Sounds cool, Cheesey.
Drive-in theatres are such an alien concept around here. Saw one on American Pickers a few weeks ago. Seems like they're becoming more and more of a novelty over there, as well?
Originally Posted by: Rockmolder
Very much so. They take up a lot of space. You can get 50 cars into a typical rural drive in. 2-5 people in the car. An urban theater can get a multiplex with 16 theaters in the same space.
We use to have two near me. Now there is only one in about 100 miles.
I have not had a chance to go this year. Last year it was $10 a person for 2 or 3 movies. Almost all that went to the film distributors. The drive in owners make most of the profit off concession stand sales.
The reason I know anything about it is film film distributing syndication forced all the older theaters to modernize their projectors and go digital about 3 years ago. It cost about $40,000. Our local drive in had a few fund raisers to help get the cash. They still needed to take out a loan to cover the difference.
A lot of drive ins have weekends were they show old movies. They don't cost as much so they get to keep more of the gate. Horror Show weekends are pretty popular and they get a crowd from a pretty wide area. They bring in special guest speakers who made the movies. Kind of like a Trekie or SciFi weekend.