Streaming and cinema: six ways to pay for a night in or out
Hulu, Paramount+, Fandango, AMC, Cinemark and Regal, from $5. The category where a payout replaces a bill you were already going to pay.
Most gift cards buy you something extra. This category is different: two of these six replace a subscription you are already paying for, which makes the payout worth exactly its face value in money you do not spend.
What is on the wall
- Streaming — Hulu, Paramount+
- Cinema tickets — Fandango, AMC Theatres, Cinemark, Regal
The subscription trick
A Hulu gift card is applied to your account as credit and the monthly charge comes out of it until it runs out. A $25 card is roughly a couple of months depending on your plan, and during those months your card is not billed at all.
That is the cleanest possible use of a rewards balance. You are not buying something you would not have bought — you are removing a payment you were going to make anyway.
Fandango versus the individual chains
Fandango is a ticket marketplace: one card, most cinemas, and it covers online booking fees. AMC, Cinemark and Regal cards spend only at their own chain, in person or in their app.
Fandango is the safer pick if you are not loyal to one chain. A chain card is the better pick if you are, because those apps carry the loyalty programmes and the discount nights that Fandango bookings sometimes miss.
What is not here
Netflix, Disney+ and Spotify are not on our supplier's list, so they are not on the wall. If they appear we will carry them — the catalogue is checked twice a day. For now, a prepaid Visa is the way to cover a subscription we do not stock directly.
Six brands, from $5, with live availability.
See the streaming and cinema cards