America's Best Outdoor Movie Theaters

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.