Is it sad/ok to go to the Cinema on your own?

Some people say it's sad to go on your own but I don't think it is? I recently got a unlimited card so I can go to the cinema as many times as I want. I only have 4 close friends but they're always busy and they're rarely able to go to cinema with me apart from once/twice on some weekends. I haven't really got any other friends to ask to go with me unfortunately but there are quite a lot of movies I want to see so I'm just going to go on my own anyway.

Also wondered if anyone else here goes to the cinema on their own as well. :)

  • Unfortunately I can’t go to cinema alone.   If it’s somewhere new I have to have someone with me.  Unless it is a route I know or the place I won’t do it.

  • (This is me, not being very good at "chatting"...!)

    Greetings, Endymion... Here In London, it is still cheaper for me to "wait for the DVD" so-to-speak. And I do not miss "going to the Cinema" at all. The last film I ever saw was Harry Potter 2... (£7).

    ... I forgot to mention that I also wear Spectacles! Great fun, back then, looking UP at persons who were half the size of a football pitch! ふふふ... :-)

  • Most cinema's now offer autism-friendly viewings of their new releases, although these are usually offered during the day. You might find these less BOOMING / INVASIVE TO THE EARS! :)  

  • Greetings from me. I keep seeing this Thread/Topic appearing, and so I thought that I might throw in my Two-Penny-Worth...

    Of course it alright to go by yourself (as an adult!). With regards to myself, past Forty Years old, it was the usual business: As a child going with family to see what I did not care about, then as a teenager going to see films of mutual interest, and then as an Adult going on my own regardless of all other people...

    Yet nowadays, for totally unrelated reasons, I do not go to the cinema at all. The reasons are as follows: 1- Now it costs far too much (over £10) 2- it is cheaper to "buy the DVD" (or "Stream" the film) 3- I have no friends at all (!)... but 4- Around 2002, they began to turn the VOLUME UP MUCH TOO LOUD AND I COULD NOT MAKE ANY SENSE OF WHAT WAS GOING ON BECAUSE EVEN PEOPLE BREATHING WAS RIDICULOUSLY LOUD AND I WOULD LEAVE THE CINEMA WITH MY EARS RINGING OR HISSING FOR A GOOD WEEK AFTERWARDS!!

    ...*Ahem* ...Please excuse the manner of that last part. Yet, for anyone who cannot find Cinemas/Theatres anymore, Please try living in South London as I do... Waterloo, Wandsworth, Wimbledon, Purley... all that is here is mostly Restaurants, Cinemas, and then the places in which to put everyone in the meantime (Housing)...!

    Glad Tidings to all who may read, of course...

  • I absolutely go to the cinema on my own and prefer it and love it. Don’t even go with my husband. It is my emmersive escape. I tend to book well in advance so I can get the same seat on the aisle exit side too! A girlfriend asked me the other day whether I’d perhaps want to go to a movie instead of a coffee one time and I had to just let her know as kindly as I could that it’s ‘just my thing I love to do in my own, sorry’. Go for it!!!!! :) 

  • Some people say it's sad to go on your own

    Those people are jealous.

  • To be fair i I have an unlimited card as well but also I have my CEA card, I often go alone during the day no need to worry about people talking to you, but other days I cant stand the thought of going alone so take a friend or support worker and they use my CEA card meaning they get their ticket for free. The way I see it Unlimited card and CEA card = 2 unlimited cards for the price of 1. When it is nearly £10 to watch a film now I wouldnt go without my £15 a month unlimited card to see as many films as I want in a month.

  • I was thinking about this the other day actually. I've never been on my own, but as you say often people are too busy to go with you or they don't want to see the same things. So i think it makes sense to go alone rather than miss out on stuff you would enjoy.

  • I go the Cinema on my own.  Its surprising how many films Ive been to where Ive been the only person in the screen.  So I will move around the seats during it - Sitting in the middle, sitting on the back row and sitting on the front row staring up at the screen.  Great Fun!

  • There are only two local cinemas left in my town being used as cinemas.

    The rest being demolished or converted.

    In fact I have an appointment next month with a mind charity who have their headquarters in a converted cinema building 

  • I think it's considered acceptable. Why deny yourself the pleasure of seeing the movie on a real big screen with proper sound effects?

    Have you seen the new Star Wars? Or is this not your thing?

