Movies on the River launched on the Thames last night with a screening of ‘Jaws’

Last night saw the launch of Movies on the River – London’s first ever open-air cinema to sail the Thames. 

This amazing addition to London’s buzzing outdoor cinema scene is a summer-long collaboration between Time Out and City Cruises. It’s now open five nights a week until the middle of July.

The opening night saw 160 film lovers pile on board the sleek City Alpha boat. A themed playlist (‘Waterloo Sunset’, ‘Rivers of Babylon’, erm, ‘I’m on a Boat’) and a stacked bar kept the pre-movie cruise moving.

As it got dark and the sky turned red, everyone settled down on the top deck to watch Steven Spielberg’s 1975 underwater horror classic ‘Jaws’.

The Alpha sailed under Tower Bridge and out east past the Isle of Dogs, Greenwich and The Dome. Later it headed back west and back under Tower Bridge as the movie came to a close.

Londoners will be able to jump onboard this unique movie boat over the next few weeks (see ticket details below), when Movies on the River will be heading out five nights a week to screen films including ‘Shakespeare in Love’ (Tuesday June 20), ‘Mary Poppins’ (Wednesday June 21), ‘Love Actually’ (Thursday June 22), ‘When Harry Met Sally’ (Saturday June 24) and ‘Top Gun’ (Wednesday June 28).

We’ll also be showing ‘Jaws’ again on Saturday July 1.

Next time, we’re gonna need a bigger boat. 

Time Out presents Movies on the River with City Cruises runs until Saturday July 15, with more dates to be announced. Explore the line-up and get tickets.