What if drive in movie theaters never died out
- Thread starter antaka555
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I know but like what if they were more relevant today like they were in the 50s
My old Vic crown will come in handy for post movie entertainment ( if you get my drift)
RamscoopRaider
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Daylight savings time meant that in peak business times they had to start an hour later, suburban sprawl raised land costs and raises in movie use fees made it harder to recoup costs in fewer screenings
What if that was never an issue and drive ins were popular like they were in the 1950s
The Drive-In theater basically started after WW II in the United States as people started to move to the suburbs when land was still cheap along the newly built highways and freeways.
Most were built as a way to get some income until a more profitable use for the land came along.
There is a drive-in near me that is closing in January, it is a 13 acres parcel that is going to be used a warehouse distribution center and offices.
There is also the leap of home entertainment technology with large high-definition flat screens, with high quality home theater sound systems, and the number of streaming services which made going to the drive-in an exercise in nostalgia instead of the convivence that it was when you could load your family in the back of the station wagon where the kids would fall asleep midway through the first movie and mom and dad would watch the second movie in peace.
Most were built as a way to get some income until a more profitable use for the land came along.
There is a drive-in near me that is closing in January, it is a 13 acres parcel that is going to be used a warehouse distribution center and offices.
There is also the leap of home entertainment technology with large high-definition flat screens, with high quality home theater sound systems, and the number of streaming services which made going to the drive-in an exercise in nostalgia instead of the convivence that it was when you could load your family in the back of the station wagon where the kids would fall asleep midway through the first movie and mom and dad would watch the second movie in peace.
This is really interesting discussion, it seems like technology and shifting times meant they were only going to be around for a short period.
I could maybe see them getting a small scale revival on the basis of novelty/nostalgia perhaps. It honestly seems like something that could become a popular niche in the 2010's lol
I could maybe see them getting a small scale revival on the basis of novelty/nostalgia perhaps. It honestly seems like something that could become a popular niche in the 2010's lol
Movie? What movie? The running joke was that you had to at least know a bit concerning what the movie was supposed to be about, and at least know the title, in case you were questioned by skeptical parents. Drive-Ins where I grew up were viable into the early 1980s. They were safe havens for "making out" or underage drinking parties. Stereotypical stories about sneaking in a trunks full of non-paying patrons or rushing in through the exit to avoid the toll booth entrance fee and then having a chase ensue when management attempted to apprehend the miscreants were true. I know first hand.
I feel like they died before that right? Like sometime in the 70s or 80s? I feel like they weren't a thing in my lifetime? Granted I dont live in the USA where they seemed to be most popular, so maybe they persisted into the 90's?
The one near me has digital projectors now and instead of the speaker on a pole you have a low powered fm transmitter for each screen. They also tend to be cheaper!
From what I understand, the move to digital-only distribution a few years back, hit the remaining drive-ins hard. Digital projectors are expensive. I know of one guy in this area, who owned two drive-ins... faced with the expense of the projectors, he bought one projector for the higher-volume drive-in, and shut down the other one
. Recently though, someone else has bought it, upgraded it, and it's back to showing movies again
There was also a brand-new one that opened a couple years back.Buck when I was in High School (*gulp*... over 30 yrs ago), it was still a pretty popular thing to do... there were only around 8 left within about a 30-mile drive of me (there were a LOT more when my dad was in High School), but they always drew a pretty good crowd. Granted, a couple of them had gone over to catering to a rather... ummm.. exclusive clientele - let's say "adult entertainment aficionados"
- but the widespread availability of pr0n on VCR, and a video rental place on nearly every streetcorner (remember those? ) kinda killed that market.The ones in my area were great... they charged by the car, so you could stuff a few people in for the same entrance fee, you could bring in a cooler full of tasty malt refreshments and, though frowned upon, nobody said anything as long as you were discreet about it, they even had a decent snack bar where you could get a chili dog and some good greasy french fries instead of the nauseatingly-overbuttered popcorn and overpriced candy that is the typical theater fare....
And yes, if you were on a date, there are advantages to privacy
They've definitely made something of a comeback, but still sort of a niche-market sort of thing. As far as keeping them as popular as they were in the 1950's, that's a tall order. Maybe somehow butterfly away the massive rise in real estate prices from the 1970's-on (no idea how to do that), but drive-ins typically always operated with rather low profit margins, so some developer comes around waving a checkbook, the drive-in probably gets sold to bring in yet another strip mall or maybe some condos.....
Limitations that inevitably killed drive-in theaters in favor of indoor cineplexes:
No shows before sunset.
No shows if it's raining or snowing.
Annoying traffic jam to get out.
Must provide and maintain speakers for every parking spot.
Can only fit one or two screens on a 10 acre lot.
No shows before sunset.
No shows if it's raining or snowing.
Annoying traffic jam to get out.
Must provide and maintain speakers for every parking spot.
Can only fit one or two screens on a 10 acre lot.
The two main ones that I used to go to, had a work-around for this... they still had the external speakers, but they were of course old and not necessarily well-maintained... so, they both had a low-power FM transmitter, so you could tune to a particular frequency and listen in on your car stereo...
Were it not for streaming they'd frankly make more sense now than ever between what EVs do for climate control and Bluetooth fixing audio problems.
Even then... the business model has issues.
Quite frankly, I only see theatres dependency on sales of things other than tickets growing, and a drive ins' inability to sell alcohol (is it Louisiana that might be able to get away with it? I know theres ONE state) is going to become more and more of an issue as time goes on.
Even then... the business model has issues.
Quite frankly, I only see theatres dependency on sales of things other than tickets growing, and a drive ins' inability to sell alcohol (is it Louisiana that might be able to get away with it? I know theres ONE state) is going to become more and more of an issue as time goes on.
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