Singapore lost four cinema operators in under two years. Cathay Cineplexes, The Projector, Filmgarde and WE Cinemas are all gone, and GV Plaza Singapura screened its last film on 16 August 2026, taking Golden Village down to 16 cinemas. Here's who is actually left, what a ticket really costs at each of them, and the concessions that get you in for as little as $4.50.
Singapore is down to six cinema operators, and the cheapest seat in the country is $4.50.
> Quick view: the floor is $4.50 (Shaw, seniors 55+, weekdays before 6pm). Students pay $7 at both chains. Kids 6 and under watch free at both, but GV blocks school holidays, so Shaw is the only free-kids option until 13 September 2026. All rates re-verified 11 September 2026.
Eight cinemas (Lido, Jem, Jewel, Paya Lebar Quarter, Balestier, Waterway Point, nex and Lot One) and the only IMAX projectors left in Singapore. Shaw is where the cheapest ticket in the country lives: SENIORS AGED 55 AND ABOVE pay $4.50 for a regular 2D seat before 6pm, Monday to Friday, at every Shaw cinema. That is the lowest verified rate anywhere on the island, and it applies from 55, not 60. Senior 3D is $6, and students pay $7 for 2D or $8.50 for 3D on the same weekday-before-6pm terms. STUDENTS can instead take the ALL DAY STUDENT PACKAGE at $13, a regular 2D ticket plus a combo of your choice (regular popcorn, hot dog, nuggets or tater gems, with a drink), valid at all locations until 31 December 2026. On premium formats the discount is real but often missed: concession Lumiere 2D at Balestier, Jewel and PLQ is $19 for seniors and $20 for students Monday to Thursday before 6pm ($24 and $25 on Friday before 6pm), and IMAX DOES carry a concession rate. Shaw's Senior Citizens artwork prices IMAX Digital at $15 to $20 and IMAX 3D at $17 to $22 for seniors 55+, Monday to Friday before 6pm. Be aware that Shaw's dedicated IMAX Senior Citizens Concession poster headlines IMAX tickets from $17, so the $15 rung is the floor at the cheapest hall rather than a rate every cinema offers. Every IMAX concession ticket also comes with $3 in MovieBites credits, redeemable the same day at the MovieBites counter of the cinema on your ticket. STUDENTS GET THE SAME BIG-SCREEN LADDER, and Shaw does publish it, on its Students Concession Promotion artwork rather than in a price table, which is why it is so widely reported as unpublished: Lumiere Digital $14-$25 with $7 of MovieBites credit per ticket, IMAX Digital $15-$20 and IMAX 3D $17-$22 with $3 credit each. Shaw also runs an ALL DAY STUDENT SPECIAL on IMAX and Lumiere from $15 with no 6pm cut-off, Monday to Friday until 31 December 2026. Seniors get a Lumiere rate too, from $13 to $24 with the same $7 MovieBites credit. And like GV, SHAW LETS CHILDREN 6 AND BELOW IN FREE with every standard adult ticket, for shows before 2pm Monday to Friday excluding public holidays and their eves, with a Ribena popcorn combo at $6.70 against a $9.20 usual price. Two things almost every price guide gets wrong here: it credits this promotion to GV alone, and it misses that Shaw's version carries no school-holiday exclusion, which makes Shaw the only free-kids option during the 5 to 13 September break. Public IMAX pricing is $22 off-peak and $25 peak for IMAX Digital, $25 and $28 for IMAX 3D. Full-price 2D is $11 Monday to Thursday, $11.50 in an opening week and $15.50 Friday to Sunday. All concession rates are box-office purchase only (the IMAX senior rate also works at the self-service kiosks), with photo ID or a student pass required at both purchase and admission, and none are valid on public holidays or their eves. ONE EXCLUSION TO KNOW: concessions don't apply to premium-priced titles. Shaw premieres, Dreamers, film festivals, movie marathons and Hindi/Tamil releases are all excluded, whatever ID you hold. NO CONCESSION AT ALL? A SAFRA card gets you 2D for $9 Monday to Thursday ($9.50 for opening titles) and $13.50 Friday to Sunday, against $11 and $15.50; SAFRA MovieMax members pay $8 and $12.50, and SAFRA NSF members pay $8 on Tuesdays. The MovieMax and NSF rates run only at Balestier, Lot One, Jem, Jewel, Paya Lebar Quarter and Waterway Point, all three run to 31 December 2028, and none covers 3D, IMAX or Lumiere. OCBC cards take $1 off 2D at every Shaw box office until 31 December 2026. BEST FOR: seniors, students, and anyone who wants a real IMAX screen.
