Loxwood Drive-In Movies aiming to repeat 2020 success

It says it all about the success of last summer’s inaugural Loxwood Drive-in Movies that nothing in particular is going to have to change for this year.
Danny and MauriceDanny and Maurice
Danny and Maurice

Father and son team Maurice and Danny Bacon hit the ground running in 2020. They’ve now delighted their audiences by confirming they will be back for more in 2021.

Drive-in movies were a moment of inspiration which worked. As Danny says: “Last summer everyone needed something special because of the year we had had, and we were wanting to do the best that we could, but it was getting closer and closer to the summer and we were realising that we couldn’t do the usual things.

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“We really had to think about what we might be able to do, and it was dad who had mentioned drive-in movies. I will give him the credit for it having been his idea in the first place, but as it got closer it was more and more me pushing it, saying ‘Let’s go for it.’

“We decided really to go for it at the end of May, beginning of June. It was something that was completely brand-new for us. We had never done it before. It was a bit scary. We weren’t sure. But we had the confidence that we had put together big events before and we knew we could do it. We felt confident that we could always do something well.

“You have just got to think how you will make it work, but we hadn’t done anything with social distancing before. It was always just a case of getting a lot of people in and letting them have a good time. This was slightly different. We just all chipped in to make it work. We did reach out to someone that had done drive-in movies before. We spoke to her and brought her on board, and that was a massive help. They came along and looked at our layout and what we wanted to do and gave us some tips and advice, things like how to make sure everyone has a good view. We could have had double the number of cars, but it was important to make sure that it was right for everybody.

“It was definitely a learning curve, definitely something new… and we definitely learnt a lot. And luckily it was great. This year is really just a question of more of the same. The first year we were maybe a bit nervous because we hadn’t done it before, but there is nothing really very much to change. But we do want to try to develop things.”

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Last year they had a set from Tim Staffell before the showing of the film Bohemian Rhapsody. Tim might well return. And Danny will be looking at other possibilities as well – all part of extending the overall experience of the event. It has never just been about the films. And who knows, as Danny says, it might very well be possible for people to sit outside their cars at this year’s event.

This year’s Loxwood Drive-in Movies will run from July 19 to August 1 featuring, once again, a huge state-of-the-art LED movie screen. The family matinee performances will run at 5pm, and the evening showings will be at 9pm. Gates will open at 3.30pm for the matinee and 7.30pm for the evening film.

Tickets must be booked in advance. Tickets for matinee performances are £20 which includes your vehicle plus three people; with tickets for evening performances at £30 to include your vehicle and two people. Additional persons in a vehicle are at £5 for the first additional person and £2.50 for each individual after. Book at www.loxwooddriveinmovies.co.uk.

The films are: How To Train Your Dragon (PG), The Lion King (U), Finding Nemo (U), Inside Out (U), Harry Potter And The Sorcerer’s Stone (PG), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (PG), The Goonies (12A), Toy Story (PG), The Lego Movie (U), Moana (PG), Cars (PG), Ghostbusters (PG), E.T. (U), Bohemian Rhapsody (12), A Knights Tale (PG), Grease (PG), Back To The Future (PG), Jurassic Park (PG), Mamma Mia! (PG), Rocketman (15), Dirty Dancing (12), The Rocky Horror Picture Show (12A), The Notebook (12A) and Pulp Fiction (18).

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