This is a fun challenge that just popped into my head recently.The first drive in theater opened in Camden, NJ in 1933, and in 1958 the number of drive-in movie theaters reached their peak, at 4,063. As of 2013, there were only 357 left. Your challenge is to not have this decline happen, or at least not on the dropoff level of OTL, and have drive-in theaters remain at least semi-popular. How can this be accomplished?
AHC: Keep Drive-In Theaters Popular
- Thread starter SlyDessertFox
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- 1950s drive-in theaters movies
One reason why drive-ins have lost ground to multiplex theaters is the fact that they have a much narrower timeframe of daily operations. Compared to regular theaters which can show all the movies they want at any time of day, drive-ins can only really operate at night. And even then, there could be unfavorable weather that prematurely shuts down a drive-in - while the indoor shopping mall's multiplex remains up and running.
I guess one possible way to keep drive-ins popular is to make them indoors in one way or another. Perhaps drive-in owners could shift from operating in open fields to hangars or warehouses, which can greatly extend the amount of time available. And in the modern age, such theaters could have programs which link the sound systems of cars to the theater's audio system, as well as keep car ACs running without the gas/car batteries getting exhausted. Perhaps IMAX or some other new theater operator comes along in the 70s/80s to bring this about on a small scale at first, before it starts becoming a widespread practice.
I guess one possible way to keep drive-ins popular is to make them indoors in one way or another. Perhaps drive-in owners could shift from operating in open fields to hangars or warehouses, which can greatly extend the amount of time available. And in the modern age, such theaters could have programs which link the sound systems of cars to the theater's audio system, as well as keep car ACs running without the gas/car batteries getting exhausted. Perhaps IMAX or some other new theater operator comes along in the 70s/80s to bring this about on a small scale at first, before it starts becoming a widespread practice.
As a kid, and as a young adult, I really enjoyed going to the drive-in. Especially being able to drink beer and get stoned with my friends in the car, which one can't do at a regular theater. I was sorry that they went away; I would have liked to take my kids to the drive-in when they were young.
GeographyDude
Gone Fishin'
Maybe if they got the food right.
Maybe if there's a Ray Kroc-type figure who's very strong on the operations side where the food is standardized (perhaps most important), plenty good enough, and quick enough.
And the servers are paid slightly above industry average where the service is efficient, courteous, and on the fast side.
And this individual starts a chain and starts buying up struggling drive-ins?
Maybe if there's a Ray Kroc-type figure who's very strong on the operations side where the food is standardized (perhaps most important), plenty good enough, and quick enough.
And the servers are paid slightly above industry average where the service is efficient, courteous, and on the fast side.
And this individual starts a chain and starts buying up struggling drive-ins?
The main issue is that a Drive-In is not a controlled environment, whereas a theater is. It's a novelty, really. It's an enjoyable one. It's nice to visit now and then. But nonetheless, if I can avoid getting eaten by mosquitoes, having to fight for space in a car, and having to fight to get a good view of a screen through a windshield, the obstruction of the seats in front of me, and the obstruction of the rear view mirror, I will.
Urban sprawl and rising land values helped put drive-ins out of business because landowners could make more money replacing a drive-in with a strip mall. Maybe if a town could set up a special zoning class that only allowed drive-ins and no other business type in a specific part of town, that would keep a drive-in from getting forced out. However, I'm not sure that the people who tend to be active in politics would let that happen if it would affect their investments.
Part of the problem was that during the 1970s oil prices began to rise and home entertainment really took off, which gave the drive-in business the double whammy of a major competitor and less demand. Averting the oil crisis is possible (although there would still probably be a period of high oil prices between the 1970s and the present), but averting the rise of home entertainment systems would be hard.
Driftless
Donor
Yup. I think that was one of the nails in the coffin for drive-in theaters. Often, those drive-ins covered a few acres of flat, easily developed ground on the edge of town. If there's enough residents to keep the theater business busy, there's likely an even greater demand for that land.
Diversify the drive-in experience. Make it a multi-purpose venue; movies, concerts, a mini-putt, an arcade, so on and so forth. Cross the drive-in theater with the drive-in eatery; have food (actual food as well as snack bar fare) delivered on skates. Sell it as an upgrade from the indoor theater: No sitting next to smokers and loudmouths and crying babies, no getting stuck to the floor because Billy spilled his root beer and Milk Duds, you can decide how loud you want the sound, and if your kids get fidgety and restless, you don't have to take them out into the lobby.
Eventually, the indoor theater is going to win because of the better visual and sound technology that won't be as easily enjoyed in a car hundreds of feet from the screen, and the private experience selling point will go away too with the advent of cable, VCRs and eventually streaming media on increasingly bigger and better televisions. But it can still maintain a niche, particularly in resort areas where coin-op video games and fudge sellers are still bountiful.
Eventually, the indoor theater is going to win because of the better visual and sound technology that won't be as easily enjoyed in a car hundreds of feet from the screen, and the private experience selling point will go away too with the advent of cable, VCRs and eventually streaming media on increasingly bigger and better televisions. But it can still maintain a niche, particularly in resort areas where coin-op video games and fudge sellers are still bountiful.
I used to always bring beer to a movie theatre. A small backpack lets you hold a six pack of cans that you drink inside. And we would park the car, smoke a joint or two and then go inside to watch the movie.
There area few remaining. Mostly near small resorts. The Lake Shore Drive-In Theatre survives @ Monticello Indiana. http://lakeshoredrivein.com/ A pair of lakes have made the area a low budget resort and vacation community. Enough parents take the kids for the 'Drive In' movie experience each summer to keep the place running. The owners also host flea markets day time, and evangelical church holds services there Sunday mornings.
Well, there are certainly things you can do to keep them popular and thriving longer, but they are still eventually going to die off with the advent of cable TV and, later, streaming video. Even if they had been going strong through 2010, they'd be dying out now, a victim of Netflix and similar services accessible through mobile broadband. Some would probably remain around a bit longer as a nostalgia thing, much as they did in the 1970s/80s even as they were being supplanted by multiplexes and cable TV. You also have a younger generation today less attached and attracted to car ownership which factors in here as well; a drive-in isn't of much use if you don't drive and don't own a car.
We just had a new one open up right down the road from me in Alabama.
They're endangered but not extinct. There's a way to ring them back with the right marketing strategy. However I don't know the answer
They're endangered but not extinct. There's a way to ring them back with the right marketing strategy. However I don't know the answer
Well, if you moved them indoors, you don't need to keep individual air conditioning running in the cars (which you really couldn't do without running the engines, as the systems are interconnected in most currently existing cars). You could just air condition the building. As for sound, most remaining drive-in theatres long ago set up systems to funnel the audio through car systems.
But really, half the charm of drive-in movies was the fact of watching a movie while being outdoors.
The ability to watch movies on demand at home didn't really spread until the Eighties, when the price of VHS players fell to levels the average middle-class household could afford. I remember my parents buying one in the mid-Eighties, and it was still expensive enough to stretch their budget. My hometown still had two active drive-in theatres at the time.