To celebrate the opening of Columbia Pictures/Alcon Entertainment’s The Garfield Movie in the UK, special preview screenings will take place in cinemas and hospitals across the country on the weekend of May 11/12, ahead of its debut in cinemas via Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) on 24th May.
SPE and participating cinemas are generously donating all income received from ticket sales to support the work of MediCinema.
Patients in hospital will be first to the previews, on Saturday May 11, ahead of the cinema previews the following day, at selected in-hospital cinemas run by MediCinema. These include at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle, as well as hospital screens at the Serennu Children’s Centre in Newport and the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London.
Cinema exhibitors taking part include: Vue, Cineworld, Showcase, Odeon, The Light, Empire, Everyman, Picturehouse, Omniplex UK, WTW + Scott Cinemas, Savoy Cinemas, Film Centre Wells, Abbeygate Bury St Edmunds and many other independent cinemas.
MediCinema is a charity which improves the wellbeing and quality of life of NHS patients and their families through the power of the shared cinema experience and the magic of film. It builds and runs cinemas inside hospitals, designed to accommodate beds, wheelchairs, and medical equipment. Its services help to improve emotional, mental, and physical health, reducing feelings of isolation, anxiety, and stress, and increasing patient resilience. Last year more than 16,000 patients and their families in hospital watched a film in a MediCinema at one of 1,200 screenings.
Colin Lawrence, CEO MediCinema said: “We are incredibly grateful for the generosity of Sony and all the exhibition partners taking part. By donating their income from these screenings to MediCinema they and their customers are helping to support patients visiting our cinemas. We know that this vastly improves the experience of being in hospital and these special previews will mean that so many more NHS patients and their families will benefit.”
Ian George, managing director at Sony Pictures Releasing UK & Ireland said: “We are always delighted to have an opportunity to support MediCinema and this collaboration means UK audiences will have a special opportunity to watch The Garfield Movie at charity previews two weeks before the movie’s general release on May 24th. MediCinema is a wonderful charity that does tremendous work bringing the magic of film to NHS patients in hospital, and we are delighted that an iconic family favourite like Garfield can help this important cause. We are grateful to our partners in exhibition for joining us in supporting MediCinema and hosting these screenings in their cinemas.”
Since MediCinema was founded in 1999 it has given more than 320,000 experiences to patients, their families, carers and those closest to them. More than half of the patients visiting a MediCinema report a reduction in pain and 93% say it helps them feel less isolated.
MediCinema has cinemas at Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary, Glasgow’s Royal Hospital for Children/Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, Newport’s Serennu Children’s Centre and London’s Chelsea and Westminster and Guys Hospitals, with a Pop Up at St Thomas’ Hospital. Later this year MediCinema will open a new site at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool.
