Grab your blankets and get ready for one last round of movies under the stars. Cinespia is closing out its 25th anniversary summer season with a September lineup packed with fan favorites, including a very fitting 25th anniversary celebration of Josie and the Pussycats.
The beloved Los Angeles outdoor movie series will take over Hollywood Forever Cemetery throughout Labor Day weekend before returning for its summer finale the following week.
First up is Josie and the Pussycats on Saturday, Sept. 5, followed by The Sandlot on Sunday, Sept. 6. Then, Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas will bring the season to a close on Saturday, Sept. 12.
Josie and the Pussycats Turns 25
It’s hard to believe it has been 25 years since Josie, Melody and Valerie took their band from small-town obscurity to pop superstardom.
The 2001 cult comedy stars Rachael Leigh Cook, Tara Reid and Rosario Dawson as the titular rock trio, who get the opportunity of a lifetime when they’re signed to a major record label. There’s just one little problem: The music industry is secretly using pop songs to plant subliminal messages in the minds of teenagers.
Parker Posey and Alan Cumming round out the gloriously over-the-top cast.
Although the movie wasn’t a major box office success when it first arrived in theaters, Josie and the Pussycats has developed a passionate following in the decades since, with its satire of celebrity, consumerism and the music industry aging surprisingly well.
In a previous interview with Entertainment Weekly, Cumming commented on the lack of success of the film, crediting it to poor marketing.
“I had a phase in the early 2000s of doing these bonkers films on the queer scale,” he recalled. “Some of them were more coded than others, but, again, about the idea of being manipulated in the media, being used…it was so ahead of its time, in terms of the subliminal messages and the product placement. I just think they didn’t quite know how to sell it. They sold it as a kind of kids film, and it really is quite adult and also hilarious. And I was actually in that film doing an impersonation of Richard E. Grant in Spice World. I just copied him.”
Now fans can experience the movie again with a crowd as Cinespia celebrates its 25th anniversary on Sept. 5.
Labor Day Weekend at Hollywood Forever
The celebration continues the following evening with The Sandlot.
The 1993 coming-of-age favorite follows Scotty Smalls as he moves to a new neighborhood and joins a group of baseball-obsessed kids for an unforgettable summer. Expect plenty of nostalgia, s’mores and, of course, The Beast when the movie screens Sept. 6.
Cinespia will then wrap its summer season Sept. 12 with Goodfellas, Scorsese’s acclaimed 1990 crime drama starring Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Lorraine Bracco and Paul Sorvino.
“Labor Day weekend has always been the perfect way to close out both summer and the Cinespia season,” Cinespia founder John Wyatt said. “As we celebrate 25 years of Cinespia, we’re grateful to everyone who joined us this year and helped make another unforgettable season of movies under the stars. We can’t wait to welcome everyone back next year.”
More Movies to Catch Before Summer Ends
You don’t have to wait until September to plan a movie night at Hollywood Forever. Cinespia still has plenty on the calendar before its anniversary season comes to an end, including two screenings that should immediately grab the attention of queer movie lovers.
First up is The Mummy on Aug. 8, and really, what better way to revisit the movie responsible for an entire generation’s bi panic? The 1999 adventure stars Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz as Rick O’Connell and Evelyn Carnahan, with Arnold Vosloo as the extremely undead (and extremely ripped) Imhotep. Between Fraser’s swashbuckling hero and Weisz’s brilliant, chaotic librarian, the bisexual awakening allegations have followed this movie for good reason.
Then, on Aug. 29, Cinespia is heading into the labyrinth with Jim Henson’s 1986 fantasy classic Labyrinth. Jennifer Connelly stars as Sarah opposite David Bowie as the unforgettable Goblin King Jareth in a wonderfully weird adventure filled with elaborate puppetry, iconic music and more than a few looks from Bowie that have remained permanently etched into pop culture.
Find tickets for all screenings at Cinespia.org.