The city of Sedona Parks and Recreation Department’s Summer Cinema Series will resume free weekly screenings on Fridays at 8 p.m. during the month of June of beloved movies at the Posse Grounds Pavilion.
“It’s a beautiful evening under the stars at the pavilion with fun to be had and it’s free,” Parks and Recreation Special Events Coordinator Jason Vargo said. “It’s another opportunity as always to come mingle with your community and have a great time together.”
The 2024 lineup for June will be “Mamma Mia!” on June 7, “Zootopia” on June 14, “Back to the Future” on June 21 and the 1950 Western “Broken Arrow” on June 28. Last year’s attendance averaged a little under 100 people per film and the department will be offering additional pre-show activities this year starting at 7:15 p.m. in an effort to encourage turnout.
◼ “We’re going to be screening ‘Mamma Mia!’ which of course is a musical of the music of ABBA,” Vargo said. “Prior to the show, we’re going to have movie karaoke, so any song you want to sing from a movie. We’re going to have some nice fun prizes for the people that choose to sing.”
“Set on a colorful Greek island, the plot serves as a background for a wealth of ABBA songs,” the film’s synopsis states. “A young woman about to be married discovers that any one of three men could be her father. She invites all three to the wedding without telling her mother, Donna Sheridan [Meryl Streep], who was once the lead singer of Donna and the Dynamos.”
◼ The June 14 screening of “Zootopia” is aimed at families and will be preceded by a game that will be announced later.
“From the largest elephant to the smallest shrew, the city of Zootopia is a mammal metropolis where various animals live and thrive,” the film’s summary states. “When Judy Hopps [Ginnifer Goodwin] becomes the first rabbit to join the police force, she quickly learns how tough it is to enforce the law. Determined to prove herself, Judy jumps at the opportunity to solve a mysterious case. Unfortunately, that means working with Nick Wilde [Jason Bateman], a wily fox who makes her job even harder.”
◼ The following week will be a throwback night to 1985 with a showing of the Huey Lewis and the News-powered seminal science fiction comedy “Back to the Future.” “We’re going to invite people to dress the part, dress up in ’80s costumes and ’80s clothes and the ’80s garb,” Vargo said, adding that additional entertainment for the evening may be announced.
◼The final show will be Friday, June 28, with a screening of the 1950 film “Broken Arrow” that will be themed as Sedona Heritage Movie night as a joint program between the city and the Sedona Heritage Museum to commemorate the locally shot Western.
“‘Broken Arrow’ stars Jimmy Stewart as Tom Jeffords, a U.S. Army scout who befriends Apache leader Cochise, played by Jeff Chandler, who was nominated for an Academy Award for his role,” Brigham Young University’s Museum of Art website states. “ In the film, Jeffords tries to be an ambassador of peace between settlers and the Apaches, to [a] tragic end. While the film is still problematic in the casting and treatment of the Apache, the film is sympathetic in attitude towards Native Americans, one of the earliest post-war films to do so.”
The pre-show entertainment will consist of Sedona movie trivia and anecdotes about the movie’s production.
“We do have some great photos we’ll share,” Sedona Historical Society Executive Director Nate Meyers said. “And we will talk about some of the ‘oopsies’ in filming. There was a major error that caused them have to go back and reshoot a bunch of scenes. Because … one of the extras … in one background scenes was chewing gum and blowing bubbles. So they had to reassemble everybody and reshoot the whole scene.”
“You’re going to watch a cinematic legend performing here in Sedona and you’re going to recognize a lot of shots,” Meyers said. “It’s a great movie, so it’s going to be a fun night.”
