Coronavirus: US lockdown sees unexpected revival of drive-in theatres

‘It makes perfect sense. We can all sit in our cars, away from each other, and still do something fun,’ says regular drive-in theatregoer and mum of three

Drive-in threatre owners say they’ve been given an opportunity they cannot refuse (Getty)

Jen Philhower, 48, a part-time office manager in Austin, Texas, is one of the many Americans adjusting to almost every group activity being cancelled, as people move indoors and into isolation to avoid spreading the novel coronavirus.

“My youngest goes to wilderness school, and even that is closed,” she said. “When even playing in the woods is closed, things start to feel a little strange.”

So Philhower was surprised – ecstatic, even – to see one group entertainment venue still open for business: the Blue Starlite, a local drive-in movie theatre currently allowing 35 to park at one time.

Located on a hill with the Austin skyline in the background, the theatre resembles a “cool junkyard”, according to Josh Frank, the owner, who opened it a decade ago. Since the virus hit the United States, the theatre has screened movies including Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and The Breakfast Club.

Last Tuesday, theatregoers watched short films that were scheduled to premiere at the South by Southwest festival in Austin before it got cancelled, and a feature from the festival is scheduled for later this month.

When Philhower’s children, who are 20, 16 and 12, were younger, the family would frequent the theatre. The kids loved sitting on the roof of the car and chomping on candy under the stars.

“We must have seen Goonies three times one year,” she said. But they hadn’t thought to return until they found themselves going stir crazy at home under the new public-health guidelines.

“It makes perfect sense,” Philhower said. “We can all sit in our cars, away from each other, and do something fun.”

Drive-in movie theatres may seem like a blast from the past, something out of the 1950s or 1960s. Numerous baby boomers haven’t gone for decades; Gen Xers and millennials, perhaps never.

But there are still 305 of them in the United States, according to the United Drive-In Theatre Owners Association in Stephens City, Virginia. The association says every state has a drive-in movie theatre except Alaska, Delaware, Hawaii, Louisiana and North Dakota.

While most drive-in theatres open for the summer, some of their owners have decided to get an early start this year to provide families with an escape insulated by their cars during the pandemic, as malls, concert halls and restaurants shut down. “Who would have thought that drive-in movies would one day again become the most attractive option for going out?” Frank said.

Some site owners have even begun renting their spaces out to churches so congregations can sit in their cars for sermons (iStock)

Other owners are proceeding with caution, watching a situation that changes every day. “I think we’ve got a lucky opportunity,” said Stephen Sauerbeck, who owns Sauerbeck Family Drive-In Theatre in La Grange, Kentucky. “But I also wonder if it’s a too-good-to-be-true kind of thing.”

Sauerbeck was correct. For the past week, he has been in discussions with the governor of Kentucky and the commissioner of public health. While the option of showing movies seems to be ruled out, the state is allowing him to sell popcorn over the weekend and lend his venue to churches for services (patrons can sit in the car and listen to the service on their radios).

Of course, none of that is set in stone, he said. “It seems to change every day.”

“It’s a responsibility on our side to be as safe as possible,” Sauerbeck said. “I don’t want this to be, ‘We found a loophole in the situation, and we are going to operate an underground business the government is trying to shut down.’”

Even before the coronavirus arrived, the drive-in movie theatre business was experiencing a small renaissance.

South Korea has also set up makeshift drive-in theatres in the wake of Covid-19 (Getty)

At the end of February, Frank opened a second Blue Starlite, in Round Rock, a town 25 miles north of Austin. Every weekend there have been three to five shows, all of which have sold out days in advance.

“It’s been really, really, really something,” he said. “If I had opened a Round Rock location years ago, I would be maybe three decades closer to retirement.”

Sauerbeck opened his drive-in theatre in August 2018, after the last indoor theatre, owned by Regal Cinemas, closed in La Grange. “2019 was such a strong summer,” he said. “Lion King, Toy Story, Spider-Man all performed well for us, and we grew our customers every month as long as the weather cooperated.”

The theatre may look like an old dirt field, but every component of the theatre is thought through. “We have no speakers or poles as some of the older ones do,” he said. “We also have a gravel parking lot so we can operate if it’s raining.”

In the recent Quentin Tarantino film Once Upon a Time ... In Hollywood, a still-extant drive-in movie theatre in Paramount, California, stands in for one long-demolished in Van Nuys.

Spencer Folmar, a filmmaker, believes so strongly that drive-in theatres are not just the past but the future that he is building what he claims will be the world’s largest one in Eustis, Florida, with 500 spots, about a 45-minute drive from Orlando. Meant to be an immersive visual experience, it will have a lighthouse in the middle from which you can see screens in every direction.

Folmar’s goal is to provide a scene so dazzling that there is no way it could be replicated from anyone’s couch. “A cineplex can be a generic experience. You might as well stream at home,” he said. “I want to create this world of cinema with a unique design.”

Being cooped up at home hasn’t stopped Americans from posting on Instagram and other social media platforms – indeed, it has encouraged some to step up the pace – and many drive-in theatres are trying to help provide safe and novel content.

Bailey Denise Nichols, 20, works at a dog-boarding facility in Houston. When her animal clients slowed as people stopped travelling, she wanted to do so something new and different in her free time.

So she took her younger cousin to the Showboat Drive-In Theatre just outside of town. They cuddled in the back seat of her car with pillows and blankets, illuminated by string light they’d brought for fun, and ate McDonald’s Chicken McNuggets they picked up on the way.

“I was surprised to find out that you use a radio frequency to listen to the movie’s audio, so that was an experience for sure,” Nichols said. “I don’t know how exactly I expected to be able to hear the movie. It’s my fault for being Generation Z, I guess.”

Last week, Clay Lundquist, 43, the owner of a marketing and production company in Redmond, Washington, flew to Phoenix to watch major-league baseball spring training. When the games got cancelled, he was looking for something entertaining and safe to do. “We wouldn’t have gone to a regular theatre,” he said. But a drive-in theatre sounded fun.

He hadn’t been to one in 20 years, and his wife, Amber Lundquist, 40, had never been.

At West Wind, an old-school establishment in Glendale, Arizona, with (now-abandoned) playgrounds and arcade games, they watched The Invisible Man and The Hunt.

People were even dancing by their cars at intermission, although there is a rule that they must stay in their car at all times except to use the restroom. “We made the choice to make the most of our time,” Lundquist said. “I do feel that if people did try a drive-in they would see the magic of the experience.”

Drive-in theatres that are open are taking extra precautions to ensure social distancing. At the Blue Starlite, you can now just flash your tickets on your phone from your window to gain admission. Many theatres have started having people order concessions by phone. Servers wearing latex gloves deliver them to the car so crowds don’t congregate in concession stands.

There are some drive-in theatres that would love to open right now but are prevented by restrictions or their worries.

After advertising on social media that it would open seven days a week while children are out of school, the Summer Quartet Drive-In in Memphis was forced to close Wednesday because it is operated by Malco, and the company closed all its theatres.

Brian Francis, who runs the 99W Drive-In Theatre in Newberg, Oregon, received 30 messages from customers in the past week asking him to open early. “Folks are thinking that the drive-in is the original social distance way to see a movie, and this is some kind of golden opportunity for the vanishing drive-ins to shine,” he wrote in an email.

But Francis is hesitant to do so until he is sure Oregon won’t implement a lockdown. He is in touch with the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, the Oregon Health Authority and his state representative to see “when, if, and how we can open for the 2020 season,” he said. “I want to do my part to flatten the curve.”

New York Times