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A pop-up drive-in movie theater is coming to Montgomery County

The pop-up cinema, opening Friday with "The Goonies," will use the Fairgrounds, the paved area outside the convention center where Cirque du Soleil performed last summer.

Andy Samberg (left) and Cherry Hill's Cristin Milioti in a scene from "Palm Springs," one of the movies that will be playing at the pop-up drive-in theater at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center at Oaks.
Andy Samberg (left) and Cherry Hill's Cristin Milioti in a scene from "Palm Springs," one of the movies that will be playing at the pop-up drive-in theater at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center at Oaks.Read moreCourtesy of Hulu / AP
    by Ellen Gray
    Published 

The Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks will add a drive-in movie theater starting Thursday, as the nearly bygone form of summer entertainment continues its comeback because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Expo Center will use the Fairgrounds, the paved area where Cirque du Soleil performed last summer, for what the entertainment company Kilburn Live calls “Pop-Up Cinema.” The pop-ups, according to the company, are “designed to go into places where drive-ins wouldn’t otherwise normally exist.” The Fairgrounds is expected to accommodate 233 cars, said a spokesperson for the Valley Forge Tourism and Convention Board.

Kilburn’s nearest drive-in is about 70 miles away, at Bell Works, an office, retail, and entertainment venue in Holmdel, N.J., and it’s adding another outside a shopping mall in Woodbridge, N.J.

» READ MORE: 12 drive-in movies near Philadelphia

Opening Thursday, here’s the Expo Center’s opening calendar:

  1. Thursday, July 23, 9 p.m.: Beetlejuice (1988)

  2. Friday, July 24, at 9 p.m.: The Goonies (1985)

  3. Saturday, July 25, at 9 p.m.: Blake Shelton, a two-hour Blake Shelton concert film, with Gwen Stefani and Trace Adkins (2020)

  4. Sunday, July 26, at 9 p.m.: Willie Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971)

  5. Thursday, July 30, 9 p.m.: Shazam! (2019)

  6. Friday, July 31, 9 p.m.: Palm Springs (also streaming on Hulu and starring Andy Samberg and Cherry Hill’s Cristin Milioti), (2020)

  7. Saturday, Aug. 1, at 9 p.m. The Wizard of Oz (1939)

  8. Sunday, Aug. 2, at 9 p.m.: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001)

» READ MORE: Town in N.J. devised a pop-up movie theater in no time

Tickets are sold by the carload, not the person. With the exception of the Shelton concert, which costs $114.99 for a car containing no more than six people, they’re $25. To buy tickets, go to cinemapopups.com or download the Cinema Pop-Ups app for iOS or Android.

Like the Parking Lot Social coming to the Navy Yard this week, the pop-up movie theater concept stresses social distancing, at least from the people not in your car. Moviegoers won’t have to leave their vehicles, though portable toilets will be available. Kilburn is working on a plan to offer food through the Expo Center’s existing vendors, according to the tourism board spokesperson.