How to See New Movies for Free

At one point for what seemed like a short period, but turned out to be 3 almost four years, my husband and I attended free movie screenings as a second job. The only difference was we never received pay for our time, but we did get to see A Whole Lot of movies before they came to theaters and benefited from movie swag and perks from dinners to sitting in on celebrity interviews. If time is not on your side, this is not for you because looking for these movies is a job within its self. Then, you still have to show up for work after you have put in your application and are hired. This is how we received many of our movie passes and worked our second job.

Reading is fundamental

The first and best place to find movie-screening passes is your local and entertainment newspapers. In Chicago, The Red Eye or The Onion will occasionally post locations where you can either pick up tickets for a free movie screening or sign up for a free movie screening. Even better than entertainment news is your local newspaper its self. Your local newspaper is a hidden treasure of freebies, typically on the regular if you live in a big city. Many times when looking through the paper you will have two options: 1. Pick up a pass at a certain location and time (first come, first served). 2. Fill out your information online or answer a question for a chance to win movie passes or passes included with an even greater prize connected to the movie.

Trust everything you see on the World-Wide Web

Get ready to check your email on a regular basis because if you’re on the prowl for these free movies you cannot miss a beat when it comes to movie sites such as Wild About Movies and Gofobo. Wild about movies website looks just as its name, wild, but if you click on the movie posters you can easily find where to sign up for movie screening notifications of a particular movie. Of course that means you have to do so for every movie that interests you, but it will be worth it, provided you get to see most if not all of the ones you want to see. Gofobo is more direct, having a tab titled screenings where you can sign up for screening notifications. Gofobo also requires signing in for your notifications, but they now have facebook connect for quicker sign up. Both sites are first come first serve so if you plan to catch some of these movie screenings (all of them printable at home) you have to be on alert and move quickly when it’s time to print. Hints: Sometimes the invitation to print a pass will come in your email late night (12a-3a) or early morning (5a-10a).

Get in tune with the radio and television

Local radio and television stations whether you listen to or watch them or not is a hidden treasure of free movies just like the newspaper. In large cities, many stations get the privilege of sponsoring these movies screenings so they will offer listeners and viewers first opportunity to retrieve a pass. Learn your most popular radio stations, including the ones on AM. Sign up for their websites as a member. Don’t worry, they typically don’t bombard your email with messages and some of them may even send you a nice birthday message (how sweet).

Don’t drive while texting (unless it’s for a free movie)

So you don’t bother with reading. Or maybe you just want to give yourself the best chance at getting all the free movie screening offers you can. Whatever the case, a text for free movie screenings from a service such as Text Movie Club will keep you up to speed on movie passes available in your area.

12 Tips for seeing the movies you want free

1. Have more than one pair of eyes helping you out. Someone you know who is just as interested as you in seeing these movies and has the time to be on the lookout.

2. Have those extra eyes signed up to receive passes as well. The more people signed up for a pass the more people who can attend (one pass is usually for two people, sometimes four for kids movies).

3. Early arrival necessary. Movie screenings typically happen on weekdays just after most people get off work. So once you leave your day job, arrive at the location of your unpaid part-time job to get in line and wait for entry into the movie (first come first serve until seats fill up). They almost never allow entry after the movie has started.

4. Eventually you’ll get the hang of how things work. You can sort of pre-judge whether or not a movie will have a big audience turnout.If you notice multiple screenings in your area, you may not have to worry about arriving too early to ensure you get a seat.

5. Connect with the people in line with you. If movie screening becomes an unpaid part-time job for you, you will see the same people at majority of the movies you attend (a lot of them may be older people who have nothing but time). You also meet other people who can connect you to movie passes more easily.

6. Expect to see people holding a place. In reality if it comes down to five people waiting in a line for a movie for three hours or one or two people being free to get in line early enough, there will be line holders sent to ensure the crew a spot in the movie. Once you get enough friends and family in on the deal you’ll do the same thing, so don’t get mad when others do it.

7. Get your seat first then snacks. If you want to do it opposite that’s fine, but don’t complain about seating cause people usually run to the theatre after entry is allowed.

8. Children are ok if they are under a certain age. Most of the time screening authorities will not count a child who is under the age of six as a pass holder.If the child is not a lap child they are considered a pass holder unless the movie pass mentions prohibition of any children under 17.

9. Get used to possibly having your favorite seating area in the theater prohibited to you, but blocked off for VIPs instead. Just know the sponsoring radio station or organization nearly always has a block of seats set off for their people.

10. Don’t try anything shady. The movie companies and sponsors are serious about these screenings and will not have any forgery or devious behavior i.e. recording. You will be put out, and it’s really not that serious and rather embarrassing.

11. Have fun. There is no real reason not to.

12. Warning: Going to movie screenings is less expensive because all you pay for is snacks, gas/bus fair, and maybe parking. But once you get past the waiting in line, meeting new people, and the excitement of seeing a movie before everyone else, you realize you want more and become an official free movie-screening addict.

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