Author Archives: mrdrivein

Chief is excited about latest Twilight movie

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Chief Drive-In screen, click to visitThe Chickasha (OK) Express Star ran an article today about the local Chief Drive-In and “its biggest event of the year.” The occasion is the premiere of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2, which as a movie title is getting pretty complicated.

While the indoor theaters in the region are sold out of advance tickets, the Chief’s owners sell first come, first served. I hope they’ve got some room for the cars to line up before the gates open. Or if they’re really smart, they’ll open the gates early and keep those young viewers onsite for another hour or two of concession stand purchasing time.

There were a couple of things I really liked about the short article. One is the recognition that a drive-in theater makes almost all of its money from concession stand sales, not admission tickets. And the other is a quote from a moviegoer: “I love going to Twilight premieres at the drive-in because my friends and I can talk about the movie and be ridiculous and no one cares.” Apply that to other movies, and that sounds like me.

Southington DI savior is Person of the Year

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Old map of Southington CTThe Record-Journal of Meriden CT printed an article about annual community awards this week. Person of the Year honors went to Anthony Denorfia, who purchased the former Southington Twin Drive-in property, allowing the city to preserve and run the drive-in with proceeds going to charity.

“Denorfia said he lives by three guidelines: to work hard, be the best person he can be, and to always give back.” Those are good guidelines for us all. Congratulations.

This is the same Southington that was going to be the subject of a drive-in documentary filming during its Halloween celebration. I can find lots of references to that as an upcoming event, but nothing that says how it went. But I did find a link to the video that the RJ shot on opening night. Enjoy!

Cascade also turned to Kickstarter

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Cascade Drive-In, from its Kickstarter pageFrom the St. Charles (IL) Patch comes word that the Cascade Drive-In (West Chicago) tried a Kickstarter campaign to help finance its conversion to digital projection. That seems to be the Illinois thing to do, as shown by the Midway (Palmyra), the Harvest Moon (Gibson City) and the McHenry Outdoor Theater (McHenry).

The article makes the Cascade sound much more optimistic that some of the others. It says its owner “has been in the drive-in theater business all his life and has no plans to close.” It also suggests that he hoped Kickstarter would prevent him from having to borrow to finance the new equipment. Unfortunately, that campaign ended last week with only $1248 pledged toward the $100,000 goal.

Clicking around on Kickstarter, I see that the Harvest Moon campaign also failed ($49,449/$120,000), as did Midway‘s ($7536/$40,000). With only a few weeks until its Nov. 28 close, the McHenry campaign is also in trouble ($27,143/$130,000).

I’ve seen Kickstarter projects work, though for smaller amounts. Wired has a nice primer on how to run one. Adapting its advice to drive-ins, I would add that a theater needs to offer something tangible and valuable for donors. Maybe give two free tickets in exchange for a $25 pledge, or a Carload for $50. I also would amplify Wired’s last idea: Facebook. There are a lot of drive-in patrons (and a lot of drive-ins) on Facebook, and a good appeal there can ripple out to bring in more fans who might become donors if the appeal and the deal are good enough. Want to give it another try?