Best Credit Cards For Movies In Singapore

Watching movies is a favourite national pastime, especially when it comes to mega blockbusters that you just have to catch on the big screen.

The next time you’re planning a trip down to the cinema, try using these credit cards and bank promotions for savings, perks and rewards to make your movie outing even more enjoyable.

What MCCs are movie ticket purchases coded under?

Credit card rewards are only given on what the card issuer regards as “eligible transactions”, which are determined via what’s known as the Merchant Category Code (MCC). This four-digit number serves as a universal identifier for what category of business the merchant is in, and every transaction made on your credit card is tagged to the relevant MCC.

Each of the major cinema chains in Singapore – Golden Village, Cathay, Shaw, Filmgarde and WE Cinemas – carry the MCC 7832 (Motion Picture Theatres). 

However, cinema tickets may also code as MCC 5815 (Digital Goods Media: Books, Movies, Music), while live shows and stage performances would code as MCC 7922 (Theatrical Producers (Excl Motion Pictures), Ticket Agencies).

Hence, as long as your credit card recognises these MCCs, you’ll be able to earn relevant rewards on your transactions. Bear in mind that your movie ticket purchases may also be counted as other spending categories, such as online purchases, or contactless and mobile payments, allowing you to earn credit card rewards that way too. 

With that out of the way, let's take a look at which credit cards give you the best rewards for movie ticket purchases in Singapore.

Best credit cards for movies in Singapore

Credit card	Rewards when you spend on movie tickets
Maybank Family & Friends Card	8% cashback, capped at S$25 per month, with minimum monthly spend of S$800
UOB EVOL Card	8% cashback on online and mobile contactless payments, capped at S$30 per month, with minimum monthly spend of S$800
OCBC FRANK Credit Card	8% cashback on online and mobile contactless payments, capped at S$25 per month, with minimum monthly spend of S$800
UOB Preferred Platinum Visa	10X UNI$ per S$5 (4 mpd) on online entertainment and mobile contactless payments, no minimum monthly spend
Citi Rewards Card	10x reward points (4 mpd) on online transactions, no minimum monthly spend
DBS Woman’s World Mastercard	10x reward points (4 mpd) on online transactions, no minimum monthly spend
UOB Lady’s Card/Lady’s Solitaire Card	10 UNI$ per S$5 (4 mpd) on entertainment spends, no minimum monthly spend

Maybank Family & Friends Card

The Maybank Family & Friends Card lets you earn 8% cashback on all movie tickets and cinema spends, up to S$25 per month per category. 

That’s not the most, but this card lets you choose up to five out of 10 categories each quarter to earn 8% cashback, which means you can have a total of S$125 cashback per month – if you juggle your spending wisely. 

The bonus categories include:

• Groceries

• Dining & food delivery

• Transport

• Data communication & online TV streaming

• Retail & pets

• Online fashion

• Entertainment

• Pharmacy

• Beauty & wellness

• Sports and sports apparels

• Malaysian Ringgit Spend (automatically included on top of your 5 preferred categories)

You’ll need to charge at least S$800 worth of eligible transactions per month to earn cashback, failing which your transactions will only earn 0.3% cashback. 

As an added bonus, all transactions in Malaysian Ringgit will also earn 8% cashback, up to S$25 per month – this is in addition to the five preferred spending categories you choose. So if you regularly go to JB for movies and shopping, this card might be well worth considering!

Remember to select "Entertainment" as one of your five categories to be eligible for 8% cashback!

UOB EVOL Card

If you regularly book your movie tickets online, or via the self-service kiosk using contactless payment, you can earn 10% cashback with the UOB EVOL Card. 

To earn 10% cashback, you’ll need to spend at least S$800 on your card for the month. Cashback earned is capped at S$30 per month each for online and mobile contactless spends, S$20 for overseas in-store FX spend (10% cashback), as well as a further S$30 for all other spends (at 0.3% cashback). 

This means you could theoretically earn up to S$80 per month in cashback. 

OCBC FRANK Credit Card

The OCBC FRANK Credit Card lets you earn 8% cashback on movie ticket bookings made online or paid via contactless payment. Each of these payment methods is counted as two separate categories, and both have a monthly cashback cap of S$25. 

This means if you happen to max out your cashback on online payments, you can continue to earn 8% cashback on your movie tickets by paying for them via contactless payment methods instead. 

You can also earn an additional 2% cashback (capped at S$25 per month) on selected green merchants (such as public transport), so your total eligible cashback in a calendar month is S$100.

