Moonlight Cinema Melbourne

Overview

If you didn't see The Fall Guy, Twisters, The Substance, Kneecap or It Ends with Us on the big screen already in 2024, here's the perfect way to catch up with them: under the stars, while sprawled out on a picnic blanket or sat on a bean bed, at the latest season of Moonlight Cinema. And if watching Christmas films is one of your festive traditions, here's a scenic way to do that, too, with this annual opportunity to enjoy a movie outside packing its just-dropped first lineup for this year with seasonal flicks.

As it does every summer, Moonlight Cinema is returning for another run of films in the open air, including at Melbourne's Royal Botanic Gardens from Friday, November 29, 2024–Sunday, March 30, 2025. Among the brand-new titles, Gladiator II and Wicked are also on the bill — and when an advanced screening of Paddington in Peru graces the screen, you'll want marmalade sandwiches in your picnic basket.

The OG version of Mean Girls will grace Moonlight Cinema's screens, too. For a merry time at the movies — a jolly one as well — the roster of Christmas fare spans the new Red One, as well as classics Elf, Love Actually, The Holiday, The Muppet Christmas Carol, Home Alone and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.

If you're wondering what else Moonlight will show across its full season, it now drops its program month by month, so watch this space for more announcements. As always, the films and the setting are just two parts of the cinema's experience. Also on offer: the returning Aperol spritz bar.

Nosh-wise, the event will again let you BYO movie snacks and drinks, but the unorganised can enjoy a plethora of bites to eat onsite while reclining on bean beds. There'll also be two VIP sections for an extra-luxe openair movie experience, a platinum package with waiter service and a beauty cart handing out samples.

Plus, dogs are welcome — there's even special doggo bean beds.