Commander, Navy Installations Command (CNIC) and The Walt Disney Company recently surprised thousands of sailors as well as other military service members with special advance screenings of Marvel Studios’ Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 traveled to Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti under the highest security for its showings on May 3 and 4. The disk that contained the film could only be unlocked with a special pin and was delivered by Disney’s executive vice president of North American theatrical distribution. Service members on the USS Gerald R. Ford were also treated to a day of screenings.

Special screenings like these are made possible through the work of the Navy’s Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) movie program, which brings the most current and classic films to Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and Military Sealift Command personnel as well as their families.

“The Navy Movie Program has enjoyed strong support from the film industry over the years,” said Ronald Rossman, CNIC entertainment services programs manager. “Partnerships with Disney, Paramount, Warner Brothers, Sony and Universal have resulted in more than 150 advance screenings over the past 20 years provided at no cost to Navy and all of these special events are free to all attendees.”

First established in the 1920s, the Navy Movie Program licenses an estimated 200 movies each year from all the major and independent film companies to supply entertainment to over 800 sites ashore and afloat worldwide. The program distributes over 150,000 copies of movies annually to afloat and ashore sites on a solid state format as well as 2 to 3 titles each week to 42 CONUS and OCONUS base theaters equipped with the industry standard digital projection system.

Movies are one of the most popular leisure activities provided by Navy MWR and the program has continued to grow over the past five years, with annual fleet viewing estimated at over 120 million hours.

Movie entertainment for deployed forces includes mobile movie equipment packages for ships and shore units, as well as special movie presentations. The Cinema at Sea Initiative returned the capability to show movies on a large screen for the fleet and the Theater in a Box is a portable equipment package for forward deployed shore units and isolated and remote commands.

“Our primary objective is bringing the films that our Sailors want to see to where they are located, wherever in the world that may be,” said Rossman. “We continue to innovate and upgrade our cinematic technology to give service members the best viewing experience possible. However, there’s nothing quite like being able to provide an advance viewing of a future blockbuster to our service members and for that, we thank our incredible partners for making those showings possible.”

ABOUT COMMANDER, NAVY INSTALLATIONS COMMAND

Commander, Navy Installations Command is responsible for worldwide U.S. Navy shore installation management, designing and developing integrated solutions for sustainment and development of Navy shore infrastructure as well as quality of life programs. CNIC oversees 10 Navy regions, 69 bases, and more than 43,000 employees who sustain the fleet, enable the fighter and support the family. Follow CNIC on social media: Facebook, Facebook.com/NavyInstallations; Twitter, @cnichq; and Instagram, @cnichq.