08-07-2025
Classic films being screened in north Cumbrian cinemas this summer
MAJOR summer releases are landing thick and fast at the cinema at the moment.
Hot on the heels of Tom Cruise's kinetic - and occasionally baffling - action epic Mission Impossible Final Reckoning, we've had: naked, rage-infected hordes trying to tear Aaron Taylor-Johnson limb-from-limb in the threequel curio 28 Years Later; Brad Pitt's motorsport blockbuster F1; Scarlett Johansson battling dinosaurs in Jurassic World Rebirth; and a 'live action reimagining' of the How to Train Your Dragon film.
On top of that, Friday will see a new treat for fans of CGI and spandex - yet another reboot of the Superman franchise.
It's a decent line-up, stacked with interest, but cinemas aren't just about new releases anymore. To get bums on seats, picture houses need to diversify, and re-releases, remasters, and anniversary screenings of classic films are a good way of coaxing in different audiences.
Here are some options in Cumbria this summer...
The excellent Parkway cinema in Workington, as part of its WeWatchFilms strand, will be showing both Ridley Scott's harrowing space horror Alien [1979] and James Cameron's thrilling sequel Aliens [1987] this month. At the time of writing, the latter is sold out but a few tickets remain for the former, which is being shown at 8pm on July 14. It's worth keeping an eye on too - they're showing the Bond classic Goldfinger in August and Peter Weir's superb Truman Show in September.
The Goonies is being re-released to mark its 40th anniversary.
The Vue cinema in Carlisle will be the place to bathe in some nostalgia later this month when, four decades after its release, the kids' classic The Goonies will be screened. Showings will be on Saturday, July 26, Sunday, July 27 and Tuesday, July 29. It's a film that's a cult favourite among some families but even this forty-year-old adventure romp isn't immune from Hollywood's rampant sequel-itis... it was announced in February that apparently a second film is in the works.
The Taiwanese director Ang Lee brought Jane Austen's classic novel to the big screen in the mid-90s from an Oscar-winning script by Emma Thompson. The story follows the lives of the Dashwood sisters - played by Thompson and Kate Winslet - as they deal with the loss of their father and their sudden precarious financial situation. The cast is superb across the board. It's being shown at the Vue in Carlisle on Saturday, August 9, Sunday, August 10 and Wednesday, August 13.
Actors Greg Wise and Kate Winslet in Sense & Sensibility (Image: UNKNOWN)
The fourth film in the Harry Potter series, based on author JK Rowling's classic series of children's books. This was the one where things started to get a bit darker, with wizard children being murdered, the corpse of an old man found in a forest, and the resurrection of an evil wizard with a snake-like head. It's set to be shown at Carlisle Vue on Saturday, August 30 and Monday, September 1.
