FAMILIES and friends parked up at Lydiard Park to enjoy a classic Disney film on the big screen in the great outdoors.

The new Car Club outdoor drive-in cinema launched with The Lion King and will be showing two films every day on a 100square metre screen until July 12.

More than 1,000 tickets have been sold already and organisers hope it can continue throughout the summer.

Groups of guests sat safely and separately from others in their own cars, ordered food and drink to their doors with an app, wound the windows down to let in some fresh air and watched the film while listening in on their radio.

Jack Summers had to postpone his Live at Lydiard festival this summer because of the pandemic but still wanted to host a communal event, so he brought the movie-going experience to the park’s historic surroundings.

He said: “We’ve had a fantastic response, far bigger than we ever expected, it’s been mad.

"We’re really happy that we were able to do something like this for Swindon this summer.

“The council were really receptive to the idea, as were the Adver and the whole community.

"Fingers crossed we can keep this going for the next four weeks, we're off to a great start.”

Future films in the days ahead will include a mix of family-friendly favourites and prestige pictures. For example, Oscar-nominated drama Joker played in the evening to almost 300 people after The Lion King finished yesterday.

Today will see a sing-along version of Grease start at 3pm and superhero smash-hit Black Panther begin at 7pm.

Back to the Future, a singalong edition of Mamma Mia!, Despicable Me, Toy Story, Up, Frozen, The Incredibles 2, Anchorman, Drive, and John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum are all playing over the next week.

Alongside the movie screenings, there will be a comedy night where acts from the Swindon area will perform, and a quiz night where the driver of one lucky car will go home with a prize of £500.

A film schedule for July 13 onwards is in the works and is expected to be revealed within the next few days.

Tickets cost between £7 and £12 for each event, depending on the age of the guest, and can be booked online at carclub.seetickets.com