Thursday, 27 December, 2018.

The Christmas break gives us a chance to look back on the first half the season, and as usual it’s been a hit with little kids and big kids alike. We hit the road in early November, bringing our famous outdoor cinema program to beautiful Ballina, travelling the next day to Lismore, where local father Dave said he enjoyed the fun and friendly atmosphere of his first ever Cinema Under the Stars event. 

“I brought my family out here as it’s a great opportunity to hang out with friends and see a movie under the stars, and also to just be a part of the atmosphere of this great community in Lismore,” he said.

The following weekend we headed down the coast to Port Macquarie and Forster before taking Australia’s largest free outdoor cinema program west to Orange. Already the show had travelled more than 1000km. 

Sadly our next weekend in the Central West coincided with dust storms and we had to postpone our Dubbo and Mudgee events due to severe weather. 

Sponsorship Manager, Danielle Lilley said the Dubbo and Mudgee events had already been rescheduled to February – Dubbo now to be held on 22nd February and Mudgee rescheduled to the 23rd February. 

“With much of western NSW blanketed by a dust storm, we made the difficult decision to postpone the Dubbo and Mudgee events. But the show will go on and we’re looking forward to getting back to entertain those communities in early 2019!” 

As well as the event staples of pre-movie live music, free popcorn, circus workshops and football (soccer) activities, Danielle said the feature film, The Greatest Showman, had also been a huge hit with audiences. “This season we’ve chosen a film that appeals to the whole family – Mum, Dad, kids and even the Grandparents too – and the response has been very positive,” she said.

“Our two movies, The Greatest Showman and Paddington 2, have received glowing reviews so far. We’ve had members of the audience approach our teams to thanks us for choosing movies for the whole family this year, which shows our events are appealing to everyone now, from young kids to adults of all ages.” 

The movies aren’t the only reason to join us at a Cinema Under the Stars event. The pre-movie entertainment is often the main attraction for a lot of people. Our feature artist this season, Laura Zarb, has charmed crowds with her Fleetwood Mac covers while also taming toddlers, getting them up and grooving to her mandolin. 

We’re now looking forward to rolling out a jam-packed second half of our Cinema Under the Stars season, resuming in Port Stephens on Friday, 11 January 2019. We’ll follow with our flagship event at King Edward Park on the Saturday evening, then off to Maitland, Gosford, Coffs Harbour, Grafton, Tamworth and Armidale. A highlight of this season will be our first ever event in Lake Macquarie, at the hugely popular Speers Point Park. 

We’ll wrap the season in Dubbo and Mudgee when we return to the Central West for the rescheduled events. 

To find out more about, visit the Cinema Under The Stars page.

Thank you to all of our community and media partners and a very special mention to our Event Managers, Be Productions who make the events a success. We look forward to a sensational second half of the season!