We are hoping to get one more showing in this season, this coming Sat. evening. So far it looks like it might work out, but it will be a bit chilly. Temps in the low 60s. Hopefully we'll squeeze this one last show in.

I'm very jealous of you fine folks who live in nice climates where you can watch the shows outdoors nearly year-round.

How cold was the coldest night for one of your outdoor movie nights?

Mid 60s... And that was pushing it... :D

Last Halloween - must have gotten down into the 40s. By midnight, everyone was huddled under layers blankets and coats around a portable fire pit.

Tom

Wow, you guys are troopers. I would like to show a movie on the garage door this Halloween. As long as it is not raining I will go for it. The movie will be Monster House. I thought that would be a good one. Also to fill the 2 to 3 hour time frame I will also show the classic Walt Disney's, Legend Of Sleepy Hollow...

joerod -

Go to WallyMart, buy the $2.99 "frosty/clear" shower liner/curtain, find away to attach it to the garage door opening, put the projector on reverse or mirror (check your manual) and keep the projector IN the garage. Then it doesn't matter whether or not it rains! And keeps it out of the little devils' way. And removes any temptation to touch. Believe me, the first kid up the driveway will want to touch it.

I'm planning to ducktape the liner to a "frame" made from black heavy dutry contractor grade trash bag(s) and just tack it to the opening.

Good luck,
Tom

Wow, you guys are troopers. I would like to show a movie on the garage door this Halloween. As long as it is not raining I will go for it. The movie will be Monster House. I thought that would be a good one. Also to fill the 2 to 3 hour time frame I will also show the classic Walt Disney's, Legend Of Sleepy Hollow...

Is Monster House out yet?

Is Monster House out yet?

I think that comes out the 24th.

Last night it was about 50° outside when I was watching a movie. I have a hot tub and I set up my outdoor home theater so that I can watch it all winter from my hot tub.

how do the outdoor theaters work in rainy weather? would think it wouldn't be as enjoyable

Actually the garage is a good idea but to me outdoor theater means completely under the stars. Besides, I have my own indoor theater in my basement. And being completely outside can be really fun when you watch scary movies. It is cool to look at trees around you then see Jason Vhorees walking in the woods with a machete... :eek: Or watch the Blair Witch!

My neighbor sets his up on his deck and it is great!! It's totally inflatable and it just takes a few minutes to be fully inflated. All the neighborhood kids love it

Hey Gadgetguru1, does your neighbor have a Gemmy inflatable screen? Just curious.

I have one and it is so easy to set up. I can even take it on the road just as easy...

I did a movie night for the P.T.A. at the school I teach at. We had 100+ people show up, (parents must attend with their children) and everyone had a good time. It was in the low 70's to mid 60's. Due to the threat of rain, we moved everything inside the gym before the main feature. (we already had it set up, complete with concession stand). I played countdown music over the P.A. system while I set up inside. Sinse I have a Optoma DV10 projector and a wheeled a/v stand with all my equipment on it, it only took 5 minutes! I bought a little gizmo that does laser light shows (to music or pre programed show) which I had going while I set up. The kids loved it! I already had the big screen down in the gym, so I didn't need my Gemmy . Everything went as smooth as it could possibly be. The kids that attended talked about it for the next two weeks. They,re already planning another movie night soon. I forgot my camera so I didn't get any pics. I love this hobby! I'm still trying to improve my setup, while I do small gigs for folks.

It's pretty warm for Christmas this year so maybe we should do an outdoor Christmas movie!

It's pretty warm for Christmas this year so maybe we should do an outdoor Christmas movie!

Yeah, maybe January will be just as warm, and we can do an outdoor superbowl party! Go Bears!

I'm going to wait until February so I can show this season's Superbowl....

I'm going to wait until February so I can show this season's Superbowl....

Whoops. Meant February. Typed January. Go figure.


Stupid brain.....

Hmmm...I might consider that Superbowl party...have to think about that one. I am also thinking about doing something (theme-wise) for valentine's day. (movies- Cinema Paradiso,etc...)

Wow~~ seems like everyone is talking party. Party party party. My fave one is house party w house music. yeah

March is here and this weekend they are saying over 50 degrees. We are gettting closer to movie night season!!! :)

1

.

:D

Goota love WI. 70 yesterday, 50 today, 40 tomorrow, 30s after that... *sigh* Sucks to get that little tease of warm weather only to have cold shoved back at you.