Seniors 55+ pay $4.50 before 6pm weekdays; students $7, IMAX & Lumiere from $15 all day Mon-Fri, or the $13 package with a combo (till 31 Dec 2026); kids 6 & under free before 2pm, with no school-holiday block unlike GV; SAFRA members $9 2D Mon-Thu
Valid till 31 Dec 2026
Still the largest operator by a distance, now with 16 CINEMAS AND 122 SCREENS by GV's own count, after GV Plaza Singapura screened its last film on 16 August 2026 following 28 years at Plaza Singapura. Standard 2D pricing is $11.50 Monday to Thursday ($12 for first-week titles and sneaks) and $16 from Friday through Sunday and public holidays; GVmax Dolby Atmos runs $13 on weekdays. The everyday savings are where GV wins: a FREE GV MOVIE CLUB membership takes $2 off every Monday and Tuesday ticket at all GV cinemas, a $9.50 weekday seat, though it is void on 3D, premium halls, Dolby Atmos, Gold Class and the first one or two weeks of selected blockbusters. STUDENTS pay $7 all day Monday to Friday at ten cinemas (Bedok, City Square, Grand, Katong, Funan, Bishan, Paya Lebar, Tampines, Downtown East and Cineleisure), and $7 before 6pm everywhere else, until 30 December 2026. SENIORS 60 AND ABOVE pay $5 for 2D before 6pm on weekdays. KIDS AGED 6 AND BELOW watch free with one standard adult ticket, walk-in only, for sessions before 2pm Monday to Friday outside school and public holidays, until 20 November 2026. Stack on $2 off with DBS/POSB cards or PayLah! until 31 December 2026, or 1-for-1 any day with a HomeTeamNS membership. Trust+ members paying with a Trust card get 1-for-1 Gold Class and Gold Class Express tickets, once a month and capped at the first 200 redemptions each month, from 1 September 2026 to 28 February 2027. ONE CLOSURE TO WATCH: GV Yishun sits in Yishun 10, which owner Frasers Property says will cease operations on 2 March 2027; GV has not announced a last screening date. BEST FOR: families, students and anyone who plans around Monday and Tuesday.
Free GV Movie Club: $2 off every Mon & Tue. Students $7 all day weekdays at 10 cinemas, or before 6pm at all 16; seniors 60+ $5; kids 6 & under free before 2pm but NOT during school holidays (5-13 Sep); HSBC cards $2 off daily till 30 Sep 2026
Valid till 30 Dec 2026
The best-value serious cinema in Singapore, and the one most people forget exists. Run by the Asian Film Archive inside the National Archives building at 1 Canning Rise, the 134-seat Oldham Theatre screens restored Asian classics, retrospectives and 35mm prints that never reach the multiplexes. GENERAL ADMISSION IS $10 and CONCESSION IS $9 for students, full-time National Servicemen and seniors aged 55 and above, cheaper than a standard weekend seat at any commercial chain. AFA members pay less again: $8.50 on the Student and Explorer tiers, $8 for Supporters, and Friend-tier members get in free (Explorer membership is $50 a year, Supporter $100, Friend $300). One rule to note: CONCESSION AND MEMBER DISCOUNTS DON'T STACK, so you pay whichever single rate is lower, so a student who is also an Explorer member pays $8.50, not $7.50. Currently running: a slow-cinema and diary-film strand to the end of September, with Jonas Mekas' As I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty (2000) on 12 September, Chantal Akerman's News From Home (1976) on 18 September, Mundane History (2009) on 20 September, In Vanda's Room (2000) on 25 September and the seven-hour Satantango (1994) on 26 September. Three sessions are already sold out: What Time Is It There? (11 September), Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks (19 September) and An Elephant Sitting Still (27 September). Next up from 9 October is TWIN TALES: KON ICHIKAWA AND YASUZO MASUMURA, with 4K restorations of The Burmese Harp (1957), Odd Obsession (1959), Manji (1964) and A Cheerful Girl (1957), plus The Kiss and A Full-Up Train (both 1957). The box office opens an hour before each screening and closes 30 minutes after the last one starts; the venue is closed Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, so check the calendar before making the trip. BEST FOR: film buffs who want depth, and the cheapest full-price ticket in town.
