Avid film fanatics and outdoor movie enthusiasts across the Cape wished and hoped, and The Galileo Open Air Cinema has answered!
The team has granted us a bonus month by extending the close of their 12th season to Saturday, 25 May, thus gifting us one last month to relish a unique outdoor movie experience under the twinkling starlit sky before next season.
Also read: The ultimate guide to a Galileo Open Air Cinema screening in the Cape
Weekday movie screenings are set against the natural backdrop of Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden and the urban oasis of Central Park in Century City, and screenings on select Fridays and Saturdays invite you to movie nights hosted at vineyards in Paarl, Franschhoek, Stellenbosch and Somerset West.
Here is what’s on the bonus month’s line-up:
3 May: 10 Things I Hate About You
10 Things I Hate About You is a 1999 teen romantic comedy film.
A high-school boy, Cameron, cannot date Bianca until her anti-social older sister, Kat, has a boyfriend. So, Cameron pays a mysterious boy, Patrick, to charm Kat.
- Day: Friday
- Location: Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens
- Time: Gates open at 5:30pm, and the movie starts at 7:15pm
- Genre: Romantic Drama
- Age restriction: PG
- Tickets: Webtickets
4 May: Frozen
Frozen is a 2013 Walt Disney American animated musical fantasy film inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s 1844 fairy tale, The Snow Queen.
The film follows Anna, the princess of Arendelle, who sets off on a journey with the iceman Kristoff, his reindeer Sven and the snowman Olaf to find her estranged sister Elsa, whose icy powers have trapped their kingdom in an eternal winter.
- Day: Saturday
- Location: Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens
- Time: Gates open at 5pm, and the movie starts at 7:15pm
- Genre: Family-Friendly / Kids
- Age restriction: PG
- Tickets: Webtickets
9 May: The Notebook
The Notebook is a romantic drama film based on the 1996 novel of the same name.
The film stars Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams as a young couple who fall in love in the 1940s. Their story is read from a notebook in the present day by an elderly man (James Garner), telling the tale to a fellow nursing home resident (Gena Rowlands).
- Day: Thursday
- Location: Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens
- Time: Gates open at 5:30pm, and the movie starts at 7:15pm
- Genre: Romantic Drama
- Age restriction: 16 S
- Tickets: Webtickets
10 May: Encanto
Encanto is a 2021 American animated musical fantasy film by Walt Disney Studios.
Encanto follows a multigenerational Colombian family, the Madrigals, led by a matriarch whose children and grandchildren – except Mirabel Madrigal – receive magical gifts from a miracle, which they use to help the people in their rural community, called the Encanto.
When Mirabel learns that the family is losing their magic, she sets out to find out why and save the family and house.
- Day: Friday
- Location: Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens
- Time: Gates open at 5:30pm, and the movie starts at 7:30pm
- Genre: Family-Friendly / Kids
- Age restriction: PG
- Tickets: Webtickets
11 May: Greatest Showman
The Greatest Showman is a biological musical about young Phineas T. Barnum’s life as a child, entrepreneur, museum owner, circus producer and entertainment producer. Celebrating the birth of show business, the film tells of a visionary who rose from nothing to create a spectacle that became a worldwide sensation.
- Day: Saturday
- Location: Stellenbosch Waldorf School – on The Spier Wine Farm
- Time: Gates open at 5pm, and the movie starts at 7:15pm
- Genre: Music / Dance / Drama
- Age restriction: 10-12PG D P V
- Tickets: Webtickets
16 May: Top Gun: Maverick
Top Gun: Maverick is a 2022 American action film directed by Joseph Kosinski. It is the sequel to the 1986 film Top Gun starring Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer reprising their roles from the original film, alongside Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Glen Powell, Lewis Pullman and Ed Harris.
It follows Maverick confronting his past while training a group of younger TOPGUN graduates, including the son of his deceased best friend, for a dangerous mission.
- Day: Thursday
- Location: Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens
- Time: Gates open at 5:30pm, and the movie starts at 7:15pm
- Genre: Action / Adventure
- Age restriction: 13 L V
- Tickets: Webtickets
17 May: Pitch Perfect
Pitch Perfect is a 2012 American musical comedy film. It features an ensemble cast.
The plot follows Barden University’s all-girl a capella group, the Barden Bellas, as they compete against another a cappella group from their college to win Nationals.
Beca, a freshman at Barden University, is cajoled into joining the Bellas and injects some much-needed energy into their repertoire for the campus competition.
- Day: Friday
- Location: Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens
- Time: Gates open at 5:30pm, and the movie starts at 7:15pm
- Genre: Music / Dance / Drama
- Age restriction: 10-12PG L
- Tickets: Webtickets
18 May: Shrek 2
Shrek 2 is a 2004 American animated comedy film.
Shrek and Fiona travel to the Kingdom of Far Far Away, where Fiona’s parents are King and Queen, to celebrate their marriage. When they arrive, they find they are not as welcome as they thought they would be.
- Day: Saturday
- Location: Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens
- Time: Gates open at 5:o0pm, and the movie starts at 7:15pm
- Genre: Animated Fantasy Comedy
- Age restriction: A
- Tickets: Webtickets
23 May: Dunkirk
Dunkirk is a 2017 epic historical war thriller film written, directed and co-produced by Christopher Nolan that depicts the Dunkirk evacuation of World War II from the perspectives of the land, sea and air.
It features an ensemble cast comprising Fionn Whitehead, Tom Glynn-Carney, Jack Lowden, Harry Styles in his film debut and Tom Hardy, among others.
The film portrays the evacuation with little dialogue, as Nolan sought instead to create suspense through cinematography and music. Allied soldiers from Belgium, the British Commonwealth and Empire as well as France were surrounded by the German army and evacuated during the fierce battle in World War II.
- Day: Thursday
- Location: Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens
- Time: Gates open at 5:30pm, and the movie starts at 7:15pm
- Genre: Historical War Thriller
- Age restriction: 16 V
- Tickets: Webtickets
24 May: Gravity
Gravity is a 2013 science fiction thriller film directed by Alfonso Cuarón, who also co-wrote, co-edited and produced the film. It stars Sandra Bullock and George Clooney as American astronauts.
Engineer Dr Ryan Stone, her first time on a space mission, and Matt Kowalski, an astronaut on his final expedition, have to survive in space after they are hit by debris while spacewalking and attempt to return to Earth after the destruction of their space shuttle in orbit.
- Day: Friday
- Location: Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens
- Time: Gates open at 5:30pm, and the movie starts at 7:15pm
- Genre: Science Fiction Thriller
- Age restriction: 10
- Tickets: Webtickets
25 May: Toy Story 3
Toy Story 3 is a 2010 American animated comedy-drama film. It’s the third instalment in the series.
Woody, Buzz Lightyear and the other toys are mistakenly delivered to a daycare centre instead of the attic right before Andy leaves for college, and it’s up to Woody to convince the other toys that they weren’t abandoned and to return home.
- Day: Saturday
- Location: Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens
- Time: Gates open at 5:00pm, and the movie starts at 7:15pm
- Genre: Family-Friendly / Kids
- Age restriction: PG
- Tickets: Webtickets
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