Outdoor cinema coming to Bury St Edmunds and Colchester this summer

Pop Up Pictures plans on screening 12 films, including The Greatest Showman, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and new Disney hit Encanto, at Bury St Edmunds' Abbey Gardens and Colchester's Castle Park.

Danny Banthorpe, who helped organise the shows, said: "We've been screening films for seven years. We started when we saw a viral Phishing event on Facebook about a Norwich outdoor cinema- thousands of people were interested, but there was no actual event.

"We thought we'd give it a go, and we're still here seven years later."

The cinema seen through the ruins at the Abbey Gardens (Image: All Rights Reserved - musicartstudy@gmail.com)

Mr Banthorpe added: "Picking the movies is difficult— everyone has an opinion. So we do polls, but they're not very useful, because Dirty Dancing and The Greatest Showman always come out on top.

"This year it has been even harder because not many movies have come out."

However, with 12 movies to be screened over three days, Pop Up Pictures is doing more than ever before.

Mr Banthorpe said: "We've gone from three films over three nights to 12 films over three or four days.

"During the first lockdown, our production company bought an eight by six-meter led screen for doing drive-in movies. Prior to getting this, we used a blow-up screen, which only worked at night. In summer we couldn't really start films until 9am, it meant we couldn't really do kids stuff."

Mr Banthorpe also confirmed the cinemas will be allowing visitors to bring their own food in – but will be discounted if they don't.

He said: "It is the same price it has been for seven years if you want to bring food, and £3 cheaper if you don't."

Pop Up Pictures will be in Colchester from July 21 to 24 and in Bury St Edmunds from August 18 to 20. Find out more at facebook.com/PopUpPicturesCo.