The city’s free, summer-long, movies-on-the-beach series—Moonlight Movies on the Beach, brought to the city by title sponsor LBS Financial—is back for 2026. It’s time to plop down on the sand with the Pacific as a backdrop and catch a movie under the stars.
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 2026 outing come Tuesday, June 23 with its first screening, “Jurassic Park.”
Moonlight Movies on the Beach 2026: Lineup
As with last year, this year’s screenings will all take place at Granada Beach, located at 5000 E. Ocean Blvd., at sundown.
- Jurassic Park — Tuesday, June 23
- The Breakfast Club — Tuesday, June 30
- Mean Girls — Tuesday, July 14
- The Lost Boys — Tuesday, July 21
- A League of Their Own — Tuesday, August 4
- Grease Sing-A-Long — Tuesday, August 18
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 reachthe 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:
- LBS Financial
- Councilmember Kristina Duggan
- The Port of Long Beach
- Don Temple Storage
