Outdoor Cinema
Enjoy a curated program of free outdoor cinema on the Big Screen, including major blockbusters, Kung Fu classics, silent cinema with live scores, and film festival screenings.
With longer days and warm nights, summer in Melbourne is for outdoor cinema, and this summer we’ve put together our biggest program yet.
Catch Nolan blockbusters, Bruce Lee Kung Fu classics, westerns, Dolly Parton faves and sci-fi thrillers, and don’t miss our program of silent cinema with live scores performed by some of Australia’s most exciting composer-musicians.
Explore each mini program and gather family and film-loving friends to catch a summer of free evening outdoor cinema, as part of Open Air at the Square.
3, 4 + 5 January, 8.30pm | Big Screen
Over three nights, we feature some of Christopher Nolan’s biggest blockbusters – Inception, Interstellar, and The Dark Knight – all scored by longtime Nolan collaborator, composer Hans Zimmer.
6, 7 + 8 January, 8.30pm | Big Screen
Featuring a trio of western films – or films that inspired classic westerns – characterised by sweeping cinematography, epic arid landscapes and the intimacy of the close-up scene. The program includes Seven Samurai (which inspired the 1960 Western classic The Magnificent Seven), Once Upon a Time in the West and Meek’s Cutoff.
9 January, from 6.30pm | Big Screen
We will present two blockbuster sci-fi and superhero films – Tron: Legacy and Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse – elevated by thrilling original soundtracks fusing electronic and orchestral music, by Daniel Pemberton and Daft Punk.
11 January, 6pm | Big Screen
To celebrate the launch the NGV Kids Summer Festival, catch a free screening of the 2000 cult-comedy, Best in Show, starring film co-writers Christopher Guest (who also directed the film) and Eugene Levy alongside Catherine O’Hara, Jennifer Coolidge and Parker Posey as a group of dog owners, trainers and handlers who travel to Philadelphia to compete in a dog show.
19 January, from 6pm | Big Screen
Featuring the classic Dolly film, 9 to 5, along with a free boot scootin’ workshop, presented in celebration of the beloved queen of comedy and country music’s 79th birthday.
2 February, 8.30pm | Big Screen
Closing out Midsumma Festival’s Midsumma Movies program, is a free screening of 1978 classic, The Wiz, featuring Diana Ross and Michael Jackson in an Afro-futuristic interpretation of The Wizard of Oz.
7 + 8 February, 8.30pm | Big Screen
Two nights of back-to-back martial arts action classics, featuring the master of Hong Kong Kung Fu cinema. Celebrating the beginning of Lunar New Year, catch Lee in the 1972 Fist of Fury on 7 February, or the 1972 action-comedy (also produced and directed by Lee) Way of the Dragon on 8 February.
25-27 February, 8pm | Main Square
See classic silent films from across the world, paired with live music scores performed by some of Australia’s leading musician-composers.
Check out the full program of free live music, outdoor cinema and community events on as part of Open Air in the Square.