“Does Her Majesty prefer Milk Duds or Jujyfruits?”
In an exciting move for British filmgoers, Queen Elizabeth’s country retreat, Sandringham Estate, will soon transform into a drive-in theater. The first film to screen, on September 25, will be Sam Mendes’s 1917.
Additional films for that first weekend include Rocketman, The Greatest Showman, Bohemian Rhapsody, Grease, and Bradley Cooper’s version of A Star Is Born. Matinees are also planned for Moana and Toy Story.
If you are wondering how a drive-in works during daylight hours, the Sandringham pop-up will use an LED screen as opposed to projection. (Audio will be transmitted to the vehicle’s “bluetooth or aux,” not a left band FM frequency.) Different food vendors will set up shop on different days. Tickets are £32.50 plus a booking fee per automobile. £1 per ticket will go to the Woodland Trust/Rainforest Alliance.
For an additional £7.50 per person one can sit like moviegoing royalty in a deckchair with a table beside your vehicle. Popcorn included.
While the concept of drive-in movies may seem inherently American, they have caught on a bit across the pond during the coronavirus crises. In late July Variety detailed the expansion from three such establishments to 40 this year. British exhibition entrepreneur George Wood boasted to The Guardian about making the somewhat pricey outing “an experience,” and leaning-in to the imported Americana. At his theaters pre-ordered food is “dropped off on car bonnets by waiters on roller skates and scooters.”
Sandringham Estate is an approximately two-hour-and-forty-five minute drive north of Buckingham Palace. There you will find 20,000 acres famous for their royal shooting parties. Sandringham House, built from 1870 to 1892 in the Jacobethan style, has been the private residence of four generations of British monarchs. The royal family acquired the property in 1862. Previous owners include Anthony Woodville, 2nd Earl Rivers (King Edward IV’s brother-in-law) in the 15th century, and Robert Fitz-Corbun, a knight who was awarded the land after the Norman Conquest.
Whether future Sandringham programming will include films touching on British royal history remains to be seen.
More Great Stories From Vanity Fair
— Angela Davis and Ava DuVernay on Black Lives Matter
— Celebrating 22 Activists and Visionaries on the Forefront of Change
— Here’s Your First Look at The Haunting of Bly Manor
— Ben Affleck Will Return as Batman in The Flash
— Ta-Nehisi Coates Guest-Edits THE GREAT FIRE, a Special Issue
— Behind the Scenes of the Shocking Twist in Below Deck
— How Hollywood Shaped Kamala Harris and Doug Emhoff’s Marriage
— From the Archive: Young and Clueless
— Not a subscriber? Join Vanity Fair to receive the September issue, plus full digital access, now.