Author Archives: mrdrivein

What to do with all those projectors?

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the projector at Kalpana Talkies, SolapurHere’s the germ of a business idea for you. With the digital conversion wave sweeping across North America in 2013, there will be roughly a zillion discarded theater-grade film projectors that will be available for cheap or free or better. (If they’re heavy enough, maybe someone will pay you to haul them off?) Given this low-cost resource, what can you do with it?

The true answer will probably be mundane or sad. Maybe a lot of them will be shipped to countries that still use film and would love to get more cheap projectors. Maybe some of them will just be melted down for scrap. But if someone could come up with a whizbang business plan for converting them to fun and profit, wouldn’t that be so much nicer?

How about a chain of “drive-in movie” indoor restaurants? They could get some cheap old movies (film copies ought to be cheaper too, maybe?) and show them on a screen at one end of the place while folks sit in booths that look like old cars. How is this better than using a DVD player and a projection TV? I don’t know. So maybe that’s not such a good idea.

It’s your turn. Leave a comment with your better idea. Then when someone (maybe you) hits it big with one of these ideas, he’ll send us royalty checks. Or at least offer us a free meal at his drive-in movie restaurant.

Kings is closed for the season, maybe for good

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As we reported recently, the Kings Drive-In (Armona CA) was suffering the effects of vandalism and was hoping to find enough support to keep going. Now there’s a new story from KFSN, Fresno’s news leader, that it may all be for naught.

The report says that switching to a digital projection system would require more than swapping in new equipment. “It’s an old building. They’d have to tear down this wall and rewire the whole building,” said the owner’s daughter, Catherine Graff.

Against that sad backdrop, the Kings has closed for the season, and the owners sound unsure but pessimistic about its chances to reopen in 2013.

Northside reopens in Fort Myers

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Fort Myers beachWINK TV, the news leader in Fort Myers (FL), ran a story this morning about the reopening of the Northside Flea Market and Drive In (no hyphen?!) in North Fort Myers. It’s a decent little early-morning video, and it’s a pity that I can’t embed it here so more folks would see it.

The old Northside Drive-In had been closed for a few years, maybe since 2007. The folks there now say they’re doing restoration work with a new screen coming in early 2013. What I think is the most brilliant part of their plan is adding a full-time 50s diner serving breakfast and lunch. With distributors taking most of the money from admission tickets, drive-ins live on their restaurants. It’s great to see another drive-in embrace its restaurant and use its resources for more than movietime munchies. Good luck!