Where to see a movie in Sarasota
Sarasota punches above its weight on cinema. For a city of 60,000 you've got the full spread: a downtown 20-screen multiplex with IMAX and recliners, a nonprofit art house running independent and foreign films, a dine-in luxury cinema with a chef-run kitchen on Tamiami Trail, a small family-friendly screen east in Lakewood Ranch, and a 70-year-old drive-in 45 minutes north. There's a movie format here for any night of the week.
This guide lists every option, what each room does best, and where locals love to go for a specific kind of night - the IMAX night, the date-night dine-in, the indie Friday afternoon, the family double feature.
Where to see IMAX in Sarasota
The only IMAX screen in Sarasota proper is at Regal Hollywood downtown on Main Street. It's a true large-format IMAX with the deep-bass sound system and the curved screen, and it's the right room for a tentpole blockbuster. Parking is free in the city garage one block north. Buy tickets ahead for opening weekends - the IMAX house sells out before the standard screens do.
If you want a premium-format alternative without the IMAX branding, CinéBistro Siesta Key runs 4K projection with Dolby Atmos in a much smaller room with recliners and dining. Different experience, also worth it.
The best dine-in movie experience
CMX CinéBistro at the corner of Tamiami and Bee Ridge is the upscale dinner-and-a-movie spot. Reserved recliner seating, an actual restaurant kitchen behind the lobby (not a microwaved pizza counter), table-side service at your seat. Order before the trailers, dishes arrive through the film. The 8 p.m.+ shows for non-family films are 21+ only, which keeps the room civilized.
Tickets run $15 to $25 plus food. Date-night math: about $90 for two with one drink each and one course. Cheaper than the equivalent dinner-and-a-movie split across two venues, and dramatically easier.
Indie, foreign, and documentary
Burns Court Cinemas is the nonprofit art house, run by the Sarasota Film Society since 1984, four screens in a small downtown building tucked behind the Burns Court shops. The programming is the city's best curated week of cinema: independent narrative, international, documentary, restored classics, and the occasional festival series. If a film is winning prizes at Sundance or Cannes in any given year, it'll play here before it streams anywhere.
Tickets are $10 to $15, and the membership tier ($60/year) gets you discounts and members-only screenings. Pair with a coffee at Pastry Art a block away.
East Sarasota and Lakewood Ranch
Lakewood Ranch Cinemas, also operated by the Sarasota Film Society, runs a smaller version of the Burns Court programming plus mainstream family films, in a modern shopping-center space off Lakewood Ranch Boulevard. It's the closest theater for anyone living east of I-75 and the easiest with kids - plenty of parking, no downtown traffic, family-rated movies most weekends.
If you're in the area, it's the right choice; if you're downtown already, Burns Court has the better programming.
The drive-in
Ruskin Family Drive-In is the nearest working drive-in, about 45 minutes north of Sarasota off I-75 in Hillsborough County. Family-owned since 1952, double features every night, two large screens, a snack bar, a playground for kids before sundown. After Hurricane Milton damage in late 2024, the community rebuilt the screens and the place reopened stronger.
Tickets are $6 to $9 per person - so a family of four sees two films for under $40. Pack a cooler, bring blankets, tune the car FM radio to the broadcast frequency. The first show starts at dusk; the second runs until midnight or later. It's a kind of Friday night you can't recreate anywhere else.
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