My outside movie theater experiments.

Last year there was a quick flash sale at my local Canadian Tire store (CTC) on a outdoor screen and projector for roughly half price. They quickly went out of the projector, but had a couple screens left.
Picked up the screen for half price, $50.

This year, went shopping for a temporary outdoor shelter with bug screens. To be placed over my recently moved platform.

In order to fit on top of the platform, I needed a 10 X 10 ft shelter.  Those are plentiful and cheap.
But it had to come WITH the bug screen, not as an add on.

Found this one at Giant Tiger, on sale for $199.  Ball's detent connections and wing nuts/bolts.
Goes up easy and wont take much room in storage.  Definitively wont survived any snow load, will come down for the season. `

Turns out, my platform is not approx 11 ft square, it's barely 10 feet across and the corners are chopped off.  Fit around it for now, but will repair damaged corner and make it square again, to screw on the shelter on top.

And then it rained...again...

In between rains, we managed to finished it.

We were bound and determined to finish it while we had the grand kids for a sleep over :-)

In my travels shopping around for the shelter came across this inexpensive RCA (Curtis electronics) projector for $98 at Walmart.

The projector I picked up alongside the screen I got last year.

Oh that bag of treats??

Alright, we both know what it is, gave it to me...

Projector...check

Screen...check

Popcorn machine...check

Speakers and amp...uhhh???

Works great, no complaints, except that at this price point, you get no built in speakers, only headphone out mini stereo jack.  Had to lugged in my older retired receiver, rummage thru my adapters, plugs and cords, then hook up speakers to get it going.

Assembled the screen outside

Set it up an optimistic 17 feet away!! :-)

Humm not much of a picture, lets see what they recommend...

2.15 meter.  I'm Metric challenged, but that sound a smidgen smaller than 17 ft :-)

Reset the screen 4 ft away, we have a picture but projector needs to be raised.

What you see is the reflection thru the bug screen of the shelter, not the pic on the screen

That worked, we watched the adventures of TinTin, the Spielberg movie with the kids.

The reflection thru the screen is distracting, need something better.

For a source, I plugged in a Google Chromecast dongle and used my phone and Wifi to cast movies on it (Netflix, Crave, You tube etc)

The next morning after the winds and rains.

That screen has the firmness of an Al Dente noodle...

Plan B, put the screen inside, add some shower curtains for shade and rain protection.

Speakers got wet overnite, will need some protection.

This old curtain look like the kind of wall paper pattern you would find at Gramma.

That old lamp rescued, fit the decor well :-)

We call this corner: Grammy's corner  

The other corner is more hipster for a younger Rudy

Then the screen.

Need to make it more taut

Amp hooked up, Chrome cast on.

Last minute inspection by Mr Rudy

All looks good from here dad!

It did not took long for Rudy to steal Jean blanky and wrapped himself in it.

It was a bit damp, what with all the rain we been having...

Mosquitoes protection is a must!!!!!

I got a picture about 8 ft diagonal, and room to pull back the projector some more.

View from outside.

Movie was Charlie's Angels

It is a tad cosy, but functional.  This site will be for  a future outdoor kitchen building.
At which point I may relocate the movie theater, but for now it will do nicely.
This would make a great, inexpensive set up for my friends camping.

Pass the popcorn and ...ACTION!

Bob, with a few more projects resulting from this experiment