Every Outdoor Movie Screening Happening in the Bay Area This Summer and Fall
Take in the Bay views at these outdoor movie screenings taking place at parks, beaches, pools, and more.
Pandemic or not, outdoor movies are the perfect thing for summer. They’re a picnic plus movie night rolled into one. With sprawling seating areas, you can talk and eat loudly during the movie and nobody will shush you (probably). Whether in a park, on the beach, in a pool, or on the waterfront, get there early to stake out a spot to watch classic and new flicks in the fading light of late summer sunsets. The cool thing is that summer in the Bay gets better as it stretches into fall, with the signature fog slowly dissipating.
Here are all the best outdoor movies showing across the Bay to make the most of the summer season—with many of them being free. Some even allow adult beverages (or edibles, if the movie calls for it).
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
July 16
Alameda Landing, Alameda
Making hooky look cool since 1986. If you can’t make this showing, you’ll get a second chance to watch this classic on a big screen outdoors on August 12 at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.
Time: 8 pm doors, movie begins at sundown.
Dune
July 21
Jack London Square, Oakland
Catch the effervescent Timothee Chalamet in this 2021 remake of the sci fi epic. Take a drink every time you hear someone in the movie say “spice.”
Time: Sunset (8:40 pm)
Soul
July 22
Alameda Point Multi-Purpose Field, Alameda
A velvety-voiced, ageless Jamie Foxx plays the protagonist in this pioneering Pixar film that features the first Black lead in Pixar’s history. Part of the Starlight Movies in the Park series.
Time: 6:30 pm doors, movie begins around 8:30 pm.
Encanto
July 22
Refugio Valley Park, Hercules
This movie is everywhere. Superfans may want to hit up all the screenings of the magic-filled, musical Pixar hit.
Time: Movie starts around 8 pm.
Sing 2
July 22
Kennedy Park, Union City
Koala Buster Moon is back, and once he finds a reclusive rock star to make his musical act dazzle, he’ll be all right, all right, all right.
Time: Movie starts around 8 pm.
Encanto
July 22
Civic Park, Walnut Creek
Warm up your vocal chords with live music before the movie. Plus, food vendors and face painting!
Time: Doors at 6:30 pm.
Shang-Chi & the Legend of the Ten Rings
July 22
San Pablo Community Center, San Pablo
Simu Liu’s abs plus Awkwafina’s killer comedic timing make for a great combo in MCU’s first Asian American superhero movie. The crowd should hoot and holler extra loud during the MUNI fight scene. Part of the Movies Under the Stars series.
Time: 8 pm doors, movie begins at dusk.
Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021)
July 22
Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, in front of the Colonnade
The legacy continues for the new generation of specter killers. Appropriately starring Finn Wolfhard from Netflix’s 1980s supernatural period series, Stranger Things.
Time: 9 pm
Raya & The Last Dragon
July 28
Jack London Square, Oakland
Celebrate the first Southeast Asian Disney warrior princess who somehow makes rice paddy hats look fashionable.
Time: Sunset (8:40 pm)
Cinderella (Classic)
July 29
Danville Community Center & Town Green
Blame this seminal movie for much of your internalized gender stereotypes. But here’s to hot princes and princesses, anyway!
Time: Doors at 5:30 pm.
Sing 2
July 29
Dimond Branch, Oakland Public Library, Oakland
Singing animals and a raffle? Bring food from a Dimond area business, then show your receipt for a gift card drawing to a Dimond business.
Time: Movie starts at 8 pm.
Wreck-It Ralph
July 29
Strawberry Creek Park, Berkeley
A video game good guy wants to elevate himself to hero, but ends up unleashing havoc in his home arcade instead. Yikes! Arrive at 8 pm to find a seat.
Time: 8:30 pm
Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows: Part II
July 29
Marina Green, San Francisco
Even though J.K. Rowling is kind of canceled, the HP pull is strong for this final installment of the eight-movie franchise based on the best-selling books. Indulge your guilty pleasure anonymously at a crowded park screening, and don’t Tweet about it because you were never there.
Time: Doors at 6:30 pm.
Ironman
July 29
Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, in front of the Colonnade
Wondering if billionaire Tony Stark is superhero Inspo for Zuck or Musk? Ponder that with the rest of the plebes on the beach boardwalk.
Time: 9 pm
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
July 30
Encinal Swim Center, Alameda
This dive-in movie means that you can watch the entire HP film from the pool. Aguamenti! There will also be family-friendly crafts and other dry activities for the land lubbers.
Time: Doors at 6:30 pm; $10
Encanto
August 5
San Pablo Community Center, San Pablo
Outdoor movie screenings can’t get enough of the magical Madrigals.
