#Boat-in movie theater docking in NYC this summer

A floating cinema equipped with social-distancing boats is coming to New York.
Floating Cinema

Water-borne movie screenings are coming to New York this summer, offering a cinematic experience where physical distancing is easier.

Sydney-based Beyond Cinema has announced it’ll bring its Floating Cinema production to a swath of cities in the US and Australia. The experience will be in New York for one week, from Sept. 16 to 20.

“The cinema will be made up of 12 to 24 miniboats, holding up to eight people per boat,” reads the description on a preregistration page. “Tickets will require you to purchase the whole boat to ensure that groups will be seated with friends and family only, and to allow for social distancing on and between boats.”

Details regarding exact screening times, ticket cost and waterway locations are not yet available, and Beyond Cinema is currently only soliciting emails for interested individuals who want to be the first to hear when tickets go on sale.

The movie lineup is TBD, but will “be a mix of golden oldies and new releases.”

Free popcorn will be provided, the event page promises, and other movie snacks and drinks will be available to purchase “before you set sail.”

Pre-coronavirus pandemic, Beyond Cinema held a variety of immersive events across Australia, including parties themed around the Titanic, the Mad Hatter of “Alice in Wonderland” fame and “The Great Gatsby.”

Beyond Cinema isn’t the only event organizer to come up with the idea of float-in movies. A “Cinéma sur l’Eau” — or cinema on the water — is coming to the Seine River in Paris this weekend. Individuals, too, are increasingly flocking to the waterways, buying boats in lieu of their usual summer plans, which are now tabled as a result of COVID-19.

Drive-ins have also seen a comeback as a direct result of the coronavirus lockdown — their individualized car format proving ideal for physical distancing from other movie-goers.

Beginning this weekend, a semipermanent drive-in festival is coming to the Brooklyn Army Terminal, with screenings planned through October. This new, pandemic-friendly entertainment option is hosted by Rooftop Films, in partnership with the New York City Economic Development Corporation, and costs $45 per car.

Indie theaters unable to offer safe, real-time screening options have moved online, with virtual screening rooms and bespoke streaming services.