Sydney's best outdoor cinemas

Ben & Jerry's Openair Cinema

Bondi

Ben & Jerry's have got summer sorted with outdoor films overlooking Bondi Beach. Highlights of their January season include global warming documentary Cool It, time-traveling comedy Safety Not Guaranteed, Tom Cruise cult classic Top Gun, and Tim Burton's latest, Frankenweenie. On Saturdays the cinema will join forces with Spotify to present on-the-up locals playing live before the screenings, and there'll be plenty of ice cream available before the films begin.

Flickerfest

Bondi

Those lacking the attention span for a full-length feature will love Flickerfest – a huge celebration of short films, screened out in the open at Bondi Pavilion.

Moonlight Cinema

Sydney

The Centennial Park favourite returns with its 16th season in 2013 and has billed some great advance previews, new releases and classic and cult films for the more than three-month run. We predict the early sell-out screenings to be Peter Jackson's The Hobbit; Daniel Craig's latest Bond turn, Skyfall; the 2012 adaptation of Victor Hugo's classic Les Misérables starring Russell Crowe and Hugh Jackman; and cult favourite, the Grease Sing-A-Long.

Movies by the Boulevard 2013

Homebush Bay

Free family-friendly screenings are back at Olympic Park this year, and there are plenty of great features to choose from. Time Out is keen to pack our picnic rug for Men In Black 3 (Thu Jan 3), The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (Sun Jan 6), The Muppets (Thu Jan 10) and The Avengers (Fri Jan 11).

St George OpenAir Cinema

Sydney

The most spectacular of Sydney's outdoor cinema options has to be this three-storey screen that floats out on the harbour, in front of the city's skyline. This is no picnic-rug and packed-lunch affair either. Grandstand seating is set up, and the pop-up food and wine bars make for pretty fancy-pants pre-film fun.