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  3. America's Best Outdoor Movie Theaters

America's Best Outdoor Movie Theaters

By Tanvi Chheda
May 31, 2011
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Credit: Courtesy of G.Widman for GPTMC
The hush that falls over those gathered at Hollywood Forever Cemetery isn’t just a sign of respect for the dead. On select evenings, it signals that a blockbuster movie screening is beginning.

The cemetery movie series is an unexpected-yet-perfect way to pay tribute to legends like Rudolph Valentino and John Huston. “You’re literally a few feet from someone who has worked on these movies,” says Cinespia series cofounder John Wyatt.

Even as drive-ins have declined, a new breed of outdoor movie theaters has been expanding across the U.S., cropping up in cemeteries, parks, even on rooftops. It’s become a modern summer ritual to head to an open-air theater and stake out a prime viewing spot before sunset—whether for a date night or girls’ night. Often the appeal is less about the movie itself than about the chance to get together and enjoy a beautiful setting on a balmy evening.

“A huge majority of the audience is coming for the experience,” says Ethan Lercher of the Bryant Park Corporation, which runs the free HBO Bryant Park film festival in New York City. “The whole idea is that you talk to your neighbors.”

For serious movie buffs, an outdoor theater provides the rare opportunity to watch a classic on a big screen. Unlike cookie-cutter multiplexes, these theaters have a nostalgic allure that recalls the 1960s, when America’s love affair with the movies was still a budding romance. “These outdoor screenings are reminiscent of the drive-ins that baby boomers grew up with,” explains Tom Boss, who cofounded the Bay Area’s Film Night. In Minneapolis, the Summer Music & Movies program travels back even further to the earliest days of the silver screen, presenting silent films with a live musical accompaniment.

But outdoor movie screenings aren’t just about old-time Hollywood. They can be forward-looking and bring fresh life to city neighborhoods. The NoMa SummerScreen festival launched in 2008 as part of a development and revitalization initiative in D.C., complete with trendy barbecue and gelato trucks. Each season follows a theme, and 2011 will represents trains through films ranging from Some Like It Hot to Slumdog Millionaire.

It just wouldn’t be summer without the thrills of a Hollywood hit combined with the pleasure of soaking up the outdoors at one of these alfresco movie theaters.
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Flicks on Bricks,Pioneer Courthouse Square, Portland,OR

Credit: Courtesy of Pioneer Courthouse Square, Inc.

How democratic: Portlanders actually get to vote on the movies they want to see at this outdoor series on Fridays in July and August. (Sixteen Candles, The Muppets Take Manhattan, and Jaws were among the 2010 winners.) Maybe that’s why more than 7,000 locals descend on this downtown brick square for a typical screening. With more than 40,000 square feet, there’s ample room, just be sure to bring a heavy blanket or folding chair—those bricks aren’t comfy seating for a 90-minute movie.

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Film Night,SanFrancisco and Marin County

Credit: Courtesy of Film Night in San Francisco

Hitchcock films set in San Francisco, such as Birds and Vertigo, are natural favorites at this Bay Area movie series that continues well into September. Of the seven locations, Dolores Park is one of the most popular and within easy access to the Mission, Castro, and Noe Valley neighborhoods. The group behind Film Night got its start 20 years ago in Marin County, where it screens films that tend to be more family friendly. The San Francisco lineup mixes new releases with classics. “We always get a big crowd for Casablanca,” says cofounder Tom Boss.

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Film on the Rocks at Red RocksAmphitheatre, Denver

Credit: Courtesy of Bryan Carney

Mother Nature created this open-air cinema and outdoor concert hall within an 868-acre park of pines and prairie—and conveniently just 17 minutes from downtown Denver. Two 300-foot sandstone monoliths flank the seating area and create terrific acoustics. On summer nights, the Denver Film Society puts on comedies such as Ghostbusters, The Princess Bride, and The Hangover, with local Colorado bands warming up the crowd before the feature presentation ($10).

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Summer Screen,NoMa, Washington,D.C.

