(Photo by John Jack Photography)

After surviving a major sponsorship hiccup in 2010, D.C.’s most high-profile outdoor movies series may well come to an end after a 17-year run. HBO and Comcast have announced they are no longer hosting Screen on the Green in D.C.

“HBO is very proud of our 17 years of Screen on the Green on the Mall,” Suzanne Pinto, vice president of corporate affairs at HBO, said in a statement provided to Friends of Screen on the Green. “Unfortunately, this year we have decided to move on and place our resources elsewhere. We thank everyone that has assisted and attended for their many years of support.”

Friends of Screen on the Green, which mobilized into action the last time HBO pulled its sponsorship of the festival, said they have reached out to the Trust for the National Mall to discuss collaborations or new hosts. They’ll likely need a corporate sponsorship and some help from the National Park Service, according to the group’s president, Jesse Rauch.

“As an ever-hopeful person, I still believe there’s a chance that Screen on the Green will return this summer,” Rauch tells DCist via email. “We are receiving a lot of interest from people about how they can help, and we’re trying to figure that out give that producing the film series is pretty expensive.”

If they do manage to bring the series back, or even expand it, another sponsor could open up new possibilities—picking out the movies, for example. HBO never gave the community any choice in that matter, according to Rauch.

Still, after seven years developing the group and the community, it is a bummer for the group and its fans. “We are sad—for the last 7 years, we saw a community growing around the Screen on the Green,” Rauch says. “There was something really special about seeing people on the Mall every year that you never saw otherwise, or even had any inkling about their lives outside of picnicking in front of the Capitol.”