A big screen is to be installed in the city centre once again in readiness for a programme of free open-air screenings which will begin with sport and follow up with a mix of top blockbusters and family films running throughout the school holidays.
NE1's popular Screen on the Green will be back in Newcastle by Monday, in its usual place in Old Eldon Square, for the start of three weeks of sporting action, with Wimbledon - which begins that day - being the first to get under way. Tennis fans will be able to chill out on deckchairs placed in front of the screen or bag one of the other colourful seats which will be laid out alongside picnic tables.
Following the tournament, more big screen sport to come will include the women’s World Cup Football final at 11am on August 20 which is expected to prove as popular as the previous screening of the Women’s European Championships which saw England triumph. And, in between, the film programme will get under way on July 24.
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Screen on the Green is always an eagerly-anticipated part of NE1’s Summer in the City programme and last year it was ranked number two in The Times' list of the top 10 free family days out in the UK. This year there also will be a new addition to the schedules, with immersive Toddler Takeovers sessions taking place on Tuesday mornings from July 25.
These will include a short film for toddlers and young children with a storyteller from Seven Stories, the national centre for children's books, also reading as an accompanying book, such as Julia Donaldson’s famous Gruffalo.
The free film programme, which will continue until September 13, will include new hits sich as Elvis, the Top Gun:Maverick sequel and family favourites including Disney’s Encanto, Avatar: The Way of Water, Lightyear and Matilda the Musical. There will two films broadcast each day during the holidays: at noon then 3pm, while Thursdays will be devoted to the blockbusters, with an extra film being shown in the evening at 6pm.
Extra treats for young ones will be a screening of Aardman Animations’ Shaun the Sheep movie to tie-in with the upcoming trail across Tyneside that will be helping to raise money for St Oswald’s Hospice. And Baltic and artist Pippa Hale's Play Rebellion installation, which invites all ages to construct and tunnel through 16 metre-high building blocks will be making a comeback.
NE1 says a survey last year showed 99% of visitors would recommend the city's open-air movie screenings to family and friends and 44% of them had come to Newcastle specifically for the event, spending an average £35 each as they did so due to linked visits to city shops and, restaurants.
Rachel Barlow, NE1 Ltd's marketing and events manager, called the Summer in the City schedule an "amazing" one, saying: "We have it all." She added: "We want everyone to enjoy what’s on offer so we’ve added events into the schedule that will cater for even our youngest visitors with Toddler Takeovers and a new drop-in library and read-along sessions with Newcastle Libraries."
