There are free outdoor movie screenings at your favorite San Francisco parks from now until Halloween, some featuring crowd-pleasing Hollywood blockbusters, and others showing up-and-coming Bay Area indie film talent.
With the summer season nigh upon us, San Francisco’s cherished tradition of outdoor movie nights in parks (often under very foggy skies) is back for 2022! While most of them are the SF Parks Alliance-sponsored Sundown Cinema screenings showing pop-culture blockbusters, others are quirkier or more independent community film festivals showing the work of local Bay Area filmmakers. So we’ve listed every free, public outdoor movie night of the summer and fall 2022, going right up to Halloween, because there's two big outdoor movie events coming up this weekend.
Nothing against Bay Area drive-ins, but there’s a special unique magic to those picnicky park-movie outings under the stars, surrounded by a mostly drinking audience. We’ve listed all the free outdoor park movies in chronological order below, with their dates and locations. But start times will vary, so you’ll just have to ballpark the sun goes down on these given weekends, and it’s advised to get their about an hour beforehand to set up your blanket at a good spot.
And the outdoor movie screenings will start to Rock this weekend.
Friday, June 17: The Rock at The Presidio
It's Nicolas Cage time, baby! This locally shot, 1996 Michael Bay shoot-’em-up car chase explosion-fest will screen at the Presidio’s Civil War Parade Ground. (Note: This film is Rated R, though it is still kind of fundamentally a children’s movie.)
Civil War Parade Ground, Graham Street in The Presidio
Sunday, June 19: Frameline presents Attack, Decay, Release
The 2022 Frameline LGBTQ+ Film Festival does have an outdoor screening, this one at Hayes Valley’s PROXY. Local filmmaker H.P. Mendoza (Colma: The Musical) has a new film that takes place simultaneously on three different screens, and is described as “a reimagining of the The Ark narrative” and a “sci-fi hybrid film and visual album chronicles the migrations of humans to the moon after a deadly pandemic.” The screening is free, though RSVP is required.
PROXY, 432 Octavia Boulevard (at Hayes Street)
Friday, July 8: Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
The San Francisco-set 1986 “Save the Whales” movie is one of the best-reviewed of the whole Star Trek movie franchise, and has scenes in North Beach, Chinatown, the Marina, and of course the Golden Gate Bridge. The show is at Union Square.
Union Square, 333 Post Street (at Powell Street)
Thursday, July 21: Ricochet: The Path to Justice Is Not a Straight Line
Bernal Heights Outdoor Cinema is presenting a special one-night engagement of the Jeff Adachi-produced Ricochet: The Path to Justice Is Not a Straight Line, a documentary about the 2015 Kate Steinle shooting and trial of Jose Ines Garcia-Zarate. There’s a Q&A afterwards with director Chihiro Wimbush, plus the case’s public defenders Matt Gonzalez and Francisco Ugarte.
Location Not Yet Announced
Friday, July 29: Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows: Part II
The kids are all grown up on this eighth and final installment of the Harry Potter franchise, playing at the Marina Green park that, if you’re not familiar, is between Fort Mason and Crissy Field.
Marina Green, Yacht Road and Old Mason Street
Friday, August 19: Sing-Along Encanto
It’s a special sing-along version of the Best Animated Feature Oscar-winner that saddled the world with the one-time Billboard No. 1 hit "We Don't Talk About Bruno," as Encanto gets the family-friendly sing-along treatment at India Basin Shoreline Park.
India Basin Shoreline Park, Hunters Point Boulevard at Hawes Street
Friday, September 9: Raiders of the Lost Ark
Alamo Square gets its summer movie installment with the original Indiana Jones swashbuckler Raiders of the Lost Ark. Definitely do “look at it, Marion!”
Alamo Square, Hayes and Steiner streets
Friday and Saturday, September 9 and 10, plus Friday, September 16: Bernal Heights Outdoor Cinema
While we do not yet have a film lineup announced, the Bernal Heights Outdoor Cinema website confirms that the two weekends of annual indie movie screenings will return on September 9, 10 and 16, 2022. And if you’re a local filmmaker, the submission deadline is July 15.
Locations Not Yet Announced
Friday, September 30: Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Relive the most epic Muni kung fu fight in Marvel Cinematic Universe history as the somewhat locally filmed Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings comes to Potrero Point’s Crane Cove Park.
Crane Cove Park, 18th Street at Illinois Street
Friday, October 21: Addams Family Values with Halloween Costume Contest
We have ourselves a Halloween Costume Contest at this Addams Family Values screening at McLaren Park’s Jerry Garcia Amphitheater in the Excelsior, playing the Addams Family sequel best known for its Wednesday Addams Thanksgiving play scene.
Jerry Garcia Amphitheater, McLaren Park, Mansell Street and John F. Shelly Drive
From what we can tell, Hayes Valley’s PROXY already finished its 2022 season, and we do not see any 2022 screenings announced for the Sunset’s Free Movies in McCoppin. But we’ll update this post if there are any new announcements with those schedules.
Top Image: San Francisco Parks Alliance
