In December 2011 the company held a one-off screening of
The Third Man in
Kabul to coincide with its London run of the film, which was shown simultaneously in both cities. In July 2014 it showed
Back to the Future in a life-size recreation of the 1950s
Hill Valley town seen in the film. The first two
Back to the Future dates were cancelled with only a few hours' notice and the company offered a full refund or exchange for the cost of tickets, but not for any booking fees; the opening dates of its 2013 production of
Brazil had also been cancelled at short notice. In December 2014 the company announced a secret film showing in response to Sony's withdrawal from the release of
The Interview.
Charlie Chaplin's
The Great Dictator was simultaneously shown in Rome, London, New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco, in support of
Article 19, a charity dedicated to the freedom of speech. In March 2015 the company and its founder were criticised on Twitter and other publications for using unpaid actors; the company defended its practice and described the volunteers as interns who benefited from the experience. In June 2015 it launched
Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back, its biggest production to date. As part of the hundred shows that ran in London, a side-event at
Alexandra Palace with musical guests
DJ Yoda,
Nightmares on Wax and
Jamie Jones raised £11,000 for the
Refugee Council. A further £29,000 was raised for the charity from the show. The production made it to the top ten UK box office for eleven weeks, generating a total of £6.45 million. In September 2015 it said it would raise funds to bring free movie screenings to
Syrian refugees in Europe, starting with the
camp in Pas-de-Calais, France. In early 2020 Secret Cinema made a deal with Disney and Patwardhan Investments Ltd. In May 2020, Secret Cinema moved its 2020 Dirty Dancing summer programme of immersive screenings to 2021, due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. The company had proposed using the Low Hall sports ground in
Walthamstow for the 3–month Dirty Dancing event. Local residents voiced concerns about
COVID-19 transmission, noise pollution, the proximity of nature reserves, the cost of tickets, and the loss of the playing field to residents.
The Independent described the company's predominant problem to be its entry cost, going up to £75 for large-scale productions such as
The Empire Strikes Back. Riggall countered that his productions were comparable to
West End theatre shows rather than other cinema showings, and priced accordingly. In November 2021, the company, with
Netflix and
Riot Games, offered a role-playing experience based on the Netflix
Arcane series in Los Angeles, California.
Charity work The company selects a charity as a partner for each production, based on the theme of the film. The Secret Cinema Web site stated in June 2021 that its charity programme had raised over £130,000 since 2015; the same claim was made . In August 2014, after the death of
Robin Williams, it held a charity screening of
Dead Poets Society, with proceeds donated to
Mind, a mental health charity. Money has been raised for charities including
Save the Children; the
National Alliance on Mental Illness;
Refugee Council; and MAC UK, a local
Camden charity which provides mental health services to disadvantaged youth. == Sale ==