Condition report
Open-air cinema: free or paid?
Both exist, and the answer depends mainly on the country. In southern Europe, the open-air screening is most often offered by the municipality; in Germany or the United Kingdom, it is sold by ticket like a real cinema. Here is who pays for what, country by country — and what that changes when you organise your own screening.
Request a free quoteOrganizing your own screening
Whether the screening is free for the public or ticketed, the path is the same: a venue, film rights, a screen, and sound. Where to start.
Free screening in the commune
The municipal model: the town hall funds it, the public comes freely. The guide for local authorities.
Equipment budget
Screen, blower, projection, sound: price ranges for equipping a session, at purchase.
Start renting
A first paid screening can be tested without investing: equipment rented, ticketing, then you decide.
View real sessions
Our open-air cinema calendar lists thousands of screenings across Europe, both free and paid.
Where does the open-air screening come from?
The free model in the South and the paid model in the North are no coincidence: two different histories have produced two different models.
Mediterranean summer cinemas — Andalusian patios, Greek terraces — already screen every summer evening. The open-air screening there is a neighborhood gathering place, not an event: it is the root of the popular Southern model.
First drive-in in the world in Camden, New Jersey: the outdoor screen is born a second time, with the automobile — and this time at a ticket price.
American peak: over 4,000 drive-ins in the United States by the end of the decade. Paid open-air cinema becomes an industry.
La Villette launches its free festival in Paris on the great lawn; Berlin opens its Freiluftkinos in the years following reunification. Europe rediscovers the open air — free and public in Paris, paid and operated in Berlin: the two current models take shape.
The Luna Cinema has turned paid touring into a business model in the UK: castles, royal parks, online ticketing. Professional itinerant operators then spread across the continent.
Italy subsidises the summer ticket at €3.50 for Italian and European films (Cinema Revolution): the State is now funding paid screenings, a sign that open-air cinema has become a fully-fledged tool of cultural policy.
Two business models, one same screen
Behind "free or paid", there are simply two different payers.
Free for the public: the local authority pays
A town hall, a region, or a sponsor funds the screening as a cultural service: animating the city center, summer evening, cultural policy. The budget covers film rights, technical equipment, and communication; the audience brings their own chair. This is the dominant model in France, Spain, Portugal, Rome, Belgium, and Scandinavia.
Paid: the ticket funds the screening
An operator — whether running a fixed summer cinema or a mobile operation — sells tickets, often in advance online, and earns a living from ticket sales and the concession stand. This is the dominant model in Germany and the United Kingdom, where an outdoor seat costs between €9 and €20 depending on the venue and the level of comfort chosen.
The two models often coexist in the same city: in Paris, Madrid or Milan, free municipal screenings sit alongside paid summer cinemas. And a "free" screening is never free for the organizer: rights, screen, sound and permits still have to be funded, regardless of the model.
Same place every summer, or on tour?
Second dividing line, independent of ticket price: the screen that returns to the same place every year, and the one that moves every night.
The recurring fixed fee: a recurring appointment
Berlin's open-air cinema has occupied the same park for thirty years, the Roman arenas the same piazzas, the cine de verano the same patio, La Villette the same lawn since 1990. The venue IS the meeting point: audiences return out of habit, the program is announced for the whole summer, and the screen stays up or is re-inflated each evening in the same spot.
The itinerant: the screening that moves
In the UK, Adventure Cinema and The Luna Cinema play every evening in a different location — over 300 dates per summer, ticketed. In France, the same model exists free of charge: cinema leagues and rural circuits chain together dozens of towns per season, like the Eurométropole de Strasbourg tour and its fifteen villages. The screen is set up and taken down every evening: weight and setup time become the number one criterion.
The two intersect with the two economic models: paid fixed (Berlin), free fixed (Rome), paid itinerant (United Kingdom) and free itinerant (French rural circuits). Four combinations, four audiences — and the same screen at the center.
Country-by-country overview
Survey of summer 2026 schedules: who pays for the open-air cinema screening by country.
France
Free dominantFree municipal screenings dominate — our calendar lists sessions in several hundred municipalities every summer. Paris led the way: the La Villette festival, created in 1990 and free from the start, celebrated its 35th edition in summer 2026 (only deckchair rental costs extra, €6); Marseille does the same with its Ciné Plein Air. The rare paid screenings — Monnaie de Paris, private courtyards — run around €6 to €8 in advance sales. Whether free or paid, any public screening of a feature film requires authorization from the CNC, and the film must have held its visa for over a year.
Germany
Paid dominantThe Freiluftkino is a true summer cinema, born in the wake of reunification: Berlin has about ten of them (Kreuzberg, Rehberge, Friedrichshain…) open from May to September. You pay for your seat: €9 at the Hofkino in Friedrichshain (€7 reduced), €12 at the Zeise Open Air in Hamburg, online ticketing at the alltours Kino in Düsseldorf, on the banks of the Rhine from late July to early September. Free screenings exist but are sponsored and in the minority: ten evenings offered at the Kranzler Eck in Berlin in late August, High Rise Cinema in Frankfurt.
