Council approves new outdoor cinema in Belfast

There will be food vendors and stalls at the event, selling popcorn, confectionery, drinks and slushies

A series of outdoor “drive thru” cinema experiences have been approved for Boucher Road Playing Fields this December.

Elected representatives at a Belfast City Council committee have approved a request from CinePark Limited to host the drive thru movies. The movie programme was not announced during the meeting.

CinePark will run a ticketing system where one car will buy only one ticket regardless of the number of people in the car. Standard tickets will cost £20 and premium £25.

READ MORE: Belfast Council to confiscate bins left out on the street seven days after warning

READ MORE: Good relations festival and two charity events given green light for Belfast parks in the Autumn

All tickets will be sold via the CinePark website, but the council states they will also take payment on site if required. There will be food vendors and stalls at the event, selling popcorn, confectionery, drinks and slushies.

The council report for the People and Communities Committee states: “The event organiser expects between 150 to 250 cars to attend the event per day split across different showings at different times of the day. The event organiser has scheduled a variety of movies to accommodate a wide audience demographic ranging from families with young children and teenagers, young couples through to a maturer audience.

“It’s likely to be themed very much around Christmas and the festive time of year and will give families something very different to do. CinePark Limited will be solely responsible for acquiring and maintaining all appropriate movie licences, rights, etc. for all the titles that will be shown.

“The event organiser will be using a 7×4 metre LED screen that comes on a trailer platform with a hydraulic system to raise the screen. The platform ensures quick installation and removal as no structure has to be built. A FM radio transmitter will be used to broadcast the audio for the movies directly to each car radio.”

Belfast’s most recent prominent temporary pop-up drive-in cinema was hosted at the Titanic Slipways by the Belfast Film Festival. A drive-in cinema event was last held at Boucher Road Playing Fields in December, 2020, featuring screenings of “The Grinch” and “Elf” as part of a Belfast City Council PEACE IV initiative

The primary regular drive-thru cinema near Belfast is at Let’s Go Hydro, at Knockbracken Reservoir in Carryduff, 10 minutes outside the city.

The council report states: “This proposed event will be the first time that CinePark Limited has held an event with Belfast City Council so council officers will carry out additional due-diligence when planning and regulating this event. Officers have already carried out checks with Companies House and early meetings and site visits with the organisers have been very constructive.

“Members are aware of the (committee) decision to return Boucher Road Playing Fields to full playing pitch provision. Whilst the work to develop the site is ongoing all decisions around current use of the playing fields will be taken on a case-by-case basis.”

The report adds: “The council will collect a fee for the hire of Boucher Road Playing fields. The promoter shall further pay to the council a social contribution fee which shall equate to 10 percent of the overall site fee received. The council will use this by way of investment back into the local community.”

For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here and sign up to our daily newsletter here.