Standing prices, no expiry: $10 general / $9 concession (students, NSF, seniors 55+); AFA members from $8, free on the Friend tier; concession and member rates do not stack. Now on: a slow-cinema strand to 27 Sep including Satantango on 26 Sep (What Time Is It There?, Tie Xi Qu and An Elephant Sitting Still are sold out); Twin Tales: Kon Ichikawa and Yasuzo Masumura, with 4K restorations, from 9 Oct. Closed Mon, Tue and Thu.
Opened 3 February 2026 in the exact space The Projector left behind at Golden Mile Tower, run by former Projector staff across three rooms: the Green Room (4K xenon), Redrum and Blue Room (2K laser). Programming is arthouse, international drama and awards-season titles, with a well-priced concession scheme: TUESDAY TO THURSDAY, a standard adult ticket is $13 all day while CONCESSION IS JUST $8 BEFORE 6PM and $11 after; Friday to Sunday, public holidays and their eves, adults pay $16.50 and concession $14.50 all day. Concession covers a genuinely wide group: students, seniors, NSFs, persons with disabilities and domestic workers. Add $1.80 per online transaction as a booking fee. Membership is free for life and earns 5 points per dollar on tickets and snacks, with a paid tier still in the works. Box office runs 4pm-8.30pm Tuesday to Friday and 1pm-8.30pm on weekends; CLOSED MONDAYS. After the last screening, the snack bar becomes Trailer Bar until midnight. BEST FOR: an early-week arthouse fix, and a proper drink afterwards.
$8 concession before 6pm, Tue-Thu (students, seniors, NSFs, PWDs, domestic workers); free lifetime membership earns 5 points per dollar
Since 1 January 2026 the Singapore Film Society has run its own cinema out of Hall 6 at Golden Village Cineleisure, 8 Grange Road. It's a small room: 60 seats, free seating on a first-come, first-served basis, entry by QR e-ticket, programmed by an organisation that has been importing films Singapore wouldn't otherwise see for over 60 years. PUBLIC ADMISSION IS $15, but SFS MEMBERS PAY $9, a flat $6 off and a 40% saving on every ticket, which pays back an entry-level membership quickly if you go more than a couple of times a month. Membership runs from $15 for one month to $119 for twelve, with a further 10% off for students, NSFs and seniors 55 and above, and members also get free monthly screenings and festival discounts. Screenings are at 7.30pm Wednesday to Sunday, with extra 1.30pm and 4pm sessions on Saturday and a 4pm slot on Sunday. The schedule for the following week is announced every Wednesday, and booking runs through the Singapore Film Society's Eventive page rather than GV's own ticketing. BEST FOR: regular indie viewers in town who will actually use a membership.
SFS members pay $9 instead of $15, a flat $6 off every SFS Somerset ticket
The only independent cinema in the Bukit Timah and King Albert Park stretch, tucked into KAP Mall at 9 King Albert Park. It is tiny by multiplex standards: five halls, 135 seats in total, an 18-seat Platinum Hall, two 12-seat Gold Halls, a 30-seat Silver Hall and a 63-seat Classic Hall, each with its own colour theme. Pricing splits sharply by hall: the CLASSIC HALL IS $11.50, matching a Golden Village weekday ticket for a room a fraction of the size, while GOLD CLASS RUNS $26 on a weekday and Platinum sits at the top of the range. Premium ticket holders (Eagle Gold and Eagle Platinum) get the two-storey penthouse-style Premium Lounge before the film, and can order from the EagleWings Loft menu to be served during the screening. The upper level of that lounge can also be booked for private events, with or without a hall. BEST FOR: a date night or a small private booking without the Orchard Road crowds.
