How to organise an outdoor cinema event

Thinking of organising an outdoor cinema event? Great idea, we say! This can be a really cool thing to do for your community – offering an exciting experience that’s fun enough to lure people away from their big screen TVs at home. No matter how easy it is to pop a movie on from the comfort of the sofa, nothing beats the romance and atmosphere of watching a classic under the stars. 

And now’s a great time to get involved. The global Drive-in Movie Theatre Market is expected to grow to US$ 8.6 billion by the end of 2031. 

Whether you’re looking to turn a healthy profit or simply to turn your dream of having an outdoor movie theatre in your town into a reality – this guide is for you.

Steps to organising the perfect outdoor cinema event

1. Set your budget and the scale of the event
2. Pull in professional help if you need to
3. Choose a location and a date for your event
4. Get your licences in order
5. Research and hire your outdoor cinema equipment
6. Choose a ticketing platform and create an online presence
7. Upsell food and other extras to attendees
8. Build a seating chart so cinema-goers can book seats
9. Perfect your ticket pricing
10. Be prepared for bad weather
11. Market your outdoor cinema
12. Get familiar with the relevant safety measures
13. Do a test run of your event

Set your budget and the scale of the event

You’ll probably have an idea of how big or small you want your open air movie event to be from the outset. But it’s still important to plan out, in real terms, what the scale of it’s going to look like. Even if you’re running a really small or ‘basic’ event, costs can soon escalate if you don’t plan things carefully. Some useful things to consider are:

• What’s your budget for the whole event? 
• How much profit do you plan to make? Or, for charity events, what are your donation goals?
• What’s the average price of similar event tickets in your area – what are people willing to pay?
• What are your outgoing costs going to come to? Think about: equipment, staff, costs associated with safety measures, and food and drink.
• Location costs – do an initial scout of possible venues and enquire about fees (more on this later).
• How many people can you feasibly host bearing all the above in mind?

Tip: Ticket Tailor’s Donations feature makes it really easy to collect donations at the point of ticket sale.

Pull in professional help if you need to

If your budget allows it, and you're going for a larger scale event, you might need to hire some extra hands. Make a decision about this early on so you can source the relevant people right away – having them on board from the outset will make things run a whole lot smoother in the long run. 

Some professionals you might consider hiring include: promoters, events organisers, outdoor cinema technicians, and creatives who can help with the decor and ‘set’ for your event. 

That’s not to say you need to do this, though. It’s perfectly plausible to pull off a smaller outdoor cinema event with very little additional help. 

Choose a location and a date for your event

Next up, source the perfect location for your event and make the appropriate enquiries. If you want to go for a rooftop bar or another kind of private premise, you’ll need to ask the business owner about hiring costs. 

If you choose to go for a public space like a park or village green, you’ll need to get in touch with the relevant local council. 

And when it comes to the perfect date for your event – remember outdoor movies don’t have to be reserved for the warmer months. Sure, balmy summer nights do tend to call for ethereal classics like Baz Lurhman’s Romeo and Juliet – to be played against a backdrop of twinkling fairy lights. But outdoor cinema events can be just as popular in winter. Think: frosty evenings where cosy make-shift grottos see audiences snuggle up under blankets to watch their favourite festive movies. In a nutshell: don’t let weather-factors put you off. Where there’s a will (or a decent set of outdoor heaters), there’s a way. 

Think instead about the timeliness of your event (do you want to coincide with a popular calendar date like halloween or summer solstice?) and what that means for your intended audience. 

Get your licences in order

When you know which films you want to play, the next step will be to make sure you’ve got the appropriate licences to be able to do so. 

How to get a licence to showcase a film at an outdoor cinema event

Whether you sell tickets to your event or not, it's a legal requirement to get a licence to show your movie. You’ll be able to get one from companies like:

• Filmbank
• Motion Picture Licensing Corporation (MPLC)

Or you could go directly to the copyright owner – if it's a smaller indie film, for example.

Depending on which country you’re in, you’ll also probably need to get a premise licence to show the film at that particular premise, but only if you’re running a commercial operation – AKA if you’re selling tickets. To get this, you’ll need to apply to your local authority.

Research and hire your outdoor cinema equipment

Second maybe only to securing the perfect venue, hiring reliable equipment for your event should be a top priority. As a minimum, you’ll need:

• An outdoor cinema screen
• A projector
• A high-quality sound system 
• Lighting
• Seating (unless your outdoor cinema is a drive-in)

There are plenty of companies that offer this kind of equipment for hire – pick one with great reviews and competitive prices to make the most out of your event. 

