More Illinois theaters turn to Kickstarter

Snack cart at the Harvest MoonFrom The News-Gazette of central Illinois comes word that two other Illinois theaters have also turned to Kickstarter to try to raise money for the digital conversion. In addition to the Midway, which we covered a few days ago, the Harvest Moon (Gibson City IL) and the indoor Onarga Theater (Onarga IL) have started these campaigns to get the new equipment to keep showing movies next year.

And mentioning that indoor cinema brings us around to the wider scope of the conversion issue. One article suggests that next year the US may lose 20% of its movie theaters, mostly in small towns. That’s worse for drive-ins; I would be surprised if there are even two-thirds as many drive-ins operating in July 2013 as there were in July 2012. The final result may be half, or worse.

If you want your nearby drive-ins to survive, see if they’re trying to raise money. It could be Kickstarter, or it could be different, such as Save the Star (Montrose CO). If so, donate to keep them alive. This spring, you don’t want to be surprised by a dead drive-in.

Midway using Kickstarter to go digital

Midway Drive-In movie screen, Palmyra, IllinoisThe Midway Drive-In (Palmyra IL) is facing the modern problem of needing to buy a digital projector. It’s attempting to solve it with a modern solution: a Kickstarter project. Folks who pledge the right amount of cash will receive rewards such as popcorn and pop (we call it “soda” around here), a t-shirt, admission passes, and semi-private weekday screenings. If you’re a business, you can also just sponsor the Midway’s new projector and get some advertising out of it, but that sounds very old-fashioned.

The horror-movie fans at Dread Central are on board with this project. You might also just swing by the Midway web site to learn more about the place. Stand-up comedy at a drive-in? That’s cool!

Peoria testing drive-in on indoor theater parking lot

I don’t know what’s going on at the Landmark Cinemas in Peoria IL, but the general manager of the Landmark Recreation Center is testing a drive-in theater on an apparently flat concrete parking lot there. According to the Peoria Journal Star, they tried it for 10 days, discovered that Mondays are often pretty quiet, and they’re asking the Peoria city council for another 10 days to test it some more before the drive-in season ends.