Classic Hall $11.50 on weekdays; Gold Class recliners with lounge access from $26
Carnival runs a single hall at Golden Mile Tower, 6001 Beach Road, the same building as Filmhouse and one floor apart, and it is now the only cinema in Singapore programmed primarily around Indian releases: Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam and more, usually landing on Singapore screens the same week they open in India. The slate turns over weekly across Tamil, Telugu and Hindi titles, with sessions typically in the evening and daily opening Monday to Sunday. Tickets are sold through carnivalcinemas.sg or at the door; prices are not published on the site, so check the booking page for your session before you go, and note that big Tamil openings sell out fast. Worth knowing: the four-auditorium space Carnival occupies on the third and fourth floors was listed for sale at S$31 million in June 2026, with the expression of interest exercise closing on 4 August 2026. No closure has been announced, and Carnival was still listing showtimes on 11 September 2026, but the building's ownership is in play. Golden Mile Tower is a five-minute walk from Nicoll Highway MRT and has the Beach Road food options and Filmhouse's Trailer Bar in the same block. BEST FOR: catching an Indian release on the big screen without waiting for streaming.
Get Deal| Cinema | Standard 2D | Cheapest way in | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shaw Theatres | $11 Mon-Thu / $15.50 Fri-Sun | $4.50 senior 55+ (before 6pm, Mon-Fri); kids 6 & under free, no school-holiday block | 8 cinemas, the only IMAX |
| Golden Village | $11.50 Mon-Thu / $16 Fri-Sun | $5 senior 60+; $7 student all day (10 cinemas) or before 6pm (all 16); kids 6 & under free, not in school holidays | 16 cinemas, 122 screens |
| Oldham Theatre (AFA) | $10 general | $8 with AFA Supporter membership | 1 Canning Rise |
| Filmhouse | $13 Tue-Thu / $16.50 Fri-Sun | $8 concession before 6pm, Tue-Thu | Golden Mile Tower |
| SFS Somerset | $15 public | $9 for SFS members | GV Cineleisure Hall 6 |
| EagleWings Cinematics | $11.50 Classic Hall | $11.50 Classic Hall (Gold Class $26) | KAP Mall, King Albert Park |
| Carnival Cinemas | Indian-language releases | Check carnivalcinemas.sg | Golden Mile Tower |
Singapore's cinema map has been redrawn in under two years, and most "cheapest movie ticket" guides online have not noticed. Cathay Cineplexes went into voluntary liquidation and stopped trading on 1 September 2025, closing its last four halls after 86 years. The Projector shut on 19 August 2025. Filmgarde left the business after its Leisure Park Kallang hall went dark, and WE Cinemas ended Eng Wah's 80-year run when its Clementi screen was handed to Cathay in November 2024, which then closed too.
So if you have read that Cathay does $6 Tuesdays or that Filmgarde is the cheap option, those deals no longer exist anywhere.
| Operator | Cinemas | Standard 2D |
|---|---|---|
| Golden Village | 16 (Plaza Singapura closed 16 Aug) | $11.50 Mon-Thu / $16 Fri-Sun |
| Shaw Theatres | 8, the only IMAX in Singapore | $11 Mon-Thu / $15.50 Fri-Sun; IMAX from $22 |
| EagleWings Cinematics | 1 (KAP Mall) | $11.50 Classic Hall |
| Filmhouse | 1, three rooms (Golden Mile Tower) | $13 Tue-Thu / $16.50 Fri-Sun |
| SFS Somerset | 1 hall inside GV Cineleisure | $15 public / $9 members |
| Carnival Cinemas | 1 (Golden Mile Tower) | Indian-language releases |
The Asian Film Archive's Oldham Theatre at the National Archives is not a commercial chain, but at $10 general and $9 concession it undercuts every one of them.
