a premium screening (e.g 3D/IMAX etc)
- $13.99: Includes three movie tickets per month, one of these can be a premium screening (e.g 3D/IMAX etc)
Other fees:
- $19.99 initiation fee (monthly plans only)
- Activate card immediately: $5-$10 (used to be free).
One thing to note is that the premium ticket is based on a rolling 30 day window. So if you see a movie on May 5th you’ll need to wait 30 days for that movie to clear (rather than it resetting on June 1st). If you’re purchasing tickets in advance you also need to buy the advance ticket surcharge places like Fandango charge.
Sinemia For Two
You can also upgrade your plan to something called ‘Sinemia for two’. This is basically a single membership with double the tickets, meaning you can bring somebody with you every time you see a movie (this person can change). With a regular Sinemia pass you can only purchase on ticket a day, so this let’s you get two for the same screening Prices for this are:
- $7.99: Includes one standard movie ticket per month at any theater
- $13.99: Includes two standard movie ticket per month at any theater
- $17.99: Includes two movie tickets per month, one of these can be a premium screening (e.g 3D/IMAX etc)
- $27.99: Includes three movie tickets per month, one of these can be a premium screening (e.g 3D/IMAX etc)
Sinemia Vs MoviePass
There are three main advantages to Sinemia over MoviePass in my opinion:
- Sinemia can be used internationally (Canada, UK, Australia & others being added), useful if you travel a lot
- Some plans include premium screenings
- Tickets can be purchased in advance
The main upside to MoviePass is that it can be used an unlimited amount of times monthly (although you can’t see the same movie twice). MoviePass normally prices at $9.99 per month, but it has been possible to get it from $7.5 per month when on sale. Another downside to Sinemia is that you have to purchase a yearly plan. I purchased a Sinemia pass when they were charging $7.99 for two movies including a premium ticket. I love going to the movies but it would be rare for me to go more than twice per month so I thought this was better value and more flexible than MoviePass. To begin with the app was total shit and hardly worked, but I think they have fixed the issue because it seems to be working much better now (or maybe I just go used to it?).
I think Sinemia makes sense if you watch 1-2 movies a month, want access to prebooking and sometimes want premium screenings. Otherwise MoviePass is the better deal. It’s also slightly worrying that Sinemia seems to be yearly plans only.
Referral Program
If you’re moving from a competing service you can now get a $10 credit (both parties) if you prove that is the case.
You can refer friends and if they sign up you receive a $5 credit, they also receive a $5 credit for using your link. Feel free to share referral links in this linked thread. I also believe that your full name is given to the person when you sign up, so keep that in mind.
Our Verdict
Normally I hate things where I have to do something on a regular basis to maximize the value, I find it to be restricting and means I make irrational decisions. The nice thing about these services is that going to the movies is something that I enjoy doing but often don’t make enough time for. I’ve made more of enough to do so since having Sinemia so in this case I see it as a plus. Overall I’d recommend Sinemia so far. Feel free to share your own experiences in the comments below.
DO NOT JOIN SINEMIA. Multiple fees, the app doens’t work, they suspend your account if you do not pay fees associated with unjust fees.
Sinemia is by far the worst and most shiesty company I have ever interacted with. If you are thinking about buying this subscription service, don’t. I switched to Sinemia after Moviepass started going downhill thinking Sinemia couldn’t be worse, but I was terribly wrong. Sinemia randomly canceled my subscription because “the system has detected examples of your membership use that violates the terms of service,” which made no sense because I have only ever used the service to watch movies and have always checked into the theatre. When I contacted Sinemia to find out why they terminated my account they said “We see that your account’s been terminated by the system automatically. Unfortunately we cannot provide any further details as we do not have access to such information.” They terminated my $216 annual subscription (not including their abundance of hidden fees and my physical card cost) after 4 months with no real explantation whatsoever. And to make things worse, I was only credited $31. Sinemia’s customer service is horrible and they take multiple days to get back to you. Their app is extremely clunky and it’s navigation is illogical. The check in system needs to be reworked. I really wish I could say one positive thing about Sinemia, but I honestly can’t think of one. DO NOT get suckered into this service. Do yourself a favor go with another movie subscription service. Sinemia is not worth the stress.
Sinemia is TERRIBLE! Even Moviepass at its worse was not as bad since Sinemia actively deceives and cons its customers. Hidden fees, not being able to reserve movies half of the time, making people check in but then having the app not let them and then charging them “misuse fees”, making people take photos of their state IDs, deactivating accounts for long periods of time while they “vet” you, then terminating accounts without warning… They are very creative in how to con people.
Referral link to $20 signup bonus: Get $20 of sinemia credit by using referral link: https://www.sinemia.com/R/94GGDX
DO NOT USE SINEMA MOVIE SUSCRIPTION SERVICE! #Sinema
I joined Sinemia in October 2018. I wasn’t too happy with them from the start that you had to pay for the whole year upfront and then all of the extra fees for everything Including getting a physical card, using the service to buy your tickets online, if you forget to check in at the theater, etc. Getting the physical card took forever. I just tried to use it at the movie theater and I got an error message that I needed to log in and it said they terminated my account they said I did something fraudulent which I DID NOT!! I put in a request to get my money back also sent them a very mad message to their customer service!! 😡 WTF? Ugh 😑
For those of you unfamiliar with Sinemia, Here’s how it works: they get you to sign up by selling you premium memberships where you get 3 or so movies a month for a reasonable price. If their app works you’ll get a ton of hidden fees once you actually start using it.
It gets to the point where you’re basically not saving any money by using their membership, but you already paid for it so you’re screwed. Then they’ll shut down your account for “verification” purposes where you’ll have to submit a bunch of different forms of ID.
They want you to “check in” for every movie when you get to the movie theater, and they will penalize you and hold your account hostage even if it’s their app that doesn’t work. Did I mention that their only customer service is their automated responses on social media?
After all of that, if they see that you use their service often, they will more than likely shut down your account for “violating their terms of service”. If you don’t believe me, search “sinemia” on any social media platform and see what people are saying.
Do yourself and your wallet a favor, don’t go anywhere near Sinemia.
Please stop posting about this scamming ass company.
Sinemia is a scam, I paid an additional $9.99 for using card-less option plus $239.88 for annual fee for the classic premium annual membership. I also was being charged by my bank an additional $7.19 for foreign international transaction fee from Istanbul. I was not able to use the service… Sinemia is a scam trying to take and hold on to your money…don’t buy Sinemia service. You have better chance to get your money back through your bank credit card service if you dispute the charges as soon as possible after you contacted Sinemia and could not get a resolution or reply. Sinemia had not gotten back with me so I cancelled the service and filed my credit card dispute with my bank to get my money back. Don’t wait!!!
They will fight the dispute.
We have received the email from Sinemia. They ask their customer to do KYC now.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Sinemia/comments/ao9dq9/sinemia_halting_account_usage_until_id/
We dont know why we need to do KYC … just try to buy cheaper movie ticket …
DOC please make discussion or comment on this topic , we want to know if its a legit thing to do.
Would you be able to buy a gift card and then do the annual? Looks like they have 30% off on their gift cards. So extra savings?