Mystic Aquarium Gets OK To Screen 'Titanic' Al Fresco This May

The Planning and Zoning Commission Tuesday blessed a Mystic Aquarium request for a temporary drive-in movie theatre; a one-night – for now anyway – gig when the movie 'Titanic' will be screened, homage to the anniversary and a way to promote the new Titanic exhibit at the Aquarium.

Slated for the night of Sunday May 27 of the Memorial Day weekend, the three-hour film will be shown on a 40-foot inflatable screen in a rear parking lot at the Coogan Boulevard venue.

“Yes, a drive-in is cool and it’s a great tourism opportunity,” said Cassandra Meyer-Ogren, aquarium marketing director. “It gives people another reason to stay overnight in Mystic.”

And while the PZC approved the request, not every member was on board.

“I still don’t feel the regulations allow this,” said Commissioner Ben Tamsky.

Member John Prue, who said, “I’m planning on going,” agreed with Tamsky but offered this: “We have to get into the gray areas one in awhile.”

Meyer-Ogren said approximately 140 cars can fit in the lot and the aquarium will take online reservations for the event in an effort to gauge how many might be attending. Not only is the aquarium screening the film “to help drive attendance for the new exhibit,” Meyer-Ogren said, but to honor the 100^th anniversary of the RMS Titanic sinking on April 15 1912 on her maiden voyage.

Per the request of the PZC, the movie screen will face away from I95.

In the coming weeks and months, the PZC will be holding hearings on an amendment to the zoning regulations that would permit the drive-in theater operation as something more than a temporary thing. If that text amendment and special use permit is ultimately approved, the aquarium would show another film in mid-July.