GV Plaza Singapura screened its final film on 16 August 2026, after 28 years. Golden Village's own site now lists 16 cinemas and 122 screens, re-confirmed on 11 September 2026. GV Tiong Bahru had already closed on 29 March 2026. Next on the watch list is GV Yishun: its mall, Yishun 10, is due to cease operations on 2 March 2027, though GV has not announced a last screening.
If you caught one of those farewell sessions, there is still something to collect. Buying two or more tickets in a single online transaction for a GV Plaza screening during the farewell run earned a free popcorn or Coca-Cola e-voucher, one per qualifying transaction and 10,000 in total. A single ticket never qualified. Those vouchers were emailed after 16 August and expire on 31 October 2026, redeemable at any remaining GV cinema, and again only with two tickets bought in one transaction. Check your inbox and spam folder before the end of October.
Half price on any day: HomeTeamNS members get 1-for-1 on 2D tickets at any GV cinema, every day, public holidays included, booked through the HomeTeamNS app, one redemption per member per day. That beats every concession rate above if you are buying two tickets.
Yes, both Golden Village and Shaw Theatres have a student price, and both charge $7 for a standard 2D weekday ticket. The difference is *when* you can use it, and that difference is the whole decision:
| Golden Village | Shaw Theatres | |
|---|---|---|
| Standard 2D | $7 | $7 |
| 3D | $12 (keep the glasses) | $8.50 |
| Premium seats | $13 (Duo Deluxe, Deluxe Plus, Gemini) | Lumiere $14 to $25 (+$7 MovieBites credit) |
| Big-format | $10 at GVmax and Century Square Hall 2 Dolby Atmos | IMAX Digital $15 to $20, IMAX 3D $17 to $22 (+$3 credit) |
| When | All day Mon-Fri at ten cinemas; before 6pm at all sixteen | Mon-Fri before 6pm, except IMAX and Lumiere, which are all day |
| Where to buy | Box office or ticketing machine | Box office only |
| Runs until | 30 December 2026 | 31 December 2026 (all-day specials) |
The ten-cinema catch is real, but narrower than most guides say. GV actually runs two student promotions, and they are easy to confuse. The All Day Student Promotion holds $7 for *any* weekday session, so an 8pm Thursday film still costs $7, but only at GV Bedok, City Square, Grand, Katong, Funan, Bishan, Paya Lebar, Tampines, Downtown East and Cineleisure. The separate Student Offer gives the same $7 2D rate at all sixteen GV cinemas, but only before 6pm. So turning up at VivoCity, Suntec City, Jurong Point, Yishun, Bugis+ or Century Square is fine at 4pm and full price at 8pm. Both run 2 January to 30 December 2026.
Shaw wins on the big screens, and it does publish those prices. The reason every guide says otherwise is that the figures sit on the artwork of Shaw's Students Concession Promotion rather than in a price table: Lumiere Digital $14 to $25 with $7 of MovieBites credit per ticket, IMAX Digital $15 to $20 and IMAX 3D $17 to $22 with $3 credit each. On top of that, Shaw's All Day Student Special puts IMAX and Lumiere from $15 with no 6pm cut-off, Monday to Friday until 31 December 2026, so a student can take an 8pm IMAX seat for $15 while the person next to them paid $22.
Shaw also wins if you want food included. Its All Day Student Package is $13 for a regular 2D ticket plus a combo, at every Shaw cinema Monday to Friday until 31 December 2026. Against a $7 ticket plus roughly $10 for popcorn and a drink bought separately, that is the better maths if you were buying snacks anyway.
What you need to bring: a valid student card, every time. GV's promotion covers full-time primary, secondary, polytechnic and tertiary students in Singapore, and the card is checked twice, once when you buy and again at the door. Neither chain's student rate works for online or app bookings, and both exclude public holidays and their eves. GV additionally excludes Gold Class, premieres, and any booking made with movie vouchers, complimentary passes or VIP passes.
