Free Drive-In Movies at Rockefeller Center Next Week

There's nothing Gothamist likes free movies and a gimmick, and Rockefeller Center has both next week: Rockefeller Center is turning into a drive-in movie theater for screenings of three anticipated independent films. Garden State, directed and starring Zach Braff, co-starring Natalie Portman and Peter Saarsgard, will on Tuesday, June 8th, followed by Napoleon Dynamite (you've seen the trailer with the extremely geeky and/or mildly autistic kid in it) on Wednesday and Danny Deckchair (Rhys Ifans, sadly most famously known as the dirty roommate from Notting Hill or the evil brother in Little Nicky, and Miranda Otto star) on Thursday. Here's more information about the movies (PDF). Information on Rock Center's website says there will be

a gigantic projection screen in front of 30 Rockefeller Plaza. The landmark Channel Gardens, from 5th Avenue to the Ice Skating Rink will be become a nostalgic drive-in theater including outdoor seats, a theatre-style surround-sound system, and convertibles for VIP seating.

Oh, of course, it's convertibles for VIP seating (Gothamist will probably be sitting on the curb breathing in fumes from the exhaust pipes...oh, wait, this isn't a REAL drive-in...). Seating starts at 6PM, with an intro to the films at 8:45PM (we hear Braff and Portman will be there) and a film start of 8:55PM. Yes, pack dinner and make sure friends who work in the area can get into their offices so you can use the bathrooms. And this also sounds like the drive-in at the Tribeca Film Festival - did anyone go the Tribeca drive-in?

So far, the weather looks promising, but you can check on the day of at Gothamist Weather. And summer movies at Bryant Park start on June 21.