Choose a ticketing platform and create an online presence

You’ll need to set up event registration so people can buy tickets to your outdoor cinema in advance. With Ticket Tailor, you can embed your box office page into your own website, or use it as a standalone platform to make sales. For example, Tibbs Drive-In Theatre does the latter by linking from their website to their Ticket Tailor box office page for ticket-buyers to complete their purchase.

Whether you use a standalone box office page or set up a full, dedicated website, make sure to use plenty of rich, enticing descriptions and provide useful FAQ-style information for potential customers. They’ll want to know things like how they get to your cinema, whether or not they can drive-in in their own car, if there’ll be toilet facilities – and what other extras will be available (more on this below!). Tibbs Drive-In Theatre even includes the question “Can we bring pets?” in their FAQs… Disclaimer: the answer is yes! 🙌

It’s also a great idea to create social media accounts for your outdoor cinema. We love Tibbs Drive-In Theatre’s Instagram account, which is packed full of cool movie posters.  

Check out our beginner’s guide to using TikTok to promote events, and our guide to successfully using Instagram to market events.

Upsell food and and other extras to attendees

No cinema trip is complete without popcorn and other delicious treats to enjoy during the movie. Consider upselling extra items like these to both boost your profits and enhance customer experience. From popcorn and sweets to alcoholic drinks* and street food – there are tons of opportunities here!

We love the concept behind Street Food Cinema, a festive outdoor cinema event that blends the best of classic Christmas movies with delicious food that can be ordered from trucks directly from your car!

And you don’t have to stop at culinary treats. For example, selling or renting out blankets and ponchos can be a great idea, too.

Tip: Ticket Tailor lets you sell add-ons like these to customers at the point of ticket sale online. Check out how easy it is to set up >

*If you want to sell alcohol, be sure to secure the appropriate alcohol/liquor licence. 

Build a seating chart so cinema-goers can book seats

If you expect your events to be busy, why not give customers peace of mind that they can secure a good spot in advance by letting them book seats online?

Tip: Ticket Tailor’s seating chart feature is super easy to use, and means ticket buyers can select their seats at the point of ticket sale.

Perfect your ticket pricing

Honing your ticket pricing is key when it comes to ensuring your event is both profitable and competitive. Looking at what similar events are charging can be a good place to start. And it can also help to think about how you differentiate from these – for example, do you offer more or less in terms of experience? This should be reflected in the price of your tickets.

Head to our full ticket pricing guide to learn more >

Be prepared for bad weather

Depending on where in the world you are – you’ll need to create a backup plan in case the weather turns. A bit of light rain doesn’t have to mean an end to your movie night – just make sure you’ve got the proper covers in place for your screen and equipment, and let guests know they should come prepared for potentially wet weather. Providing umbrellas and ponchos could be a nice touch here (which you could sell as extras!).

Check out how this touring outdoor theatre company handles the unpredictable British weather (and basically performs come rain or shine!). 

Of course, some more extreme weather conditions will mean needing to cancel. If that’s the case, be sure to keep your guests informed about everything.

Tip: Ticket Tailor’s Email Broadcasts feature makes it quick and easy to send email updates to your ticket buyers about any last minute changes or cancellations.

Market your outdoor cinema

Any event is only as successful as the marketing behind it. There’s no use organising a killer, all-frills evening if the right people don’t hear about it. You should focus on the channels that matter to your intended audience, but in general plenty of social media promo is a good idea. Leaving flyers and posters around your town can also be a good idea – especially if you feel there’ll be a sector of your audience that isn’t very active online.

We have tons of event marketing guides that might be useful:

• How to get the most out of video marketing as an event creator 
• 5 marketing trends to watch as an event creator in 2024
• 9 ticket types to consider for your summer events & attractions

Get familiar with the relevant safety measures

Running any kind of event for the public requires a certain level of risk assessment and there’ll be legal requirements too. Get familiar with your government’s policies before hosting your event, and make sure any staff you’ve hired are fully brought up to speed too.

Do a test run of your event

Last but certainly not least, you’ll need to do a test run of your open air movie night. Most importantly, this’ll involve trying out all your equipment so you can avoid technical glitches on the night. 

And that’s pretty much it. The key is to plan things carefully and – in our opinion – to pay extra attention to those thoughtful little details that’ll make your outdoor cinema events stand out. With both of these boxes ticked, you’ll be in a great position to create a memorable evening that genuinely impresses your attendees.

Ready to host your first outdoor cinema event? Find out how Ticket Tailor can help things run smoothly with feature-packed, low cost ticketing >