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This topic comprises 2 pages: 1 2
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Topic: The appeal of drive-in movies
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Martin Brooks
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 900
From: Forest Hills, NY, USA
Registered: May 2002
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posted 02-20-2018 12:34 AM
They're now rare in the U.S. as well. According to Wikipedia (for better or worse) in 2017, there were 330 left, compared to a peak of 4000 in the late 1950's. They list one in Fort Lauderdale, FL with 14 screens which also doubles as a giant flea market with a 180,000 square foot indoor building that houses 2000 vendors, but it's not clear whether it's still operating as a movie theater. Looking at it on Maps, it looks like at least some of the screens are ripped up.
For couples, drive-ins were a place to "make-out". For families, since many drive-ins charged by the carload, it was relatively inexpensive. And when they charged per-person, sometimes people would hide in the trunk. And many had playgrounds or even some amusement rides in addition to the food concession. Starting in the 1970's, many became flea markets during the day.
In the summer of '65, when "Help" was released, it ONLY played at a drive-in in Rockland County, NY, so I made my father take us. I wound up leaving the car and watching the movie from an outdoor seating area in front of the concession stand. I may have had bad food taste in those days, but I remember the concession food being pretty good.
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Barry Floyd
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1079
From: Lebanon, Tennessee, USA
Registered: Mar 2000
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posted 02-20-2018 10:15 AM
The social aspect of it very much plays into the appeal of the drive-in. At my drive-in we have folks who've traveled from 40-50 miles away "just to come to the drive-in"... they don't have a clue what we're playing.
Families find it more economical, it still has sort of that retro-trendy factor that the 20-30 year old crowds are searching for, and teenagers... they still do what all teenagers have always done at the drive-in.
At an indoor theatre, "going to the movies" is 2 hours of what you do on a typical Friday or Saturday night. At the drive-in, the drive-in "IS" what you do on Friday or Saturday night. Many nights our customers get here 2 hours BEFORE the first movies start, and end up staying with us all night long. They are literally here from 6 p.m. until 1:30 a.m. It's the perfect storm of dinner, entertainment, desert, and more entertainment.
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Dave Bird
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 777
From: Perth, Ontario, Canada
Registered: Jun 2000
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posted 02-20-2018 10:39 AM
Ditto to what most of the other drive-in owners here have said, it's very much a social thing, sort of a 6-8 hour "block party" without the booze, mostly families. About half of our crowd drives roughly an hour to visit. We're also situated in "lake country" so there are a lot of people who have spent all day on the water just extending the "vibe". The old days of not caring what's playing can still be somewhat true, but less and less I think, we play day and date and a bad program hurts our draw significantly. The picture and sound is now very, very good and on those nights when the sky is clear I'm not sure there's a more pleasant atmosphere to catch the latest film(s). But Barry's correct, I love going to movies myself in the off-season, but you go to see the film and leave, I sense people really perceive their night outdoors as a little more of a social outing. Typically kids meet at the playground, which leads to families meeting and for the "regulars", a whole little "community" starts to develop. Which ain't a bad thing in this day and age.
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Scott Jentsch
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1061
From: New Berlin, WI, USA
Registered: Apr 2003
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posted 02-26-2018 08:37 AM
quote: Martin Brooks
They're now rare in the U.S. as well. According to Wikipedia (for better or worse) in 2017, there were 330 left, compared to a peak of 4000 in the late 1950's. They list one in Fort Lauderdale, FL with 14 screens which also doubles as a giant flea market with a 180,000 square foot indoor building that houses 2000 vendors, but it's not clear whether it's still operating as a movie theater. Looking at it on Maps, it looks like at least some of the screens are ripped up.
The Swap Shop Drive-In on Sunrise Boulevard in Ft. Lauderdale is open and showing movies:
https://www.bigscreen.com/Marquee.php?theater=7916
It appears that they have seven simultaneous movies playing currently, but we do list them as having 14 screens. I am able to see 8 on Google Maps. Most appear to be ripped, so a storm must have gone through right before the overhead images were taken, or that's just the way they are.
Our records show that there are 371 drive-ins in the U.S. and Canada that are open, or were at the end of the 2017 season. That number fluctuates wildly as these operations are hard to track at times. I've gone through our records and tried to verify them and fill in details, such as web sites and facebook pages, but some don't have much in the way of marketing. For example, some web sites don't list an address, as I think they assume everyone knows where they are. I've gotten quite good at hunting down current and former drive-in operations while scanning Google Earth imagery...
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