It’s the summer of the drive-in, and the latest addition is set to take over not a swap meet or a parking lot, but a body of open water.
Floating Cinema is planning to bring “golden oldies and new releases” to a to-be-announced location in Los Angeles for a week of movie screenings that you can watch from a boat. According to a press release, the theater setup from Australian events company Beyond Cinema will see 12 to 24 mini boats with eight people per boat (you’ll need to buy a ticket for the entire boat so that you’re not packed in with strangers). It’s currently slated for September 2 to 6, with the promise of free popcorn with each screening.
There’s not a lot of other info available, and honestly that makes us a little skeptical: Over the past year in particular, we’ve seen a number of sing-alongs, themed brunches, bed cinemas and pop-up drive-ins from out-of-town companies announce dates and registration pages but never actually materialize. Confusingly, there’s already an Australian-based event called Floating Cinema, but they don’t appear to be involved with this event. And though the release we received included the same image as a floating series in Paris, that event seems to be from a different production company, as well. We’ve reached out to this Floating Cinema’s organizers for more info and haven’t heard back, so we still have a lot of questions about pricing, scheduling and, erm, what happens if you need to go to the bathroom. Seriously, do you have to navigate your way around other boats? Or do you just, you know…
And then there’s the location. We simply don’t have many open bodies of water in L.A. that aren’t the ocean, so we’d assume it would have to take place at Echo Park Lake, MacArthur Park Lake, Lake Balboa or the Hansen Dam Recreation Area or some spots on the edges of the county like the Santa Fe Dam Recreational Area or Whittier Narrows Recreation Area. Then there are proper marinas in Long Beach or Marina del Rey or even Westlake Lake, but those seem too congested.
L.A.’s existing outdoor movie series haven’t reopened their traditional setups yet, instead opting for drive-in experiences, so it’s unclear yet if the county’s current health guidelines would permit for this new series to take place by September. But regardless, Floating Cinema is currently scheduled to arrive in L.A. as well as Miami, New York, Chicago, Austin and a bunch of other cities.
Tickets aren’t on sale yet; there’s only a pre-registration page that lets you sign up for free to keep up with any announcements (you’ll need to provide your name, email address and phone number). So even if the series never gets afloat, at least you’re not out any cash (just your basic personal info).
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