Credit: NoMabid.org

The area north of Massachusetts Avenue has a realtor-approved nickname, NoMa, and is growing rapidly thanks to recent additions like this film festival, launched in 2008 and complete with on-site barbecue and gelato trucks. Each season follows a theme such as James Bond or Music in Pictures, which featured No Direction Home, Buena Vista Social Club, and Ray. Summer 2011 brings a train series that ranges from Some Like It Hot to Slumdog Millionaire. It was an inevitable choice. “Our site overlooks the rail yards, so there are trains going by during the movies,” says Rachel Davis, who works with the NoMa Business Improvement District.

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Summer Music & Movies at Loring Park, Minneapolis

Credit: Courtesy Walker Arts Center

Ever since 1973, Mondays in August have meant silent-movie screenings, such as The Navigator, The Strong Man, and RobinHood, enhanced by a live band. The nearby Walker Art Center, which runs the series along with the Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board, usually ties the lineup to gallery exhibits, for example, beat-related films to correlate with a beatnik show.

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Cinespia at The Hollywood ForeverCemetery, Los Angeles

Credit: Courtesy of Cinespia

Each summer, about 25 to 30 films are projected on a mausoleum wall at this unusual film-viewing venue, which also happens to be the resting place of dozens of silent-era stars, directors, and crewmembers, from Rudolph Valentino to John Huston. Even partial movie sets have been brought to the cemetery. “We had the original cockpit from Airplane and turned it into a photo booth last year,” recalls Cinespia cofounder John Wyatt.

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Movies in the Parks, Chicago

Credit: Bryan Rulli

It’s hard to find a patch of grass without moviegoers on summer nights thanks to this ambitious program. More than 170 movies are screened within 120 community parks, including Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, which John Hughes filmed right in Chicago. A Lake Side Classics Series added in 2011 showcases golden oldies like North by Northwest, A Raisin in the Sun, and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf at Belmont Harbor and the 63rd Street Beach.

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HBOBryant Park Film Festival, New York City

Credit: Ethan Lercher, Bryant Park.org

When it first began in the early 1990s, this festival aimed to keep workers in midtown after office hours and give others a reason to join them. “The whole idea was to re-create the park,” says Ethan Lercher, director of events at the Bryant Park Corporation, “and to make it beautiful, to make it safe, to have programming.” Thanks to HBO’s close relationship with Hollywood studios, the festival still uses the original 35mm reels to screen classics such as The Manchurian Candidate, Annie Hall, and The Way We Were.

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SoundScape Cinema Series, Miami Beach

Credit: Courtesy of Miami Beach

The Arts in the Parks citywide program launched this series in March 2011, making use of a 7,000-square-foot-wall of Frank Gehry’s concert hall, the New World Center. So far favorite screenings have included Grease, Moulin Rouge, and North by Northwest. SoundScape alternates with the New World Symphony, which projects live simulcasts of its performances at the New World Center.

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ScreeningsUnder the Stars, Penn’s Landing, Philadelphia

Credit: Courtesy of G.Widman for GPTMC

You’ll still want to bring your own picnic blanket, but helpings of kettle corn and popcorn are free when movies play at Penn’s Landing on Thursdays in July and August. Mainstream blockbusters like Dream Girls, The Blind Side, Eat, Pray, Love, and The King’s Speech light up the main plaza, with Philadelphia’s waterfront as a backdrop. From tapas to dim sum, the nearby Old City neighborhood has plenty of spots for a preshow dinner.

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1 of 10 Flicks on Bricks,Pioneer Courthouse Square, Portland,OR
2 of 10 Film Night,SanFrancisco and Marin County
3 of 10 Film on the Rocks at Red RocksAmphitheatre, Denver
4 of 10 Summer Screen,NoMa, Washington,D.C.
5 of 10 Summer Music & Movies at Loring Park, Minneapolis
6 of 10 Cinespia at The Hollywood ForeverCemetery, Los Angeles
7 of 10 Movies in the Parks, Chicago
8 of 10 HBOBryant Park Film Festival, New York City
9 of 10 SoundScape Cinema Series, Miami Beach
10 of 10 ScreeningsUnder the Stars, Penn’s Landing, Philadelphia

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America's Best Outdoor Movie Theaters
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