^[1]

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Lonelycelltheory

You read that headline right!

When news spread that the sponsors of the annual summer tradition backed out there was a large ^[2] outcry ^[3] over the thought of a summer without a weekly visit to The Mall to watch a movie. I was one of them- I never got the chance to experience what thousands of Washingtonians have, and I was afraid I never would.

Up until now.

“Trust for the National Mall Partners to Bring Back Screen on the Green” read the e-mail subject that caused me to drop what I was doing and write this post. My friends over at the Trust for The National Mall ^[4] gave me heads up that they are teaming with Comcast ^[5] to help HBO bring the series back for a 10th year.

The city was screaming for an outdoor movie series and HBO was listening. In the Washington Post article ^[6] that also just published Quentin Schaffer, HBO’s executive vice president for corporate communications said, “there was an outpouring of people concerned that this wasn’t happening…” The release I received reads, “fervent fans of Screen on the Green expressed strong support and enthusiasm for continuing the event . On Facebook, local blogs and Twitter, the Washington, DC community resoundingly asked for the popular series to continue this year.”

The power of the people… and The Internet… and blogs…coming together for the greater good.

Ok so here’s what you need to know about the series:

• Screen on the Green will be back on Monday evenings at sunset from July 20th – August 10th.
• Classic films will once again be shown on a giant 20′ x 40′ outdoor screen on The National Mall between 4th and 7th Streets.
• The screenings will remain free and open to the public.
• The first film will be Close Encounters of the Third Kind, with the remaining movies to be named at a later date (UPDATE: WP speculates that HBO may take from the lineup of Bryant Park’s Screen on the Green and include films Dog Day Afternoon or Rebel without a Cause.)