Worcestershire CCC attracted nearly 5,000 customers to their two outdoor cinema events at New Road this summer – and they are to repeat the experience in 2017.
Worcetershire General Manager Jon Graham confirmed that another double bill is on the agenda after the success of 'The Lion King' and 'Finding Nemo' which were screened in late June and early August respectively.
The Lion King pulled in around 3,000 spectators – a figure that could easily have been doubled given the demand for tickets – while Finding Nemo was watched by 1,500 people.
But Graham insisted Worcestershire will not be resting on their laurels and will be looking to make the entire outdoor cinema experience an even more memorable day out.
He said: "The outdoor cinema events are on the agenda for next year and we are going to invest in that concept.
"We are looking at a different scoreboard for next year, all sorts of things, that maybe give things just a bit of a lift.
"But for £10 per person, with a family ticket of two adults and two children for £25, it is a great day out.
"There will be two outdoor cinema events again next year. There will be one in the Lion King genre and the other one, we are going to have a think about.
"The one thing that does work in these outdoor cinema events is when there is music involved in the film and, with Lion King, it is one of the most famous soundtracks of any film so we need maybe to look at that."
Graham admits he remains surprised at the public response to the screening of The Lion King.
He said: "I'm still amazed. The social media for Lion King was just ridiculous. I still can't quite get my head around that one.
"For the Lion King, we probably could have sold 5-6,000 tickets. That is how much the demand was but again we are all about experience and similar to the Legends Concert last momth, there is no point filling your ground if the product is not right.
"You do it once and you never do it again because people don't want to come back.
"It was the same with Lion King. As soon as the ticket sales got to where they were going early on, we just needed to take a step back and say we need to be careful here that we can deliver."
Graham says a calendar of events for 2017 will start to take shape once the cricket fixtures for the new season are publicised in late November.
He said: "The key moment for the club now is when the fixtures are out is that we build our events around the fixtures.
"Our focus is always cricket primarily but by December as a team here, we will know when our cricket is on and when our events are on and we will go to market either before Christmas or just after with all of those events.
"There will be a whole calendar of events we can put out in January – and there is going to be something for everybody.
"So whether you've got a family and want to take your kids to an outdoor cinema event, there will certainly be at least one event that is going to tick all those boxes.
"If you want to come out with your partner and have a dance on the outfield, then we will definitely have a concert to do that as well."