Time: Doors at 8 pm, movie begins at dusk.
Trolls
August 5
Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, in front of the Colonnade
Disturbingly ugly toys with oddly tight butts become a hit movie franchise.
Time: 9 pm
Sing 2
August 6
Tice Valley Park, Walnut Creek
Live human music beforehand! Followed by movie animal music. Ironically, no pets allowed. Part of the Movies Under the Stars series.
Time: Doors at 6:30 pm.
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
August 12
Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, in front of the Colonnade
This Matthew Broderick hooky hit always manages to make outdoor summer movie lists. Must be that school’s-out-for-summer vibe. Made even better on the beach.
Time: 9 pm.
Up
August 12
Glendale La Loma Park, Berkeley
The 2008 tearjerker is making a strong comeback for outdoor screenings this year.
Time: 8:15 pm
Up
August 12
Strawberry Creek Park, Berkeley
Bring plenty of tissue. Arrive at 8 pm to find a seat.
Time: 8:30 pm
Encanto
August 19
India Basin, San Francisco
This screening is currently waitlist-only because it’s a sing-along! But if you can’t make it, just hit up another screening for this popular Disney film and make it a sing-along.
Time: Doors at 6 pm.
Encanto
August 19
Alameda Point Multi-Purpose Field, Alameda
Oh look, another chance to make this a sing-along!
Time: Doors at 6:30 pm, with family-friendly pre-show activities, movie starts at 8:30 pm.
Jungle Cruise
August 19
Orinda Community Center Park, Orinda
Can you smel-l-l-l-l-l what The Rock is cruisin’? In the jungle. Based on Disneyland’s ride. But with ghosts.
Time: Dusk (7 pm)
Up
August 20
Alameda Landing, Alameda
If you don’t cry within the first five minutes of Up, you are most definitely a monster.
Time: Doors at 8 pm, movie starts at sunset.
Raya and the Last Dragon
August 26
Strawberry Creek Park, Berkeley
Fans of Star Wars’s Kelly Marie Tran will be delighted to hear her voice in the title role. Arrive at 8 pm to find a seat.
Time: 8:30 pm
Bolt
August 26
Orinda Community Center Park, Orinda
John Travolta and Miley Cyrus team up as a CGI actor dog and his TV owner who accidentally get separated. Cross-country anthropomorphic action ensues. The movie is free, but feel free to make a donation to help fund the park’s renovation.
Time: Dusk (7 pm)
Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
September 9
Alamo Square, San Francisco
Gaze at Painted Ladies seen in the Full House opening credits (trivia nerd alert: none of them are the actual Full House house!) if a young Harrison Ford somehow doesn’t do it for you.
Time: Doors at 5:30 pm.
Luca
September 9
Strawberry Creek Park, Berkeley
A sea monster in Italy wants to experience life as a human. Minus the seashell bra. Arrive at 8 pm to find a seat.
Time: 8:30 pm
The 19th Annual Bernal Heights Outdoor Cinema
September 9, Bernal Plaza, San Francisco
September 10, Precita Park, San Francisco
September 16, Bernal Heights Park, San Francisco
The films haven’t been announced yet, but the themes in chronological order are the Season Kickoff with short films, Under the Stars with short films, and Best of Bernal with four 2022 award-winning films.
Time: Doors likely at 6:00 pm.
Sing 2
September 16
Alameda Point Multi-Purpose Field, Alameda
Another chance for Buster Moon to get his musical shiz together.
Time: 6:30 pm with family-friendly pre-show activities, movie starts at 8:30 pm.
Wall•E
September 23
Strawberry Creek Park, Berkeley
See how much of the 2008 film predicted our environmentally destructive, couch potato present. Arrive at 8 pm to find seating.
Time: 8:30 pm
Shang-Chi & the Legend of the Ten Rings
September 30
Crane Cove Park, San Francisco
You’ve been missing out if this movie is your first introduction to Tony Leung. Just saying.
Time: Doors at 5 pm.
Addams Family Values
October 21
Jerry Garcia Amphitheater, San Francisco
Christina Ricci will always be the best Wednesday Addams. Full stop.
Time: Doors at 5 pm.
Coco
October 27
Orinda Community Center Park, Orinda
Disney/Pixar’s first Mexican (and Latino) movie lands its protagonist in the Land of Dead, looking for his musician great-great grandfather to understand his family’s ban on music. Perfect timing for the upcoming Día de Los Muertos holiday.
Time: Dusk (7 pm)
The Lost Boys
October 29
Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, in front of the Colonnade
A bonus film for Movies on the Beach in Santa Cruz. Catch the last movie of late summer while cruising into Halloween with the hot vampire Coreys — way before heartthrob Twilight vampires were a thing.
Time: 9 pm