Wilmington owner changes mind, will reopen

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Wilmington Drive-In sign and distant screen

photo by Bill Eichelberger, used by permission

You may remember our previous coverage of Phillip Chakeres, the CEO of the company that owns the Wilmington (OH) Drive-In. Chakeres said he wasn’t sure whether it was closed for good, then a couple of days later he said he was certain it was closed for good. Now there’s news this week that Chakeres said he’ll open the Wilmington this year after all.

The article in the Wilmington News Journal was again written by Andrea Chaffin, who has talked to him so often she should be Chakeres’s best friend by now. ”Based on the feedback last year and the interest, I felt I owed it to the people of Wilmington and the surrounding counties to give the drive-in one more chance,” he said. “That’s where we are.”

Chaffin wrote, “Last year, the drive-in did not open. At the time, company officials said its long-term future was questionable due to the economy. Chakeres said Monday he plans to evaluate the business once again at the end of the summer.”

Now I would like nothing better than for the Wilmington to thrive this year and for generations to come. And since I don’t know anything first-hand about the situation, it’s entirely possible that the current management is making all the right moves to keep it going. But when I see so many healthy, active drive-ins whose only problem is finding a lump sum to cover all new projection equipment, it really makes me wonder whether the folks here could learn how those successful drive-ins do it. Here’s hoping!

Motor Vu of Imperial CA won’t reopen

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Motor Vu drive-in sign and screenWhile it’s heartening to celebrate the continued existence of so many drive-in theaters, it’s also important to make note of those that pass away. Last week, the Imperial Valley Press of El Centro CA ran an article which said that the Motor Vu Twin Drive-In Theatre was closed indefinitely. The Motor Vu’s Facebook page hasn’t been updated since November 2010, another sign that this drive-in is gone.

The Imperial Valley Press quoted Bobby Gran, operations manager for Cal-Gran Theaters. Gran said, “It was partially because of the digital situation and getting the 35 millimeter prints. And based on the books, it wasn’t producing enough money. It was a business decision.”

The article also gathered lots of reaction quotes from former patrons of the Motor Vu, which had been open since at least 1952. (It’s included in the list of active drive-ins in my copy of the 1952 Theatre Catalog.) There’s also a nice photo, so go read it!

McHenry Outdoor Theater getting ready for 2013

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Aerial view of McHenry Outdoor TheaterA recent story in the Northwest Herald, which serves McHenry County IL, described how a few seasonal businesses there were preparing for the return of warm weather. After spending the first half talking about an ice cream parlor, the article began discussing something we care about, the McHenry Outdoor Theater of McHenry IL.

You may remember that the McHenry was one of a swarm of Illinois drive-ins that launched Kickstarter campaigns in the hope of getting enough cash to buy digital projectors. The Northwest Herald tells us that, for the McHenry, Kickstarter didn’t work, falling about $100,000 short of its $130,000 goal. When you don’t reach a Kickstarter goal, the folks who pledged don’t have to pay anything, so the McHenry got nothing out of it. This year, they plan to try Indiegogo, where they think they’ll have a better chance at a smaller amount.

The best news is that the McHenry will reopen for another season on May 3. Let’s hope it can stay alive!

Mendon Twin reopens Friday

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The Mendon (MA) Twin Drive-In is set to reopen this Friday, according to a report in the Milford Daily News. Susan Swanson, the owner or “co-owner” (what she calls herself in the video above) said her annual cleanup efforts have been relatively light this year. Spring usually brings strong sales because patrons are “itching” to go back for another season.

Swanson has (co-?)owned the Mendon Twin for 27 years. ”I thought, my whole life, that drive-ins are a magical experience,” she said. “You’re coming in and seeing a movie under the stars. It doesn’t get better than that.”

The article doesn’t mention the Mendon Twin’s digital conversion status at all, but it’s a fine story with lots of smart quotes. Another Swanson remark, one that should be on a sign somewhere at every drive-in, was ”If your dashboard lights are on, you’ve done something wrong.” There’s a lot of other great stuff, including a few photos, so go read it!

Russian drive-in looking to add realism

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The Cathedral of Stephen of Perm in Skytyvkar

The Cathedral of Stephen of Perm in Skytyvkar. Because I couldn’t find a picture of the drive-in there. Photo by Jlesnik.

From the Russian news network Russia Today comes the second- or third-hand story of an unnamed drive-in cinema in Syktyvkar, the capital of the Republic of Komi.

According to RT, the owner of the theater wants to hire someone to appear in person behind your car window during the scariest parts of horror movies. It doesn’t mention whether this actor would need to know some self-defense tactics.

“The position is not very typical and requires acting experience, as well as physical and psychological stamina,” the drive-in manager told the local media, reported by Interfax.

The RT article concludes by saying that apparently the Interfax article doesn’t mention whether theater-goers will be told in advance about the boogeyman who will help complete their scary experience. I don’t usually like to mention such a loosely sourced, possibly bogus story, but it’s fun to think about, and hey, it’s also the only evidence I can find that Syktyvkar even has a drive-in. Happy Monday!

Two more PA drive-ins ready to go

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Update: Hours after I posted the following, I saw that WHP, Harrisburg’s news leader, had also posted a story about the season opener of the Cumberland Drive-In. We do love our embedded video, so there you go, along with my previous little post, which starts right now…

The Sentinel of Cumberland County PA ran an article this week profiling the owners of two nearby drive-ins. Vicky Hardy is looking forward to installing a digital projector at Haar’s Drive-In (Dillsburg) later this month, and Jay Mowery sees the “necessary evil” of converting the Cumberland Drive-In (Newville) this fall.

