Moonlight Cinema

Pack your picnic baskets, because Sydney’s favourite outdoor cinema experience is returning to Centennial Park. After months of being cooped up inside, we’re super-pumped for the return of movies outdoors, as steamy hot summer nights set into the city’s sun-baked streets. Moonlight Cinema is back, baby – and you can enjoy it right through to April. 

Moonlight’s rolling expanse of green grass and pop-up screen is the perfect setting for unfurling a picnic blanket and keeping the family entertained, spending time with mates or having a date where you have more room to chat (and canoodle) than a traditional cinema.

Whether you’re into V-Day or not, there’s a heap of rom-coms to pick from. Wild Mountain Thyme on February 3 pairS The Fall hunk Jamie Dornan with the very un-Irish Emily Blunt (even though his accent is oddly more dubious), or you can top up your annual dose of Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams in Nicholas Sparks' weepy The Notebook on the actual day, Sunday February 14, as well as the glorious game-changer that is Crazy Rich Asians (February 11). And if you’re team LGBTIQ+, get your peaches out for Timothée Chalamet and Armie Hammer in Call Me By Your Name on February 17.

If Spielberg’s particularly brand of wonderous family-friendly adventures is more your thing, you’ll love the action-packed retrospective series that includes series that kicks off the month with Jurassic Park (Feb 2), followed by Elliot and far-flung friend in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial on the February 16, wrapping with Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd in Back to the Future on the February 23.

All this, plus great Australian cinema in the shape of the Eric Bana-led The Dry on February 7 and 21, and Naomi Watts in biopic Penguin Bloom to close out the month of the 28^th.

It’s been a remarkable 25 years since the Australia’s biggest, most-beloved outdoor cinema sensation brought the movie magic to the lush surrounds of our gorgeous park after dark. There will be an increased focus on social distancing this year, and, as ever, Moonlight Cinema is a BYO event, so pack a picnic and some bubbles on ice. If you’re famously unprepared, have no fear, there will be a phalanx of food trucks on offer and a licensed bar for libations too. 

And if you’re the extra AF-type, you can bling it up with Moonlight’s Gold Grass option, offering the best views plus waiter service direct to your plush bean bag pew. Espresso Martinis and ice cream will, of course, be on hand to cool your jets.