Just before the Downtown Movie Night Under the Stars screening of “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” last summer, a truck pulled up in the parking lot where the event took place, and a bunch of guys offloaded a couch.
“These guys look like the funnest guys I've ever seen in my life,” said Clifton Skelliter, the marketing director of Launchpad Creative, who founded the movie series in the summer of 2014.
“They go in the back of the truck, they pull out a couch, they run right to the middle of the parking lot and throw the couch down.”
While the guys with the couch watched the film in comfort, most people use lawn chairs or blankets at the free, family friendly events. Skelliter said he'd love it if someone brought in a portable hot tub sometime, though.
This year's Downtown Movie Night Under the Stars series starts May 26 with the screening of the 1978 film “Superman: The Movie,” starring the late Christopher Reeve as Superman.
It's preceded by “Ordinary Miracle,” a short film by Sudbury director Martin M. Smith.
The rest of this year's lineup is as follows: “Never Ending Story” June 30, “Pretty in Pink” July 28, “Goonies” Aug. 25, “Footloose” Sept. 3 (during Ribfest) and “Gremlins” Sept. 29.
All of the films are screened in the parking lot at the corner of Durham and Cedar streets.
This year, the evenings are a bit shorter, as they won't include performances by local musicians. A Cinefest short screens at around 9:20 p.m., and the feature movie screens at around 9:30 p.m.
If you think that lineup of 70s and 80s films seems tailored for those now in their 30s and 40s, you're not wrong.
Skelliter said he's a child of the 80s, which calls “the best decade that we've ever had in the history of mankind,” when hypercolour, big hair, Prince, Madonna and Michael Jackson were in style.
“A lot of cool stuff came out of the 80s,” he said. “The beautiful situation is we're going to go because of nostalgia, but we're also going to bring our kids to go see it.”
Skelliter said he got the idea to start the film series two years ago, while hanging out with friends at the Fromagerie.
“We were like 'It would be so cool to watch a movie outside with some friends,' and that just kept escalating,” he said. “It escalated to the point where we had a parking lot packed with people, watching Ghostbusters.”
It's thanks to several partners that Movie Night Under the Stars has become a monthly series — at least during the months when there's no snow on the ground.
Downtown Sudbury helps with the organization and provides some funds to make sure the series continues to be free and, as previously mentioned, Cinefest plays shorts before the main feature.
Dalron provides the location, Coopers Equipment the generator and Journal Printing puts out the posters and other promotional material.
“I think this year we have a really good lineup,” said Maureen Luoma, executive director of Downtown Sudbury.
“I think it's going to grow again. It's one of those things where it's hopefully going to become a tradition, and as the word spreads, so will the success of the event.”