Yep, I hear you! Typical late winter early tease...

Goota love WI. 70 yesterday, 50 today, 40 tomorrow, 30s after that... *sigh* Sucks to get that little tease of warm weather only to have cold shoved back at you.

Come on Spring! :)

Getting warmer here............. :)

And warmer... :)

Of course now it is raining!

And it's going to get colder this week. Argh...

Getting warmer here outside of DC - 70s and touched 80 a couple days ago. Of course we had snow 10 days ago. But I think this time - the warm will stick.

Anyone know if that movie from the late 80s "Roger Rabbit" is good viewable material for family outdoor movie night with several kids ranging from 3 - 10?? I thought Back to the Future would be good - but there are some words that I'd rather not have my 3 yr old hear just yet.

damn! Just got back fro Florida and was hoping to open up this weekend....

Maybe we will get lucky and it atleast will hit 70 today...

Most likely not! It is also raining anyway. :mad:

Now this weekend they say we are getting snow so no dice! :mad:

Sorry to hear it... that sucks.

I've run two outdoor football games now - one was an awful loss but nice weather and one
was a win but we had to throw out the tarps over everything and head inside because of light rain.

It can be frustrating. Here's hoping this Fall is better...

Rain is the outdoor theater's greatest enemy!

tomorrow night might be the first appearance for the new outdoor theater. mid 60's in orlando woo hoo

We were just in Orlando and oh yeah, those nights were chilly! :eek: We have still been getting snow here! It's April!!! :eek:

70s this weekend.... Getting closer... :)

I was able to at least test out my screen in the daytime yesterday... Soon... :)

80's tomorrow!

Beautiful weekend. Too bad we're busy this weekend. :(

I need less of that whole 'work" thing, so I can enjoy the theater more!

Same here. I guess we will have all summer to worry about outdoor theater nights. I just got a LG BH100 combo player to make things easier for me. Now I will have the best of both worlds outside! :)

If anyone can figure out how to get the Earth to tilt on it's Y axis a little quicker than it has - I'd appreciate it as it's really interfering with my outdoor movie schedule.

Thanks

If anyone can figure out how to get the Earth to tilt on it's Y axis a little quicker than it has - I'd appreciate it as it's really interfering with my outdoor movie schedule.

Thanks

Agreed. To whomever figures this out, please be sure to share with the class.

I wasn't originally supposed to be in town this coming weekend, but now it looks like I am. Perhaps this will be the first outdoor movie night of the year!

I was ready this past weekend until we ended up with Tornado watches and then a warning! :eek:

So far looks like it will be sunny!

Still hoping for this Friday! :)

Someone figured out how to give that Y axis the last nudge it needed. It was 71 Deg here outside of Wash DC last night at 10p!

It's so close now, I can taste it.

Maybe this Saturday night will bring good temps.

We got hosed tonite! Damn! Mother Nature must hate outdoor theaters... :)

We did it!!! Saturday night we showed "Over the Hedge" which many of the neighbors and friends had not seen before. Halfway through the movie, I noticed it got really cold, but most of us had sweatshirts and blankets, so it wasn't too bad.

Set up was much easier this year, since I have permanent outdoor speakers, and now have a port under my deck for a cat 5 run from my projector to my DVD player/receiver that is now inside my basement. Now I only have to bring my projector outside (and a Leap Frog wireless system to wirelessly control my DVD player and receiver outside). Still have an issue with the screen, but I am not sure what I can possibly do about that--it's just a big, big screen.

Congrats Steve! I think we're going with Over The Hedge as our opening night this season as well. Sadly, with my schedule this year we are not going to have opening night until the third weekend of June.

I'm hoping to get my wires buried this year as well, that seems like a great upgrade to the theater.

Finally, our first movie night is almost here.... right now the forecast is good for Sat night....

She's been really nice lately... :)

Another sunny weekend coming our way! :)

We're on for this weekend! :)

argh, this last weekend wasn't that fun. My schedule is really tight, so we went ahead and had the show last weekend. It had rained all day, up until about 3PM, and got kind of cool, so many folks didn't show.

We're on next for July 14th. I hope it is nicer that weekend....

It should be good this weekend. Hopefully no rain...

Saturday night weather looking good! ;)

I am planning a movie on the 4th to go with the fireworks! I hope it doe snot RAIN! :eek:

With the beautiful weather of the last day or two, we almost pulled the gear out.... almost. I'm jealous of those of you who live in the warmer areas...

