I’m back from a weekend drive-in theater road trip, and the blog post I wrote about it is too big for a blog post. I gave the report its own page here on Carload, so if you want to find out what the active drive-ins of Arizona and New Mexico are like, you’ll need to go read it!
Author Archives: mrdrivein
Glen Drive-In looks to recoup its digital costs
The Glens Falls (NY) Post-Star ran a very nice, very long article about the Glen Drive-In (Queensbury) and its efforts to recoup the money it spent for new digital projectors.
Unlike a lot of these local conversion articles, this one had lengthy quotes from John Vincent, president of the United Drive-In Theater Owners Association. “Film has been around for 100 years, and truth be told, it’s a very intense use of plastics,” Vincent said. “Each copy of a movie for a theater in 35 mm is about two miles of film. So, I’m actually quite surprised that it lasted 100 years, and particularly, I’m surprised it’s lasted the last 10 years.”
The Glen has also joined nine indoor theaters in the area for a general fundraiser to finance the digital conversion. The Andirondack North County Association and the Adirondack Film Society are launching the “Go Digital or Go Dark” campaign at Adirondack.org.
The Post-Star article has so much more inside it, and it includes five photos, including a cool projection of a digital test pattern. You really should go check it out!
Two OH drive-ins show the wisdom of planning ahead
Vindy.com, a service of the Youngstown (OH) Vindicator, has a fine article about the digital conversion plans of its two nearby drive-ins, the Elm Road and the Skyway, both of Warren. Both of them seem to have conversion in the bag because of their forethought.
Bob Hreno, who with his family owns the Elm Road, told the Vindicator that the three new projectors and the other changes needed to accommodate them cost a quarter-million dollars. No problem! “We’ve been saving money all along for it,” he said. “Digital has been around for 10 years, but they have only made projectors big enough for drive-ins for the past two years.”
Another interesting note: Hreno said that he’s keeping a 35mm projector next to the digital in each booth. That’s also thinking ahead; maybe he’ll need it to run something that’s only available on film.
Brian DeCiancio has owned the Skyway for about 12 years and purchased the nearby 6-screen indoor Encore Cinemas in November. As the Vindicator put it: “We planned ahead,” said DeCiancio, when asked about how he raised the money. “We get strong support at our concession stand. Plus having the six-screen indoor theater helps, because it’s a year-round business.”
Yet another point I hadn’t heard before, one part of the high cost of digital conversions is the need to theft-proof the projection booth. I guess that hard drives are more attractive than 60-pound reels of film. Anyway, the Vindy.com article even includes a nice daylight marquee photo of Elm Road, so check it out!