This summer will be all about outdoor cinemas, with old players like the open-air movie theater of Balatonlelle and Vonyarcvashegy making a highly anticipated comeback. We caught up with the managers to find out what kind of new features are being introduced, and how much of the retro vibe is going to be retained.
When we put together a list of outdoor cinemas on the north and later the south shore two years ago, we could only find eight venues, one of which (Alsóörs Pub Cinema) has closed up shop since then. However, it looks like these beloved film theaters are experiencing somewhat of a revival: the outdoor cinema of Balatonakali reopened last year, and last week it was announced that movie buffs looking for outdoor screenings will soon be able to visit the open-air cinemas of Vonyarcvashegy and Balatonlelle.
“The fact that many outdoor cinemas went bust was the result of a two-front attack: for one thing, they were attracting fewer and fewer viewers because the program included older movies that premiered one or two months earlier, and for another, three to five years after the digital switch analogue screening technology had no future at Lake Balaton,” Mátyás Pálffy, the manager of Fövenyes Outdoor Cinema told us. “The turning point happened when we managed to negotiate a rental system for the projectors. Since then a number of open-air cinemas around Balaton have been relaunched with rented, secondhand projectors from Belgium."
What’s even more important is that movie lovers visiting Lake Balaton no longer have to put up with outdated jokes from old Adam Sandler flicks. Mátyás Pálffy is involved in running several cinemas at Balaton, which will showcase the latest Hollywood blockbusters premiering worldwide over the course of the summer, such as Now You See Me 2 or Independence Day: Resurgence.
We contacted the two cinemas reopening this year to find out about their short- and long-term plans.
Balatonlelle Outdoor Cinema
The outdoor cinema of Balatonlelle closed in 2013, at the same time as the cinema of Káptalanfüred, because the digital switch brought on a dramatic drop in the number of analogue copies, and going fully digital would have required a 20 million-forint investment. The team of Sió Cinema in Siófok saw potential in the once prominent movie theater, and restored it to its former glory.
The original 35 mm projector was replaced with a digital machine typical of multiplex cinemas, and a new Dolby Digital 5.1 sound system is also part of the package now, but the 370 chairs have been kept to maintain the original feel. In an effort to keep up with modern times, the buffet will stock multiplex favorites like popcorn, soft drinks, and nachos.
Panoráma Outdooor Cinema
Known previously as “the cinema in Vonyarc”, Panoráma Outdoor Cinema opened its gates again in June. The movie theater was built in 1985, and in 2012 it was rented out to an entrepreneur, who decided not to operate it anymore. The venue is now run by the local government; screenings will be held between June 25 and August 31, and in the first two weeks of September if the weather allows. The wooden benches of the renovated cinema have been repainted, and the buffet will serve the tried and true outdoor cinema combination of popcorn and soft drinks.