United Kingdom
Dominant paidOutdoor cinema there is a paid touring industry. The Luna Cinema, founded in 2008, screens at castles and royal parks; Adventure Cinema runs over 300 dates per summer, from Harewood House to Lulworth Castle, with adult tickets around £15–20 — £18.48 entry at London's Kew Gardens. Free screenings are rare and sponsored, almost all in London.
Spain
Free dominantThe "cine de verano" is an institution born in the patios of the South at the beginning of the 20th century: free entry until full in most cities. In 2026, Valencia screens free films on its beaches from July 9 to August 28, Barcelona on its own with Cinema Lliure a la Platja, and Madrid's neighborhoods multiply free screens. Paid screenings are concentrated in central Madrid: Cibeles de Cine, in the courtyard of the Palacio de Cibeles, sells seats from €7 to €22.50 for a premium armchair; the Fescinal de La Bombilla also relies on its ticket office.
Italy
MixedTwo worlds coexist. In Rome, the Arene di Roma Estate are free and require no reservation — including the Cinema in Piazza at San Cosimato, born in the early 2010s from the rescue of Cinema America by students. In Milan, AriAnteo, the open-air cinema of the Anteo cinema, sells seats for €7.50 (€6 reduced). And since 2023, the state initiative Cinema Revolution brings the ticket price for Italian and European films down to €3.50 from June to September, open-air screenings included.
Portugal
Almost universally freeEurope's most free market, and almost entirely municipal: Cinema ao Ar Livre in Oeiras, CineConchas in Lisbon's gardens, Cinema na Relva in Maia, and in Porto the Cinema Fora do Sítio cycle — ten free screenings in gardens and squares, from late July to late August. Paid options are limited to a few high-end private experiences: Cine Society on the WOW terraces in Porto (May to October), Black Cat Cinema in Lisbon with its cycle of over a hundred films.
Northern Europe
Free dominantMassively free, and proudly framed as cultural policy. Brussels does cinema in the nineteen municipalities of the capital (free, from late June to mid-July); Stockholm's Sommarbio, five evenings at Rålambshovsparken in mid-August, presents itself as Europe's largest free open-air cinema, and the region subsidizes more than thirty other screenings; Odense (OFF) and the rooftops of Copenhagen screen for free; in Helsinki, the Open Air Cinema at Malja — Finland's largest — is free entry all August. The Netherlands are the mixed exception: Pluk de Nacht is free in Amsterdam, while Apeldoorn or Pathé's rooftops sell their tickets.
Survey conducted on the programs published for summer 2026 (websites of the festivals, cities, and operators cited); prices are those displayed by each ticketing service and may vary depending on the venue and season.
Setting up your screening, in both models
Choosing your model
Invited public and funding by the local authority or a sponsor, or ticketing that covers costs: this choice determines the budget, the communication, and sometimes the permits.
Set film rights
Free or paid, a public screening is never royalty-free: the film must be negotiated with its distributor, and each country adds its own authorizations.
Sizing the screen and its sound
The expected audience dictates the size of the projection surface and the power of the sound. An inflatable screen sets up in a few minutes and travels along with tours as well as village squares.
Financing and announcing
Grants, local sponsors, and a refreshment stand on one side; online presale and tiered pricing on the other. In both cases, the session is announced early.
Frequently asked questions
Is a free screening really free?
For the audience, yes. For the organizer, never: the film rights, the screen, the projection, the sound and the permits still need to be funded. It's simply the local authority or a sponsor that pays instead of the audience.
Are we allowed to charge an entry fee?
Yes, in all the countries mentioned. In France, non-commercial screenings can be free or paid; beyond that, regular paid operation falls under the commercial regime. Elsewhere in Europe, ticketing is the standard model for professional summer cinemas.
How much does an open-air cinema ticket cost in Europe?
Where you pay: around €9 to €12 in Germany, €7 to €22 in Madrid depending on comfort, about €7.50 in Milan, and £15 to £20 in the UK. In France, the rare paid screenings are around €6 to €8.
Who funds the free screenings?
Almost always the public authorities — town halls, regions, cultural services — sometimes backed by private sponsors or foundations. The screening is treated as a cultural service, on the same footing as a summer concert.
Does the equipment change depending on the model?
No: screen, blower, projector and sound are the same. What changes is the scale — a paying operator running all season will choose a screen that is quick to set up and guaranteed to last, while a municipality can start with rental.
Where to see what's really playing near me?
Our open-air cinema calendar lists screenings in seven European countries, both free and paid, with dates, venues, and announced films.
Your session, free or paid, starts with a screen
Manufacturer of inflatable screens, we equip town halls that offer screenings as well as operators who sell tickets. Tell us about your project.