Joe GallopThe Eurovision 2023 grand final at Liverpool’s M&S Bank Arena (cap. 11,000) is to be screened across more than 500 UK cinemas for the first time.
CinemaLive, which will distribute the event to Vue cinemas, said the screenings will encourage fancy dress and singalongs.
CinemaLive head of acquisitions and distribution John Travers said, “We want audiences to enjoy themselves, come along in groups, get your fancy dress on, and come together to enjoy this historic occasion on the big screen.”
It follows the announcement of a two-week cultural festival, EuroFest, which will take over Liverpool in the lead up to Eurovision.
Running from 1-14 May, the festival will present 24 new commissions – 19 of which are collaborations between United Kingdom and Ukrainian artists. The chosen commissions were selected through a process which included the BBC, British Council, Ukrainian Institute and Culture Liverpool. An initial call out in December attracted almost 700 responses of which 50 were shortlisted.
Liverpool will host the Eurovision grand final on 13 May, following two semi-finals earlier in the week. In-person tickets for the final sold out in under 40 minutes after being released earlier this month.
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has selected TikTok to livestream Eurovision 2023 and release exclusive performances and behind-the-scenes content.