Cineworld has recently reviealled, once they reopen after the current lockdown, they will be changing the pricing plans for the Unlimited Card Members. This in effect is changing the card into a very Limited Card Membership.

It used to be a 2 tier group consisting of: tier 1, one or two big London cinemas; and tier 2, the rest of the UK. Now they are having a 4 tier system. The new tiers are nonsensical and convoluted.

The old system was £18.40 for everyone with a small extra charge for the larger London cinemas.

The new system has:

Tier 1 - £9.99 a month or a one-off annual payment of £119.88

Tier 2 - £15.99 a month or a one-off annual payment of £191.88

Tier 3 - £18.40 a month or a one-off annual payment of £220.80

Tier 4 - £20.90 a month or a one-off annual payment of £250.80

It does not cost Cineworld anything more or less to show movies in one cinema over the other. I was never a fan of the older system having expensive London cinemas but I understand the living wage in London is more expensive and hoped they were paying their staff accordingly. Everywhere else has the same national minimum wage/national living wage and cannot see how Cineworld can justify the randomness of the different prices of their tier system.

I live in a Tier 2 area. Any cinema I am likely to visit will have the same charge, however if I take a brake somewhere else in the country I may be hit with a surprise extra charge to see a movie when I am already paying my monthly subscription. I have also read many examples of users online who have the option of two Cineworld cinemas which are different tiers. One may be showing the same movies as the others but have times that are better suited, well they'll now be penalised for using one.