Shaw Theatres runs the only IMAX projectors left in Singapore, at four locations: Lido, Jewel, Paya Lebar Quarter and Waterway Point. Public pricing is the same everywhere:
| IMAX format | Off-peak (Mon-Thu) | Peak (Fri-Sun, PH, opening titles) |
|---|---|---|
| IMAX Digital | $22 | $25 |
| IMAX 3D / HFR 3D | $25 | $28 |
What almost every price guide misses is that both concessions reach IMAX. Shaw's Senior Citizens artwork prices IMAX Digital at $15 to $20 and IMAX 3D at $17 to $22 for seniors aged 55 and above, Monday to Friday before 6pm, each ticket carrying $3 in MovieBites credits. Students get the same ladder, and Shaw publishes it on the Students Concession artwork rather than in a price table, which is why it is so widely reported as unpublished.
One inconsistency to walk in expecting. Shaw currently publishes two different IMAX senior figures. The Senior Citizens Treats artwork shows the $15 to $20 range above, while Shaw's dedicated IMAX Senior Citizens Concession poster headlines IMAX tickets from $17. The cheapest rungs are not offered at every hall, so treat $15 as the floor at the cheapest cinema rather than a number you can count on at Lido or Jewel, and confirm on the session you actually want.
Students also get something seniors do not: the All Day Student Special, which puts IMAX and Lumiere from $15 with no 6pm cut-off, Monday to Friday until 31 December 2026. Seniors have a Lumiere rate too, $13 to $24 with $7 of MovieBites credit, against the student $14 to $25.
These stack differently from the concession rates, and none of them needs a student card or a birthday.
*Prices and promotion terms in this article were re-checked against each operator's own website, booking engine and campaign artwork on 11 September 2026. Cinema promotions change without notice, so confirm on the official booking page before you travel.*
S$4.50, for senior citizens aged 55 and above at SHAW THEATRES, valid for regular 2D screenings before 6pm from Monday to Friday, at all Shaw cinemas, excluding public holidays and eves of public holidays. It must be bought at the box office (not online or at kiosks), a valid photo ID is required, and it's one concession ticket per senior. Golden Village's senior rate is S$5 for a regular 2D ticket, but the age bar is higher at 60 and above, also Monday to Friday before 6pm. If you're not a senior, the next-cheapest routes are the S$7 student ticket at either chain, the Asian Film Archive's S$8-S$10 tickets at Oldham Theatre, or Filmhouse's S$8 concession rate before 6pm from Tuesday to Thursday. For everyone else with no concession at all, a free GV Movie Club membership takes S$2 off a Monday or Tuesday ticket, bringing a standard 2D seat down to S$9.50. A SAFRA card does slightly better at Shaw, at S$9 from Monday to Thursday.
At full price, a standard 2D ticket at SHAW THEATRES costs S$11 Monday to Thursday (S$11.50 in a film's opening week) and S$15.50 Friday to Sunday. At GOLDEN VILLAGE it is S$11.50 Monday to Thursday (S$12 for first-week titles and sneaks) and S$16 Friday to Sunday and on public holidays. IMAX, which only Shaw runs, is S$22 off-peak and S$25 peak for IMAX Digital, and S$25 and S$28 for IMAX 3D. The independents sit in between: Filmhouse is S$13 Tuesday to Thursday and S$16.50 Friday to Sunday, plus a S$1.80 booking fee per online transaction; EagleWings' Classic Hall is S$11.50; SFS Somerset is S$15 to the public; and the Asian Film Archive's Oldham Theatre is S$10. With no concession at all, the cheapest everyday routes are a SAFRA card at Shaw (S$9 Monday to Thursday, S$13.50 Friday to Sunday), a free GV Movie Club membership (S$9.50 on Mondays and Tuesdays) and HomeTeamNS's 1-for-1 at GV on any day. Prices re-checked on 11 September 2026.
