Trends: Free beans with every ticket

Not content to just sit back and gorge on the latest blockbusters, cinema enthusiasts are working hard behind the scenes to bring back the days when a trip to the silver screen was more of an event.

Secret Cinema ( www.secretcinema.org) is ratcheting up the entertainment by screening films in locations from city farms to rooftops – and revealing those locations on the day of the showing. The experience is made all the more lively with music, props and special guests.

Over in the US, a similar performance approach to film-going is taking off at the Alamo Draft House ( www.drafthouse.com). It uses props and locations to immerse viewers in the film: during Blazing Saddles, for example, the audience is served bowls of beans, while Speed was screened on a bus and Jaws by a lake.