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Information for starting a Drive-in theater needed

post #1 of 18
2/6/08 at 1:22pm
Thread Starter 
Hey everyone, I know this is kind of an awkward question, but I am interested in starting up a Drive-in theater. There is an older one in my town that I think would do well, but when it comes to general operations or knowing what I need I am definately in need of knowledge. I have searched google for hours with little productive information so if any of you have links to a forum geared for someone like me (starting a movie theater) or just general information I would be extremely grateful.

This is an AV science forum so I'm sure in all of your wisdom you guys can point me in the right direction. I live in TN by the way if that help.

Thank you all for your help!
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post #2 of 18
2/6/08 at 3:03pm
Good luck and have fun

http://www.drive-ins.com/startups.htm

Victor
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post #3 of 18
2/6/08 at 3:24pm
Thread Starter 
Awesome! thanks!
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post #4 of 18
2/6/08 at 6:41pm
I remember looking for information on this myself. Along with the link from Victor is this one:

http://www.driveinworkshop.com/

Look through the links on the left, lots of info. in there.

Good luck!
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post #5 of 18
2/6/08 at 7:36pm
Thread Starter 
Thank you very much
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post #6 of 18
2/17/08 at 7:10am
My fist thought on this was "i'd never been to a drive-in theater and it'd be so neat to go to one"

My second thought was I'd go and my kids could watch a different movie in the backseat in our vehicle's dvd system, in case they didn't like the main movie.

And that brought my to my third thought - why drive-ins would be much more difficult today. If I went to the drive-in, I'd go in my SUV. I imagine 50% of the vehicles would be SUVs. I'm wondering how that would work and how much obstructions that would cause.

just thinking about it.
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post #7 of 18
2/17/08 at 11:19am
We have a drive-in in our area and it is packed every weekend.

Good luck with yours.
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post #8 of 18
2/17/08 at 1:33pm
Thread Starter 
Typically speaking, most drive ins have the ground built up so that the car is at an angle so it is not an obstruction for everyone.

I'm running into quite a few difficulties in pursueing this so I'm not sure how plausible it is going to be, but I'm still looking into it.
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post #9 of 18
2/17/08 at 1:33pm
What about gaming? Wii smash brothers brawl would probably be a real head turner at 500" LOL

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post #10 of 18
2/17/08 at 6:46pm
I use to love the drive-in when I was a kid and when I was in highschool! My parents use take my sister and me all the time back in '70's & early '80's. A few movies I remember seeing was Orca, The Thing, and First Blood, yeah the first Rambo! I saw several more, but I can't remeber them all. I also went with my friends when I was in highschool, by then they were dying off. In my city we had 3, actually one almost always had rated X or XXX movies. Needless, to say I'd never been to that one. By the time I was in highschool, early '80's, we only had 1.

Man those were the good ole days! If I never go to another one I'll always hold on to the nostalgia of loading up in the car and going even when it's hot or cold. Fighting the mosquitos in the summer and freezing in the winter....'Da I'm cold. Can you crank the car up for a few minutes?'... Going to the concession stand with my dad, those ptiful speakers that hung from the window or when they got real advanced, you could tune to an AM station and receive the movies' sound....memories...like the corners of my mind!!!

Great family fun that seems to be absent these days...makes me kinda sad ):
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post #11 of 18
3/21/08 at 8:51pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by bqmeister View Post

I'm wondering how that would work and how much obstructions that would cause.

just thinking about it.


$%%&$#@@^%%$@$ alot of obstruction!

my commute to work (formerly in my Acura) and now in my tiny Yaris will attest to that!

20 yrs ago I could see in front of me on the interstate........not %^#$%@&& now.

I'll be glad when gas goes to 5+....10+ a gallon and I can start seeing the lane in front of me again.
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post #12 of 18
3/21/08 at 8:57pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by omegagen View Post

I use to love the drive-in when I was a kid and when I was in highschool! My parents use take my sister and me all the time back in '70's & early '80's. A few movies I remember seeing was Orca, The Thing, and First Blood, yeah the first Rambo! I saw several more, but I can't remeber them all. I also went with my friends when I was in highschool, by then they were dying off. In my city we had 3, actually one almost always had rated X or XXX movies. Needless, to say I'd never been to that one. By the time I was in highschool, early '80's, we only had 1.