Shaw Theatres runs Singapore's only IMAX screens, at four cinemas: LIDO, JEWEL, PAYA LEBAR QUARTER AND WATERWAY POINT. At public prices, IMAX Digital is S$22 off-peak (Monday to Thursday) and S$25 peak (Friday to Sunday, public holidays and opening titles); IMAX 3D and HFR 3D are S$25 and S$28. Contrary to what most price guides say, there IS a concession rate. SENIORS AGED 55 AND ABOVE pay S$15 to S$20 for IMAX Digital and S$17 to S$22 for IMAX 3D, Monday to Friday before 6pm, on Shaw's Senior Citizens artwork, though Shaw's dedicated IMAX senior poster headlines IMAX tickets from S$17, so treat S$15 as the floor at the cheapest hall rather than a rate every cinema offers. Each IMAX concession ticket also includes S$3 in MovieBites credits, valid the same day at the MovieBites counter of the cinema shown on your ticket. Unusually, this rate can be bought at the self-service kiosks as well as the box office, but not online, not through third-party booking apps, and photo ID is checked at purchase and again on admission. STUDENTS: Shaw DOES publish the IMAX student price, on the artwork of its own Students Concession Promotion rather than in a price table, which is why most guides say it is unpublished. IMAX DIGITAL IS $15 TO $20 AND IMAX 3D IS $17 TO $22 FOR STUDENTS, the same ladder seniors get, and each ticket carries the same $3 MovieBites credit. Better still, Shaw runs a separate ALL DAY STUDENT SPECIAL on IMAX and Lumiere from $15, valid Monday to Friday with no 6pm cut-off, until 31 December 2026, so a student can sit in an 8pm IMAX show for $15 while the public pays $22. Note that no concession applies to premium-priced titles such as film festivals, movie marathons, premieres or Hindi and Tamil releases.
Both chains do, and both charge S$7 for a standard 2D ticket, but the useful difference is the timing, and GV's all-day version only works at ten of its sixteen cinemas. GOLDEN VILLAGE runs an All Day Student Promotion at S$7 for 2D, S$12 for 3D (you keep the glasses) and S$13 for its premium Duo Deluxe, Deluxe Plus and Gemini seats, valid all day Monday to Friday from 2 January to 30 December 2026, but ONLY AT GV BEDOK, CITY SQUARE, GRAND, KATONG, FUNAN, BISHAN, PAYA LEBAR, TAMPINES, DOWNTOWN EAST AND CINELEISURE. Turn up at GV VivoCity, Suntec City, Jurong Point, Yishun, Bugis+ or Century Square expecting S$7 all evening and you will not get it. SHAW THEATRES charges S$7 for a regular ticket but only Monday to Friday BEFORE 6PM, after which you pay the full S$11 (Mon-Thu) or S$15.50 (Fri-Sun). Where Shaw wins is the big screens: its student rate covers LUMIERE AT S$14-S$25 WITH S$7 OF MOVIEBITES CREDIT PER TICKET, IMAX DIGITAL AT S$15-S$20 AND IMAX 3D AT S$17-S$22, each with S$3 of MovieBites credit, and its All Day Student Special puts IMAX and Lumiere from S$15 with no 6pm cut-off, Monday to Friday, until 31 December 2026. Shaw's other counter-offer is the All Day Student Package at S$13, a regular 2D ticket plus a combo, at every Shaw cinema Monday to Friday until 31 December 2026; if you were buying popcorn and a drink anyway, that beats a S$7 ticket plus roughly S$10 of snacks. Both rates require a valid student card at purchase and again at admission, both are box office purchases only (GV also allows its ticketing machines) and neither works for online or app bookings. Public holidays and their eves are excluded at both, and GV additionally excludes Gold Class, premieres and any booking using vouchers or complimentary passes.
Four operators have exited in under two years. CATHAY CINEPLEXES went into voluntary liquidation and ceased operations from 1 September 2025, closing its last four cinemas (Causeway Point, Downtown East, Century Square and Clementi 321) after 86 years. THE PROJECTOR at Golden Mile Tower closed on 19 August 2025 after entering voluntary liquidation. FILMGARDE shut its final outlet at Leisure Park Kallang and left the cinema business after 18 years. WE CINEMAS ended Eng Wah's 80-year run when its Clementi hall was handed over to Cathay in November 2024, which then closed too. Still open as of September 2026: Golden Village, Shaw Theatres, EagleWings Cinematics, Filmhouse, SFS Somerset, Carnival Cinemas, and the Asian Film Archive's Oldham Theatre. Note that many ticket-price guides still online list Cathay's S$6 Tuesdays or Filmgarde's S$9 weekday rate, and those deals no longer exist anywhere.
