Outdoor cinema is coming to Norfolk this summer

One of the Outdoor Cinema Club screenings from last year. PICTURE: Music Arts Study (Image: Archant)

Pop-Up Pictures are hosting a number of outdoor cinema events with a flagship screening at Earlham Park in Norwich in August.

They hosted their first screenings last year after successful pilot events at Lenwade House and promoter Danny Banthorpe admitted that the idea for the business came from a Facebook scam.

'We actually saw something on social media of outdoor cinema screenings across the country which went viral but turned out to be a scam,' he said. 'It was something we had thought of doing for years and the scam jogged our memory. But instead of doing it nationally we decided to stick to East Anglia and use some of the beautiful venues we have available in the region.'

Venues for this summer include Taverham Hall School and Fritton Lake with the season of screenings kicking off with a sold out run of drive-in shows at Soul Church Nursery in Heartsease on April 26 which the church has confirmed.

Publicity for the screenings is mostly being done through Facebook and some customers have written on the social media website about concerns over receiving tickets.

One woman said: 'I have bought tickets for Forrest Gump on April 28 on which I have paid for, but I have not received an email with the e-tickets or any type of email... this is for a friends (sic) birthday, on which we are looking forward to, but I am worried about yourselves and your company.'

Mr Banthorpe said of the complaints: 'We had very little problems with any of events last year and sometimes it takes a while to get every sorted before we can release information.

'Everyone who bought tickets online will receive an e-ticket for the screening and for people who like to have a physical ticket there is an option to buy them from shops in Norwich.'

The decision of what films to screen is a complex one with many ideas coming from social media polls that then have to be approved by the film studios although Mr Banthorpe said that the most challenging thing is finding films that fit with their licensing restrictions.

'Pulp Fiction is always a very popular choice on social media but the issue with it is that it is a three hour long film,' he said. 'As we can't show films until it is dark this only gives us a couple of hours until we have to finish due to licensing restrictions so we have to find the right balance.'

Films secured for the summer's biggest event at Earlham Park are Back to the Future, The Rocky Horror Show and Dirty Dancing.

With interest in the concept growing, the team is expanding their reach with screenings planned for Ipswich and Enfield later in the year but Mr Banthorpe said they still have the scam idea hanging over their heads.

'We shot ourselves in the foot in some ways as some people still think we are the company who ran the scam,' he said.