UOB Preferred Platinum Visa Card

If you're looking for a versatile miles credit card, the UOB Preferred Platinum Visa Card is right up your alley. It gives you 10X UNI$ per 5 for eligible online and entertainment transactions (equivalent to 4 miles per dollar (mpd)) and mobile contactless payments. including for movie tickets.

Indeed, the UOB Preferred Platinum Visa Card is one of the best miles cards around – especially for mobile contactless transactions, thanks to its versatility and limited exclusions. 

Better yet, there’s no minimum monthly spend required, so even if you only watch one movie in a month, you’ll still be allocated your bonus reward points.

Citi Rewards Card

You can replicate the same “4 mpd” trick with the Citi Rewards Card. Yes, this card, too, gives you 10x rewards points, but only for online transactions. If you choose to pay for your movie tickets using contactless payments, you will only earn the base rate of 1x points.

But you can bypass this by pairing it with the Instarem amaze card, which lets you convert all eligible offline transactions to online. This means you can continue to enjoy 4 mpd for mobile contactless transactions. 

DBS Woman’s World Mastercard

If you have the DBS Woman’s World Mastercard, you can earn 10x rewards points (or 4 mpd) when you use it to pay for your movie tickets online. 

Reward points are given for every S$5 spent, and you will receive 9x bonus points only at the end of the following calendar month – so you’ll need to be a little more patient with this card. 

Note that in total, you will only receive bonus 9x points on the first S$1,500 in online transactions per month – beyond that you will only receive the base rate of 1x reward points. 

UOB Lady’s Card/Lady’s Solitaire Card

The UOB Lady’s Card/Lady’s Solitaire Card offers an earn rate for movie tickets with 10 UNI$ per S$5, which is equivalent to 4 mpd. 

This is because movie tickets are included under the Entertainment spending category, for which you may choose to receive bonus UNI$. 

Other merchants included under the Entertainment category are Ticketing Services providers (think concerts, live shows etc) as well as bars, taverns, lounges and KTV, making this card for a day of movies and bar-hopping. 

There is no minimum monthly spend to earn bonus UNI$. All you have to do is to choose Entertainment as your preferred spending category and you’re good to go. 

Also, while the Lady’s Card allows you to choose one preferred spending category, the Lady’s Solitaire Card gives you two preferred spending categories, so movie buffs can keep Entertainment as one category, and rotate among the other categories such as Travel, Dining or Family as desired. 

Bank and credit card promotions and deals for movies

From time to time, your card issuer may also have special deals or promos with your favorite cinema chains. Here’s what we found for now. 

OCBC Movie Privileges @ Shaw Theatres

All OCBC cardholders can enjoy:

• S$1 off regular movie tickets (limited to 4 tickets per card per day).

• S$38 regular movie package (U.P. S$45.70)

• 2 x regular 2D movie tickets

• 2 x 32 oz drinks

• 1 x 85 oz popcorn

• Limited to 4 packages per card per day

HSBC’s Movie Card @ Golden Village

All HSBC cardholders may purchase the HSBC Movie Card, a prepaid card, available in the following packages::

• HSBC’s Movie Card – Gold Class Mon to Wed

  • Price: S$110

  • 4 Gold Class movie tickets

  • Redeemable on Mondays to Wednesdays only (excluding public holidays and eves, and sneaks)

• HSBC’s Movie Card – Gold Class

  • Price: S$150

  • 4 Gold Class movie tickets

  • Redeemable on all days (excluding Christmas Day, New Year’s, Lunar New Year First and Second Day, and eves).

• HSBC’s Movie Card – Weekdays

  • Price: S$80

  • 10 regular movie tickets

  • Redeemable on Mondays to Thursdays (excluding public holidays, and eves).

• HSBC’s Movie Card – All Days

  • Price: S$115

  • 10 regular movie tickets

  • Redeemable on all days (excluding Christmas Day, New Year’s, Lunar New Year First and Second Day, and eves). 

Maybank @ WE Cinemas

Pay with an eligible Maybank credit card for

• S$1 off standard 2D movie tickets

• Min. purchase of 2 tickets, and max. of 10 tickets per Card member

• Not valid on eve of public holidays and on public holidays

• Promo valid till 31 December 2024

Conclusion: Earn credit card rewards on movie tickets

Between online bookings, contactless payment methods and cinemas being recognised spending categories, going to the movies can present an opportunity to pump up your credit card rewards, especially when it’s a family or group outing.

Just bear in mind the correct payment method or spending category, and you’ll be good to go. 

One more tip: Besides the cashback and rewards credit cards mentioned above, don’t forget that you can also use an air miles card to add a decent chunk towards your next flight ticket!