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The Cheapest Ways to See Star Wars Opening Week

$5 Tickets? Yup! The best matinee & opening night movie deals in the Bay.
By - posted 12/18/2015 No Comment

Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens has sold over $100 million in presale tickets so far. And with ticket prices in San Francisco as high as $20 (3D weekend screening at the Kabuki), you’d think you’d be screwed if you were on a budget and just needed to get yourself some jedi action.

Surprisingly there’s still plenty of good deals to be had to see Star Wars the first week, long as you’re a little flexible with your timing.

And be aware that some of these screenings might be sold out by the time you read this.

Cheapest Star Wars Tickets – The Drive In! – $5

Both Bay Area drive-ins (Concord and San Jose) are showing Star Wars with regular tickets for opening night for $7.95 (kids are just $1). Or if you’d looking for the absolute best deal, Tuesdays are just $5 – probably what you might have paid to see Return of the Jedi back in 1983.

And at least for opening weekend, there’s tons of screenings with showings as late as 12:30am and 1am.

Cheapest Evening Tickets – $6 (2D) / $9 (3D)

Every Sunday and Tuesday, The Regal Jack London Stadium hooks you up with $6 tickets to see any 2D flick and just $9 for 3D flicks – and that includes Star Wars even on opening weekend.

Coolest Movie Deal – $10 incl. Popcorn & Drink

The Balboa Theater isn’t the biggest theater, or the cleanest, but it’s an historic 1926 neighborhood theater in the Outer Richmond that has one of our favorite deals. Saturday morning 12/19 and 12/26 Star Wars VII will be part of their weekly “Popcorn Palace” series – for just $10 you get a movie ticket, plus a popcorn and a drink for the 10am screening.

Cheapest Opening Night Tickets – $11

The Balboa Theater wins again with $11.00 adult tickets for opening night on Thursday, December 17th (as well as the whole weekend). And last time we checked, $11 tickets are still available for opening night December 17th (other than 7pm and 8pm which are sold out) as well as every screening Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Best of all, there’s no ticketing fees when buying tickets online. VII cheers for the Balboa!

Cheapest IMAX 3D – $12.29

If you don’t mind getting up early, you can see Star Wars in IMAX 3D for juust $12.29 at the AMC Van Ness for the 9am screening. The Metreon comes in next with $13.79 tickets for 9am.

Early Morning Deals in SF – $6.79

Many theaters have matinee deals to save a few bucks, but AMC Metreon has a super early morning deal with tickets at 9am and 10am costing just $6.79 for 2D and $11.79 for 3D. AMC Van Ness has a similar deal but it costs a few bucks more at $10.29 for 2D and $12.29 for 3D.

Alamo Drafthouse – $9.25 2D / $12.25 3D

A special nod to the brand new Alamo Drafthouse which officially opens in the Mission on December 17th. Tickets are $9.25 for 2D daytime screenings (3:30pm) and $12.25 for 3D screenings at Noon – the prices are good on weekends as well, “IF” you can get tickets.

The Whole Deal

Here’s a handy sheet of the best Star Wars movie ticket deals we’ve found for the Bay Area for Star Wars movie tickets. Did we miss anything? Did we get something wrong? Let us know!