Haar’s and the Cumberland were opened “months apart” in 1952. Mowery’s father built the Cumberland. “Our house was on the property,” he said. “Our whole life, growing up, couldn’t be separated from it.”

Hardy is the granddaughter of Vance Haar, a guy who might have preferred to join the circus, “but with a family, he couldn’t have kids and go after that,” Hardy said.

That’s just a quick taste of a lengthy, well-written article about two family-owned drive-ins and their different approaches to inevitable digital conversion. It even includes a few photos. Go read it!

Over 100 drive-ins sign with Cinedigm

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Cinedigm CEO Chris McGurk

Cinedigm CEO Chris McGurk, from the Cinedigm web site

Here’s a press release that was issued today by Cinedigm. Despite a few phone calls, I haven’t been able to determine just how significant this positive-sounding program is. A guy at Bloomberg News sure bought in to it though. Let’s hope this news is as good as it looks.

Los Angeles – Cinedigm (NASDAQ: CIDM), the leader in the digital entertainment revolution, and the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) today announced they have signed over 100 drive-in movie theatres to their digital theatre conversion program customized for the Cinema Buying Group (CBG) members of the drive-in movie theatre community. CBG is a buying program of NATO for independent theatre operators in the United States and Canada. Cinedigm and NATO unveiled the new exhibitor deployment agreement at the United Drive-In Theatre Owners Association (UDITOA) convention in February and expect all installations to take place by early Summer.

The transition from 35mm film projection, which has been used for 110 years, to digital projection systems is a worldwide motion picture industry effort and the costs to deploy this new technology are covered primarily through the payment of virtual print fees (VPF) from studios to implementation companies. Cinedigm’s industry-leading deployment program for digital cinema facilitates the funding, installation and operations support, and ongoing VPF administration for the company’s digital cinema rollout throughout the United States and Canada. Cinedigm, which has signed long-term VPF agreements with all the major studios and interim agreements with dozens of independent distributors, is the digital cinema integrator partner for the CBG.

The drive-in movie theatre efforts follow Cinedigm’s successful deployment of over 11,700 screens in the US and Canada, with over 269 exhibitors.

“It gives us great pleasure to see the enthusiasm with which the drive-in theater community has grasped this opportunity,” said John Fithian, President and CEO of NATO. “Cinedigm and NATO’s collaborative efforts — similar to our CBG program for traditional movie theatres — have once again played a significant role in bringing these theatres into the digital age.”

In addition to a new exhibitor deployment agreement, Cinedigm/NATO/UDITOA have taken a number of steps to address the outdoor deployment issue, including securing exceptions to the Digital Cinema Initiatives (DCI) specifications applicable to the drive-in theatre environment.

“We are thrilled our members have so quickly embraced Cinedigm and NATO’s program,” said John Vincent, Jr., UDITOA’s President. “Their success means that the unique movie-going experience outdoor exhibitors offer will continue for generations to come.”

“The response from the drive-in community has been exceedingly positive,” said Alison Choppelas, Vice President/Business Affairs for Cinedigm’s Digital Cinema Division. “We look forward to signing even more drive-in theatres to our digital cinema deployment during CinemaCon next week and are so proud to be preserving such an important piece of Americana.”

Cinedigm will be meeting with additional drive-in movie theatres during CinemaCon next week in Las Vegas.

Transit Drive-In open for another season

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WKBW, Buffalo NY’s news leader, reported last weekend that the Transit Drive-In of Lockport has opened for another season.

Really, that was about it. The text story is a count-the-mistakes affair, with little nits to pick that really bug me. How hard is it to learn that “it’s” only contains an apostrophe if it’s the contraction of “it is”? Why aren’t they teaching TV journalists that when speaking of two unequal whole numbers, one is “fewer” than the other, not “less”? But I digress.

Truth be told, I’m mainly glad that WKBW was kind enough to put its news report in a video format that I could embed here. Great drive-in photos are better than a thousand words, even when they’re all grammatically correct.

Drive Invaders hit Atlanta

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There’s a fun, long blog entry in the Saporta Report about a group of drive-in enthusiasts in Atlanta. Last week, a group calling themselves Drive Invaders “gathered to watch ‘G.I. Joe: Retaliation’ at the Starlight Six Drive-In, the last outdoor movie theater in metro Atlanta. Instead of a playground, (ringleader Suellen) Germani and her grown-up movie companions each paid $7 to tailgate in the rain and watch the movie through wet windshields.”

The article explains in lengthy detail the beginnings of the group, including early missteps. “For the first two years we met year round and that was really stupid because it’s really cold in February,” Germani said.

For over a decade, this little band has made it a point to patronize the Starlight Six, partly with the goal of keeping it alive. The article is a lot more fun than I’ve made it sound, so I’ll stop typing so you can just go read it.

Here’s some video of the Skyline Drive-In

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I know I ran a note just a few weeks ago about the Skyline Drive-In of Shelton WA, but I saw that KING, Seattle’s news leader, ran a story about its progress raising money to finance the conversion to digital projection. There’s not a whole lot new about the story except that the Skyline has raised about $12,000 of the $40,000 needed for its Kickstarter campaign. Well, that and the fact that the Skyline has a Director of Marketing. I don’t know any other drive-ins that employ a marketing director. But I digress.

No, the reason I returned to the topic of the Skyline is the lovely video footage embedded here. It’s such a nice look at the projection room, and the Skyline’s old equipment, that I wish it lasted a little longer. For just a little more information, feel free to visit the KING site.