Author Archives: mrdrivein

Second-oldest drive-in tries Facebook fundraising

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Saco Drive-In marqueeThe Sun Chronicle of Westbrooke ME ran a lengthy article about the Saco Drive-In’s struggle to find money for its digital conversion project. According to the Chronicle, the Saco opened in 1939 and is the second-oldest drive-in still in operation. Its operator, Ry Russell, has turned to the Saco’s Facebook fans to raise the money required for the changeover.

Russell said the lack of a digital projector already hurt the Saco in 2012 when film copies of blockbuster movies were scarce.

Here’s a nice touch for the fundraiser: “As part of the Facebook fundraiser, Russell has asked customers and fans of the drive-in to send in stories and photos about what makes the drive-in special to them, which will be put together into an e-book and given to people who make donations toward the new projector.” I look forward to seeing a copy of that!

Tower Drive-In aiming for a half-price upgrade

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Thanks to a nice article in the Abilene (TX) Reporter-News, we now know that the Tower Drive-In of nearby Rule has begun a Kickstarter fundraiser to pay for its digital conversion. Be sure to watch the nice little video they made to support the project. It really makes you feel like you’ve visited the Tower, and it’s embedded just to the right of these words.

What makes this conversion fundraiser a little different is that Tower owner Deon Gordon says she has a quote on a used digital projector for less than $39,000. That makes it about half the price of most drive-in digital conversion projects.

It’s a good long article with a long conversation with Gordon. I learned, for example, why drive-ins seem to be staying away from 3D. “There is a requirement from the studios for you to charge a premium and they get the premium,” Gordon said. “I charge six dollars for both movies and if I had to put a $3 premium on it, then any week or two-week period where I’ve got a 3D movie I’d price a lot of my customers out of being able to come.”

According to the article, Gordon already advertises on nearby radio stations to pull in patrons from a wide area, since the Tower is the only movie theater for 50 miles. I hope that means that a lot of civic-minded, forward-thinking north Texas residents will realize that they all need to chip in to keep their nearby source of entertainment alive. We’ll see!

A rare view from the digital projection booth

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WPTV, the news leader in Palm Beach FL, showed a great report last night live from the projection booth of the Lake Worth Drive-In. Lake Worth has made the transition to digital projection, and it was the first time I’d seen what it looks like in there without the 35mm platters revolving.

This is one of the best drive-in news reports I’ve ever seen, but there are a couple of odd bits about it. The reporter quotes unknown “industry analysts” as saying that 90% of existing drive-ins haven’t converted yet, and the implication is that they’ll close as a result. I’d guess that as many as half of current drive-ins will convert this year, mainly because any drive-in that has survived this long is likely to continue.

The other odd thing is that we see Joshua Jordan, the guy in the Lake Worth projection room, say, “I think we’ll still go on for a couple of more years until we can’t go on no more.” That doesn’t make sense. The Lake Worth just shelled out an “estimated $70,000” to upgrade its equipment, which is now in place. The owners wouldn’t have done that unless they were planning to stay in business for the long haul. Let’s hope the Lake Worth finds a way to stay open for decades to come.