Six floors up, on top of a car park in Northbridge, there's an outdoor cinema with the Perth skyline behind the screen and a few hundred people lying on bean bags. That's Rooftop Movies. Between 2018 and 2021 we supplied more than 500 Media Lounges and 53 Costa loungers for it and its sister venue, plus close to 130,000 litres of beans to fill them.
It's the biggest cinema job we've done, and the one I point people to when they ask whether bean bags hold up to commercial use. These ones got sat on every night of the season, for four seasons.
Six floors above Northbridge
Rooftop Movies started as a pilot in 2012. The opening night, The Big Lebowski, sold out in minutes. It's run by ARTRAGE, the team behind FRINGE WORLD, on the roof of the City of Perth's Roe Street car park. It was Perth's first rooftop cinema, and it's regularly listed among the best outdoor cinemas in the world.
The setting does a lot of the work. You walk out of the lift into palm trees, retro caravans, a rooftop bar and a sunset over the city. In 2022 the City of Perth signed a new licence that can keep the cinema on the roof until 2027.
2018: turquoise
The first order came in January 2018: 75 turquoise Media Lounges, sent overnight express to Northbridge. The early photos from the roof are a sea of turquoise, laid out in long curved rows facing the screen.
The Media Lounge suits a cinema because of the angled backrest. You lie back at about the right angle to watch a big screen for two hours, and it sits low enough that you're not blocking the person behind you. Each one takes around 300 litres of beans.
The Girls School Cinema
In 2018 the same team opened a winter cinema in the old Perth Girls School in East Perth, a 1930s art deco building on the hill above the WACA. It was a girls' school for about 30 years and a police centre for about 50. The hall was filled with colourful bean bags, small tables and blankets.
That's where the colour came in. Over the second half of 2018 we sent pink, orange, lime and purple Media Lounges, along with the beans to fill them, delivered to the Girls School Cinema in East Perth.
2019 to 2021: going purple
From 2019 the orders leaned purple:
- 2019: 60 purple, 15 pink, 10 lime and 10 orange Media Lounges, plus 20 purple Costa loungers.
- 2020: 90 purple and 10 pink Media Lounges, plus 30,000 litres of beans.
- 2021: 91 purple Media Lounges, plus 27,300 litres of beans.
Reordering the same colour each year is the smart way to do it. New bean bags go in alongside the ones from last season, and the rows still look like one set.
The striped ones at the back
The black and white striped bean bags in the back rows are our Costa loungers. They're double-size, take around 600 litres of beans each, and fit two people. Being bigger, they sit at the back, where they don't block anyone's view of the screen. Rooftop Movies sells them as reserved premium couple lounges, so the biggest bean bags on the roof also earn the most per seat.
Across 2018 to 2020 we supplied 53 Costas: black and white stripes, yellow and white stripes, and 20 in purple 1680D polyester to match the Media Lounges.
Getting 130,000 litres of beans to Perth
Perth is a long way from us on the Gold Coast, and a filled bean bag is mostly air. Trucking hundreds of them across the Nullarbor would cost more than the bean bags.
So the covers travel flat. They went over by courier from our warehouse, and the beans were sourced and delivered locally in Perth. For the 2021 order, 273 bags of beans came from Booragoon and went straight to site in two trips. The covers were filled on site.
Over four years that came to close to 130,000 litres of beans, all delivered in Perth.
What I'd tell any outdoor cinema
- Pick a seat for the screen. A reclined backrest like the Media Lounge's matters more than anything else when people are watching for two hours.
- Mix colours on purpose. Rooftop Movies uses colour as part of the look. If you want rows that match, stick to one colour and reorder it each season.
- Use a premium row. Bigger loungers along the back, sold as reserved seats, pay for themselves without blocking anyone's view.
- Ship covers, buy beans locally. For anywhere a long way from us, it's the cheapest way to get filled bean bags on site.
- Plan to top up. Beans compress over a season, and a flat bean bag looks tired even when the cover is clean.
Running an outdoor cinema?
Have a look at the Media Lounge, our custom and branded bean bags, my festival seating guide and our outdoor cinema seating guide. For more outdoor screens, see the bean bags we supplied to Telethon Community Cinemas in Perth, The Star's Skyline Cinema in Brisbane and QV Live in Melbourne.
If you're in Perth, our Perth bean bags page covers delivery to WA and what Perth buys from us.
Call me on 1800 888 911 with your numbers and colours.
Debra DeBoer
Bean Bags R Us