    I enjoy comparison of the old school Darth Vader with new school EMO bad guy...

    Darth Vader: destroy that planet

    New Guy: all guns on that one pedestrian there... for about 5 minutes...

  • I watched a good one last night, Random.  'Rob the Mob'.  In spite of the title, it's a really good movie - based on true events that took place around the time of the Gotti mafia trials.  It's feel-good, up to a point.  £2.49 rental on YouTube.

  • I have an unlimited card and go on my own. I work full time so tend to go early on Saturdays or Sundays as there are lots of other people on their own too. I used to have Friday afternoons off work and used that as a time to go and see the films no one else wanted to see with me.

    If you get a CEA card when you do go with a friend you'll be able to get them in for free. My friend buys me a pic and mix, or a brownie sundae in return.

    Once you've had your card a year you get a black unlimited card, which I think gets you 25% off in-house snacks.

  • I am sure the same people would say it's sad to do or be a multitude of other things on your own. It was sad for me in my early adult life as I longed to be in a relationship and share my experiences, even if that just was to watch it on my own as my partner would not like it.I have only recently been going to Cinema, and I go for the earlly afternoon viewings, the cinema has very few people, and you can put a lot of distance between you and other people.I enjoy watching movies at home more, so is not a big deal if I don't go to the cinema. Although I think there are a few films which are best enjoyed on the big screen. 

  • There are not many cinemas left today.

    Well... I happen to live close to a privately-owned (very rare nowadays) cinema that's like the old Odeons I remember in my youth in the '70s.  A huge screen, and wide rows of seats that even someone like me - at 6' 5" - can stretch out in.  Tickets?  £2.50 each - or £3.00 on weekends.  Better than any 'Vue', with seats at £9.

  • There are not many cinemas left today.

    Going on your own ( sad or not Thinking).  Depends on the circumstances.   

    My late mother described her sole cinema visits in the late 50s as one of the happier moments of her life.  After she got married she moved in with my father's family and in that overcrowded house people argued constantly and wanted her to take sides.  So when she finished her shift, working in a restaurant kitchen, she went to the cinema.  She described it as a safe refuge.  Cheap tickets, warm comfortable seats and she could relax and dose off.  

    I also used to go alone to cinemas in the early 80s.  No friends so I had nobody to go with.  I enjoyed the experience and leaving the cinema into the outside world was also an experience.  The atmosphere inside the cinema and the world outside was an extreme contrast. 

    Going with people was always disappointing.  I got dragged to see films I never enjoyed.  In 1968 we went as a large group of children with one adult  to see the original planet of the Apes.  I was terrified.

    It's ok to go alone.

  • You enjoy it, so it's most certainly not sad at all but totally o.k. for you. How others feel about it is their business, no need to let them spoil it for you!

    I quite like sometimes to talk about the film afterwards, then I find it unfortunate if I was on my own, but at other times I don't want that and then it's actually better to just go home on my own. Sometimes when I really liked the film I find it sad that a friend who I think would have liked it too didn't get to see it, but that's a different matter really, and I can at least recommend it.

  • I agree.  The trouble is - particularly with the advent of smart-phone technology - others very often intrude.  Lights going on in random places, showing that someone is checking their updates.  And the cud-chewing of popcorn - it drives me mad.  Just come to watch the film!  Eat before you come out, or wait 'til you get home!

  • I've gone to the cinema with people and alone, I don't think it's sad. Going with someone doesn't really make sense, you sit in a dark room, watching a film and don't speak to anyone because it would be rude to impact other people's viewing and listening experience. It is in itself a very solitary experience.

  • I've always gone to the cinema alone - even when I was with a partner.

    I like to choose a seat as far away from others as possible - especially popcorn-eaters and phone addicts.  I usually take in something 'nice' to drink, to help me relax.  Then, when the film starts, I shut off and enter its world.  And it feels like I'm the only witness to what's going on on screen.  Sometimes, if I go to a mid-week showing, I am the only witness.

    The cinema, for me, is a very private thing - even if it's in a public place.

    Recently, I saw 'Darkest Hour' and 'All the Money in the World' in almost empty auditoriums.

    Films are my passion, so I mostly watch them at home in the evenings - either from a dedicated site, or via a YouTube rental.  I have a large monitor, so it's similar conditions.  Lights off, dark room... no one else.

    If others think that's sad... then it's just that: what others think.  It's not what I think!