Man those were the good ole days! If I never go to another one I'll always hold on to the nostalgia of loading up in the car and going even when it's hot or cold. Fighting the mosquitos in the summer and freezing in the winter....'Da I'm cold. Can you crank the car up for a few minutes?'... Going to the concession stand with my dad, those ptiful speakers that hung from the window or when they got real advanced, you could tune to an AM station and receive the movies' sound....memories...like the corners of my mind!!!

Great family fun that seems to be absent these days...makes me kinda sad ):



same story here: saw Planet of the Apes , Below, etc...all of them in an over-nighter drive-in fest back in 73 (just a little tot then).


later saw Coma.....then by 81 or so the last (we had two) one closed shop.

back then they had these metal speakers that you clipped on your window. (like they used to do at driving restaurants (clip-on trays)).
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post #13 of 18
3/21/08 at 10:08pm
mid '60s til early '70s!
on the shores of the great spofford lake, nh.

where i saw the likes of:
the man who shot liberty valence
r. crusoe on mars
warwagon

and many, many more!

the 1st few yrs, a buddy and i (we were about 8 or 9) built a tree fort up across the road so we could see over the 8' fence.
we thought we were pretty cool but we never did get the sound 'installed'!
so we ended up being paying customers.

we still have an active spring-summer-fall drive-in about 15 miles away on the nh-mass border!
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post #14 of 18
3/22/08 at 4:56pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by westgate View Post

mid '60s til early '70s!
on the shores of the great spofford lake, nh.

where i saw the likes of:
the man who shot liberty valence
r. crusoe on mars
warwagon

and many, many more!

the 1st few yrs, a buddy and i (we were about 8 or 9) built a tree fort up across the road so we could see over the 8' fence.
we thought we were pretty cool but we never did get the sound 'installed'!
so we ended up being paying customers.

we still have an active spring-summer-fall drive-in about 15 miles away on the nh-mass border!

bump!
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post #15 of 18
3/24/08 at 12:43pm
there's still one going in Vineland NJ. yahooo!

I think a doctor bought an old drive-in and is running it with his own $.

If you are in the NJ/PA/DE/NY area it might be worth a drive over.

Two current movies for $8. That can't be beat!

http://www.delseadrive-in.com/
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post #16 of 18
3/25/08 at 10:08pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by wizzack View Post

there's still one going in Vineland NJ. yahooo!

I think a doctor bought an old drive-in and is running it with his own $.

If you are in the NJ/PA/DE/NY area it might be worth a drive over.

Two current movies for $8. That can't be beat!

http://www.delseadrive-in.com/

great to hear about this d.i.!
wow, the only one in n.j.!
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post #17 of 18
3/26/08 at 5:52pm
There's a great one in CT. Mansfield Drive-in. They have a great theme song:

http://www.mansfielddrivein.com/nowShowing.asp?sd=-1

Can't wait till the open agin for the season.

They combated the SUV problem by making SUVs and other trucks park in the last few rows. In the end, that means the show sucks for them. They end up being so far from the screen that the image is a bit dim.

One thing I have noticed over the years is that people don;t know how to behave anymore. They drive around with their headlights on and ruin the movie.

Oh and they do still have a few of the old speakers set too.
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post #18 of 18
10/30/10 at 6:34am
Quote:
Originally Posted by gaffo View Post

$%%&$#@@^%%$@$ alot of obstruction!

my commute to work (formerly in my Acura) and now in my tiny Yaris will attest to that!

20 yrs ago I could see in front of me on the interstate........not %^#$%@&& now.

I'll be glad when gas goes to 5+....10+ a gallon and I can start seeing the lane in front of me again.

I thought I would revive this thread and address the above quote.
There is no obstruction issue what so ever at a drive-in. The cars are all parked on an elevated surface. Smaller cars are encouraged to park towards the front. If you have an issue with parking behind large vehicles, it is YOUR fault. Park towards the front.
We have some friends who drive a 2009 Honda Civic. They brought their car and parked along side us and had no issues with vehicles in front of them, even though their was a truck parked directly in front of them.
Our family goes to a somewhat local drive-in about twice per year. We make it a mini getaway each time we go.
Because the 2nd feature gets over so late, we book a room the day before and we stay over-night. The kids love it and we don’t have to worry about driving a long distance late at night.
$5-$10 per gallon gas??? I’ll let your comments speak for them selves.
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