Jonathan Melville: Time to say hooray for Holyrood

HOW much does the weather affect your cinema going? Would you sit in a darkened room to watch films if it was always warm and sunny outside?

For the last week I’ve been in Los Angeles, spending time indoors at the TCM Classic Film Festival while outside the tourists walk past in shorts and T-shirts.

In Edinburgh we’re used to the cinema being an escape from both reality and the cold and damp weather and it’s rare to feel guilty about another evening spent in front of a cinema screen.

Here, with the temperatures soaring it’s hard to believe anyone would give up a bit of sun for a new blockbuster - everyone should be down at the beach instead.

If cold weather does equal more cinema visits then there must be a case for Edinburgh taking over from Hollywood sometime soon.

The Princes Street Walk of Fame? A Holyrood sign set up on Arthur’s Seat? A replacement for the Oscars called the Seans?

Perhaps we could turn the Castle esplanade into the UK’s biggest drive-in movie theatre. Forget the Tattoo, let’s start selling popcorn at the door and make it a proper tourist attraction.

Maybe we should move the Edinburgh Film Festival to December? Snow outside could lead to more film fans inside.

Sadly there’s not much sign of Scottish films here at the moment, unless you count a solitary poster for Pixar’s Brave (the animated film that will close the EIFF in June) on Hollywood Boulevard.

As for the next few days, I might need to find some shade as I’m not used to good weather. Perhaps an air conditioned cinema is the best place to be after all.

@jon_melville

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