Overview
When January 2022 arrives, it won't just mark the welcome start of a brand new year after the past couple have been so chaotic. Also rolling around when 2021 slinks off into the past forever: the return of Sydney's beloved Westpac Openair Cinema. Come Thursday, January 6, Mrs Macquaries Point will once again play host to the most spectacular big screen in the city — and to quite the impressive list of flicks that'll play with panoramic views of the city, the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge as their stunning backdrop.
At the beginning of November, Westpac Openair confirmed its 2022 summer dates — and now the event has locked in all the movies that'll be showing across its 48-night season until Tuesday, February 22. Big names, big potential award-winners and big recent favourites are all set to flicker across the outdoor cinema's 350-square-metre screen, kicking off with a preview screening of the Will Smith-starring biopic King Richard, where he plays the father of tennis champions Venus and Serena Williams.
Other brand-new highlights include advanced screenings of Spencer, with Kristen Stewart stepping into Princess Diana's shoes; Guillermo del Toro's Nightmare Alley, his first film after making such an award-winning splash with The Shape of Water; and Pedro Almodovar's Parallel Mothers, aka the movie that won Penelope Cruz the Best Actress prize at the 2021 Venice Film Festival.
There's also the Australian premiere of Death on the Nile, which sees Agatha Christie's famed detective Hercule Poirot return to the big screen in the follow-up to Murder on the Orient Express — and, as well as playing the sleuth, Kenneth Branagh also has his latest directorial effort Belfast, as based on his own childhood, hitting Westpac Openair as well.
On Valentine's Day, the latest film adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac — this time just called Cyrano, and starring Peter Dinklage — will screen, while other sneak-peek sessions include the Javier Bardem-starring The Good Boss, C'Mon C'Mon with Joaquin Phoenix, and stellar Australian revenge drama The Drover's Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson.
Or, if you haven't yet caught new Bond flick No Time to Die, it's showing multiple times. Plus, other films that'll play Westpac Openair after hitting regular cinemas include Wes Anderson's The French Dispatch, Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence-starring comet comedy Don't Look Up, sci-fi spectacle Dune, Jane Campion's exquisite western The Power of the Dog, fashion drama House of Gucci, Steven Spielberg's new version of West Side Story, Paul Thomas Anderson's Licorice Pizza and the fourth Matrix flick The Matrix Resurrections.
Because the films and the location are only part of the fun here, Westpac Openair will also be slinging cocktails, serving up food by Kitchen by Mike and its chef Mike McEnearney — this time with a Mexican barbecue twist — and enlisting FBi radio's DJs to spin pre-film tunes.
Tickets always go fast for the outdoor cinema's season, so getting in quick when they go on sale in early December is recommended. Across the summer of 2018–19, more than 40,000 tickets sold within the first two days of pre-sale — so put it in your diary ASAP.
Westpac Openair 2022 runs from Thursday, January 6 –Tuesday, February 22. Tickets go on sale from 9am AEDT on Wednesday, December 8, with pre-sales from 9am AEDT on Monday, December 6–5pm AEDT Tuesday, December 7. For more details, head to the event's website.
Images: Fiora Sacco