Sitting in an air-conditioned theater and shoveling snacks into our faces is a time-honored dog-days tradition, but the summer blockbuster has been effectively sidelined by the coronavirus pandemic. Whether you’ve been biding your time waiting to be confused by Christopher Nolan’s latest time-bending thriller “TENET” or hoping to pick up some tips from Tom Cruise about avoiding the ravages of time while watching “Top Gun: Maverick,” summer movie indulgences have been put on hold, and we’ve been relegated to paying $30 to watch “Mulan” on Disney+. No more! The Park City Film Series has been reimagined the drive-in movie, with socially-distant screenings of a variety of wonderful films at the Utah Olympic Park. The UOP is best known as the home of high-flying aerial antics for skiers, but it’s also a top-notch drive-in setting in the mountains. There’s one more week of outdoor movies, so don’t miss this chance to get your film fix.
Movies screenings this week include two films on Friday, August 21 and two films on Saturday, August 22. Friday kicks off with the Spielberg classic “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” at 7:00 p.m. followed by Rob Reiner’s legendary rock n’ roll industry send-up “This is Spinal Tap” at 9:15 p.m. Saturday evening’s entertainment starts with the animated yeti tale “Abominable” at 7:45 p.m. before the a screening of the summer blockbuster that invented summer blockbusters, “Jaws,” at 9:30 p.m.
Tickets for films at the UOP Drive in are $30 per car and $48 per bike spot, which allows for up to four people. They can be purchased on the Park City Film Series website here. Organizers leave space between each parking spot to aid in social distancing. If you want to watch the movie from outside your vehicle masks are required, and bicycle spots require you to bring your own FM radio for sound.
I threw a lawn chair up next to my car last week to catch the darling of the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, “Palm Springs,” which is a great movie that I enjoyed even more in the modified presence of other people. If you don’t think I’m going to be right there reliving the glory days of the summer blockbuster while watching Robert Shaw tell the harrowing story of sharks and the Indianapolis, you don’t know how much I’ve irrationally missed the movies this summer. Support local independent film and enjoy some classic summer blockbusters at the same time.
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