Long Beach has always had a soft spot for its shoreline traditions—and few are as beloved as Moonlight Movies on the Beach, returning for its 2025 outing come June 17 with its first screening, “The Goonies.” After almost not making a showing last year because of a lack of funding, the city’s free, summer-long series is back. It’s time to plop down on the sand with the Pacific as a backdrop and catch a movie under the stars.
Unlike years of past that experimented with various locations across the city, this year’s scaled back showings will all take place at Granada Beach.
Moonlight Movies on the Beach 2025: Lineup
This year’s screenings will all take place at Granada Beach, located at 5000 E. Ocean Blvd., at sundown.
- Tuesday, June 17: The Goonies
- Tuesday, June 24: Dirty Dancing
- Tuesday, July 8: 10 Things I Hate About You
- Tuesday, July 22: Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
- Tuesday, Aug. 5: Grease: The Sing-a-Long
- Tuesday, Aug. 12: Lilo & Stitch (original animated version)
Moonlight Movies on the Beach has been a Long Beach tradition for a quarter of a century.
Moonlight Movies on the Beach isn’t just a summer pastime. It’s a Long Beach institution. What started as a simple idea to project a film on the sand has grown into a decades-deep tradition that reflects the city’s love of communal gatherings and rightful obsession with our shoreline. For many locals, it’s not summer without folding chairs planted in the sand, snacks in hand, and the warm hum of a crowd settling in for a movie under the stars.
Launched by local promoter and all-around good human Kris Gragson, the series was always meant to be more than just free movies. It was also about reclaiming public space for the community. The beach becomes a temporary theater where strangers become neighbors, where families gather in sweatshirts and sandals, and where the sound of waves mingle with a John Williams score. It’s Long Beach at its most Long Beach.
And like the city itself, Moonlight Movies has evolved. In 2022, organizers recognized that not everyone could easily access the literal beach. So they expanded, bringing the screenings into neighborhoods and transit-accessible spots. It wasn’t just a logistical shift; it was a values-driven one. Because if Moonlight Movies was going to be for the city, it needed to reach the city.
It’s easy to romanticize the simplicity of it all—a screen, a beach, a movie—but the truth is, events like Moonlight Movies are foundational. They remind us that joy, connection, and culture don’t need a ticket price or velvet ropes. Sometimes, all you need is a coastline, a film, and a community willing to come together in the dark.
So who funded Moonlight Movies on the Beach 2025?
The following people, organizations, and businesses are to thank for this year’s lineup:
- Councilmember Kristina Duggan
- The Port of Long Beach
- LBS Financial
- Cambrian Home Care
- Don Temple Storage
- LB Early Learning
To keep up to date on screenings, click here.
Editor’s Note: This article falsely attributed some of the pictures highlighted; they have been updated to reflect their proper attribution.
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