C'mon Mother Nature!


PS - Wow this thread is older than I remembered.

Yeah - I have started feeling it as well. We are also outside Chicago - Crystal Lake. I think we have a ways to go before we can count on good weather. 6 movies this year is my goal. We usually do only 3-4.

can't wait i tend to show movies every weekend.

Its' getting close to Showtime Outside!!! :)

Its' getting close to Showtime Outside!!! :)

Got my first one of the season planned for Friday. So far so good - weather wise, according to the forecast.

Got our first show in on 4/25. Nice weather to start and about 15 people there. As final credits were rolling the lightning started. Everyone pitched in to get everything down and inside. Second show was 5/15. Smaller turnout and everything went great. Season has finally begun in central NY.

WE decided to go a different route this year. We sent a survey out to our friends and family and asked them which movies they were interested in seeing (we asked each to pick 5 out of about 20). This gave us a good indication of how the age groups were skewing. We always picked movies before and then questioned whether they were appropriate (either skewed too young or too old).

Then we tabulated the results to get our top five for the summer, which we have prescheduled - one a month - throughout the summer starting in May and going to September. The most popular movies picked are:

Night at the Museum (May 22)
Bolt (June 20)
Bedtime Stories (July 24)
Madagascar 2 (August 7)
Hotel for Dogs (September 12)

We usually have about 30 people there - but this typically involves only our immediate neighbors. This year, we invited pretty much everyone we associate with. I am hoping to push the attendance to 100 or more.

And this Friday's weather looks great! Let's hope it holds...

well im pleased to announce the Shirley street theater will re-open for its 2nd season this weekend. movies to be announced early Saturday. movies are shown every weekend. if not outside they will be moved into the garage for showing.

well i might be opening the theater Friday instead. we'll see what the weather does. so it might be open friday saturday and sunday.

well forget friday. it was supposed to be like 78 its not even 70 :mad::mad:

well forget friday. it was supposed to be like 78 its not even 70 :mad::mad:

Yeah - we are outside Chicago and its the same. But we're still having the movie tonight. It's a bit windy right now, but I am hoping that the wind dies down a bit before the evening (it usually does...)

ok then i guess i will give it shot. im going to show Kung Fu panda for today. if its warmer saturday and it doesn't storm around show time i will start doing double features.

We showed Night at the Museum last night - what a great movie to show for movie night. There is some minor peril (the dinosaur bones had a few children freaked out), but overall, a nice, safe movie enjoyed by both kids and adults.

But boy did it get cold last night!!!

I found I have some technical issues to work through. When I play a DVD through my blueray into my receiver and send to my outdoor speakers, every once in a while, some kind of feedback or short will happen and cause my receiver to shut down to safe mode. Very annoying - happened three times in the movie last night.

Also, my screen did not last the winter very well, and the seams were very noticeable.

So, tomorrow will be our grand opening for the 2009 drive-in season. As was the case last year, this is the only showing where I poll the invited guests and show a surprise title based on their votes. And the winner is...

Transformers!

We had a bit of breakage last year when my son dropped the main section of 1.5" PCV screen frame and broke a wye fitting. Repaired that and also 2 grommets on the screen material.

Also changed the from PC to MAC this year. Very different editing on a MAC, but I am rendering the previews as I type this message.

Finally, let me warn you all to be careful what you ask for. As for me, I forgot this and invited about 90 people to this showing (kids included). Apparently the economy has effected us in ways I never expected and EVERYONE ACCEPTED! So I guess I'll be grilling, policing and serving tons of food and drink all day. Any chance I'll even see the movie beyond the initial alignment and focus? I fully expect a great time and a bunch of great photo ops.

im tired of the cold nights. the days are like 70 but the nights are 50. ITS FREAKING JUNE WARM UP ALREADY. its going to be a cold summer :mad:

Our first movie is coming up on the 20th, and the way it has been going, I'm worried it won't be warm enough! Ten day forecast for my zip (I'm also in Chicagoland) has us not breaking 80 until the 16th and 17th when it will be 81. And, then down to 60 at night.

I need to go burn some CO2 in the backyard. ;)

I agree.... Warm up already!

Wow - this weather has been miserable. Wet and cold in Chicago. This is the perfect set up for mega-mosquitoes in July when it gets super hot and humid...