Over the past nine years Secret Cinema has built a reputation for presenting immersive theatrical screenings of cult movies in abandoned spaces.
Past titles have ranged from The Third Man to Ghostbusters, but two years ago it proved it could apply the same formula to a new release, with successful warehouse screenings of Ridley Scott’s Prometheus.
Now it will provide a new strand of “Secret Cinema presents...” coinciding with the date that films are released. It aims to put on up to eight a year.
The first performances of The Grand Budapest Hotel will take place even before the film hits the big screen on March 7. It stars Ralph Fiennes as a concierge accused of murder.
Secret Cinema artistic director Fabien Riggall described the experience as “a new format between theatre and film”. And he said viewing a new release in such surroundings would be very different from working with films that audiences already knew well.
“When you do Dirty Dancing or Lost Boys people have played the film in their minds constantly,” he said. “But this has the added benefit of being a surprise.” Audience members for The Grand Budapest Hotel event will receive letters confirming their “reservation” with strict dress code instructions. On arrival at the secret location they will be swept into the imagined world of the hotel in the fictional state of Zubrowka and can explore dining rooms, restaurants and a spa. Two dozen actors will help bring the fictional hotel to life.
Designers are taking inspiration from the original novel by Austrian writer Stefan Zweig as much as the film by Anderson, the quirky director of The Royal Tenenbaums and Rushmore, who gave his consent to the project.
“Wes Anderson builds an intimate world which is what we try to do. It is quite absurd in a wonderful way,” Mr Riggall said. The Grand Budapest Hotel runs from February 27 to March 30 with 350 tickets available a night, at £53.50 for the experience including screening.
The Grand Budapest Hotel premiere, Berlin Film Festival