IT IS DONE: GV Plaza screened its final film on 16 AUGUST 2026, after 28 years at Plaza Singapura, and Golden Village's own site now lists 16 cinemas and 122 screens with Plaza Singapura removed. The thing to act on now is the farewell e-voucher. If you bought TWO OR MORE tickets in a SINGLE ONLINE TRANSACTION (GV website or app, since walk-ins never counted) for a GV Plaza screening during the 1 July to 16 August farewell run, you were emailed an e-voucher after 16 August for a free regular popcorn or regular Coca-Cola, randomly assigned, one per qualifying transaction and 10,000 in total. THAT VOUCHER IS LIVE NOW AND EXPIRES ON 31 OCTOBER 2026, redeemable at any remaining GV cinema, but redemption ALSO requires two tickets bought in one transaction, so the two-ticket rule applies at both ends and a solo trip will not clear it. Check your inbox and spam folder before the end of October. Everything else survives the closure: unused GV vouchers, gift cards and Movie Club points remain valid chain-wide, because this was a single-cinema closure, not a chain shutdown. GV points former Plaza regulars to GV Cineleisure, GV Bugis+, GV Funan, GV Grand at Great World and GV City Square, of which Cineleisure, Funan, Grand and City Square also carry the S$7 all-day student rate.
Mostly no, and this trips up a lot of people. At SHAW THEATRES, both the S$4.50 senior rate and the S$7 student rate are explicitly valid for BOX OFFICE PURCHASE ONLY, meaning not online, not on the mobile app, not at the self-service kiosks, and not for group or corporate bookings. At GOLDEN VILLAGE, concession tickets likewise can't be bought through the website; GV's own FAQ has a dedicated entry explaining why promotional tickets such as senior citizen and student tickets aren't available online. You'll need to turn up at the counter with a valid photo ID (for seniors) or a student card (for students), and you'll be asked to show it again at the usher point. Each card or ID is good for one discounted ticket per transaction. The practical upshot: for a popular opening weekend, a concession ticket means queuing at the box office and taking whatever seats are left, so if the seat matters more than the S$4-S$5 saving, book online at the standard rate instead. AND HERE IS THE MIRROR IMAGE MOST PEOPLE MISS: GV's S$2 off with DBS/POSB cards or PayLah!, which runs from 1 May to 31 December 2026, is NOT VALID FOR BOX OFFICE PURCHASES AT ALL. It works only through the DBS PayLah! app, GV's iGV app, the GV website or the Automated Ticketing Machines, and DBS's own terms exclude it from stacking with senior citizen discounted tickets. So the two cheapest routes at GV are mutually exclusive by design: the concession rate is counter-only, the card discount is screen-only, and you cannot have both on one ticket. The card deal also excludes eve of and all public holidays, premium films and seats, and the first two weeks of blockbuster titles and No Free Passes films, and a convenience fee applies per online transaction.
The Projector's closure in August 2025 left a gap that two new venues have filled. FILMHOUSE opened on 3 February 2026 in The Projector's old home at Golden Mile Tower, run by former Projector staff across three rooms (Green Room, Redrum and Blue Room), programming arthouse, international drama and awards titles, with a Trailer Bar running until midnight after the last screening. SFS SOMERSET has been running since 1 January 2026 inside Hall 6 of GV Cineleisure, a roughly 60-seat hall programmed by the Singapore Film Society with a new schedule announced every Wednesday for the following week. And the ASIAN FILM ARCHIVE's Oldham Theatre at the National Archives remains the place for restored Asian classics and 35mm prints, at S$10 general and S$9 concession. One caveat worth knowing: a Golden Mile Tower cinema space was put up for sale at S$31 million in June 2026, with the expression of interest exercise closing at 3pm on 4 August 2026. That listing covers the four-auditorium, roughly 2,000-seat space on the third and fourth floors currently occupied by Carnival Cinemas, not Filmhouse, which sits separately on the fifth floor. A change of owner in the building is worth watching if you rely on either.
