Christmas pop-up cinema in London

The Clapham Grand has all sorts of camp festivities going on over the Christmas period, including an extensive programme of festive film nights, where you can catch all the classics on the historic venue’s massive 25ft screen while also enjoying sing-along carols, snow machines, quizzes, dance battles and all sorts of raucous festive fun. Head down on Sunday Dec 7 for ‘The Muppets Christmas Carol’ complete with ‘snow’ and Christmas snacks, ‘The Holiday Drink-Along’ on Thursday Dec 11 with confetti, balloon drops and plenty of mulled wine and ‘Love Actually’ on Saturday Dec 13 followed by a Christmas disco. Fancy dress very much encouraged for all.  

Backyard Cinema is back with a mega immersive cinema to give you all the festive feels. Roam through a fairylit winter forest and you'll find screenings of Christmas classics including Elf, Home Alone, Love Actually, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, The Holiday, The Muppet Christmas Carol, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Miracle on 34th Street, The Grinch, and It’s a Wonderful Life.

Things begin in a Christmas cabaret room with live performances of festive classics and table service so you can enjoy seasonal refreshments. Then, you'll enter an enchanted forest, with real bark underfoot, surprise performances, themed bars and photo opportunities. Finally, you'll end up at the Forest Cinema, a retro-style cinema where snow flutters down before every screening. A trip to the movies really doesn't get more festive than this. 

Catch Christmas classics while tucking into grub carefully picked to complement the films’ best-loved scenes. On the menu is a screening of The Holiday, served with courses including a ‘Happy Hanukkah’ crepe and a Christmas Eve fettuccine. Or tuck into a helping of comedy classic Elf, featuring ‘The World’s Best Cup of Coffee’ course and a ‘Naughty and Nice’ dessert. Book in advance.

The Rivoli Ballroom’s interior is already enough to get you in the mood for Christmas, thanks to it being decked out in opulent red and gold. Imagine, then, how festive you’ll feel after watching some fantastic Xmas movies from within its four walls. This year, it’ll be once again screening some Christmas classics, from both ‘Home Alone’s to ‘Gremlins’, ‘Elf’, ‘Love Actually’ and, yes, ‘Die Hard’. Fight over whether that last one is a Christmas movie or not among yourselves – we’re going to be too busy tucking into popcorn and ice cream.

RECOMMENDED: Find more festive pop-up cinemas and film screenings

Rooftop cinema is usually a summery kinda thing, perfect for flicks and aperol spritzes as the sun sets. But Marylebone's Holmes Hotel is changing all that with its Alpine-themed rooftop cinema pop-up, which is designed to bring some wintry romance to your night at the movies. The night starts with a set menu of Alpine-style delicacies in the restaurant. Then, cosy up under furs and beneath fairylights to watch one of a line-up of festive movie greats, high above the city. 

If hunkering down in the dark of the cinema watching movies sounds like the perfect way to get amped up for Christmas, then boy does the Prince Charles Cinema have a programme for you. This year, its festive slate is so jam-packed, you could spend every day from the start of December until Christmas Eve watching its screens, watching everything from the very seasonal The Muppet Christmas Carol, Home Alone, Scrooged and Elf. If Christmas movies aren’t quite your thing, there’s plenty else on offer, too, from Interstellar and The Godfather to The French Connection and Eyes Wide Shut. For the full list of screenings visit here. 

Tucked above a very posh Spar, the glorious Castle Cinema is an Art Deco dream with its stylish bar, retro sets and ornate gilded plaster work. It’s always a treat to catch a film here, and over Christmas even more so. In keeping with their ecclectoc programming, the picture palace will be showing festive favourites as well as under-the-radar classics. On December 2 and 7 see a screening of Hitchcock’s Spellbound followed by a Q&A from a local historian and Hitchcock expert, on December 10 Jellied Reels presents Francis Ford Coppola’s The Cotton Club, on December 16 see Sean Baker’s brilliant Tangerine and on December 18 and 21, projection experts Cine-Real presents Christmas classic It’s A Wonderful Life. Look out for the cinema’s Christmas Art Fair (December 6) and its Christmas Movie Pub Quiz (December 18 – email to book a table), too. 

Everyman’s beloved Screen on the Green cinema is getting all dressed up for Christmas. There’ll be nostalgic 35mm screenings of The Holiday, Love Actually, How The Grinch Stole Christmas, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, It’s A Wonderful Life, Carol and Home Alone, as well as more eclectic options like Eyes Wide Shut and Sean Baker breakout Tangerine. And if you fancy a screen break, just step into Santa’s Grotto and soak up the Christmas vibes, or order some of the festive food and cocktails on the menu. We’ll be trying the smoky Highlander cocktail, although there can be only one.

Nestled in a quiet corner of Covent Garden, the gorgeous Art Deco Garden Cinema is a perfect spot to hole up and take in a movie. And that’s before you take in a Christmas screening programme boasting such seasonal classics as It's a Wonderful Life and Miracle on 34th Street (1947). The cinema’s regular Sunday ‘pay what you can' screenings spreads the joy to families of all means, with Little Women, Oliver!, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and Happy Feet to watch, as well as plenty of post-movie activities to enjoy. 

Arguably the Christmas film to rule them all, watch ‘Home Alone’ in the epic surroundings of the Royal Albert Hall with the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra providing a live John Williams score. The Crouch End Festival Chorus will be there to do the carol-y bits. Christmas screenings don’t come anymore iconic. Matinee and evening performances are available. 

W London’s film club lets you watch film favourites in its cosy and plush private cinema, tucked away off Leicester Square. Over December, it’s getting a wintery makeover with an Après Skate, Veuve Clicquot-partnered takeover of cinema bar featuring spiced cocktails, faux-fur lounging and freshly popped popcorn. Settle in to watch Christmas classics like Love Actually, Elf and Home Alone. The projectors will still be whirring on Christmas Day for its ‘Made the Brunch List: Christmas’, where guests get champagne on arrival, brunch, a live DJ and access to the day’s festive films.