Are Drive-Ins Making a Comeback in 2020?

Curbside Pick-Up or Delivery: the new ubiquitous Paper/Plastic question of our decade. We find ourselves more and more in our cars on our trips to stores across the US. Going inside any crowded place is fraught with lines and restrictions on access. Because the danger is the crowd.

So as states begin to discuss reopening, people have talked more and more about movie theaters. In particular: Why they should stay closed. And with the advent of more digital movies at home, and recent comments from NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell even caused AMC to ban future Universal theatrical releases for saying how much they will push in the digital direction.

But maybe digital is not for you. You want the theater experience: The food, the big screen, the massive subwoofers, the big chairs. Well, maybe as Americans find themselves more and more in cars to pick up food, essential items and, well, less-than essential items, they may find a nostalgic comfort in going back to the 1950s and 60s with Drive-In movie theater.

Here me out: You’ve got your own speakers right next to the car, or an AM radio station, and you’re at least 6 feet and contained from others. Everyone can be masked up as servers come to your window like the days of old, or at Sonic, whatever you prefer. The screen is massive, and the open-air environment means no worries about ventilation.

here are still some in operation today! I thought they would be few and far between. And, in some ways I was right, but not as much as I thought. In fact, there are websites dedicated to keeping active lists alive. I’ll have those links down below if you’re interested in seeing for yourself how popular it still is! In areas where these facilities aren’t available, there are online movements like Guerrilla Drive-Ins, where someone gets a projector, some speakers, finds a surface to project a film on and sets up shop. 

But this isn’t to say that we can’t have more drive-ins, right? Think of all the empty strip malls across our great land, but not of a place for squatters and pre-teen angst to fester and germinate into bad graffiti and worse skate videos. No, rather, I want you to imagine a parking lot with strategically placed chrome pillars of sonic pleasure.

A little call button lies waiting on the side made from a cheap red plastic and an LED ring that kind of works but not really. That’s for the server to bring you burgers, fries, milkshakes, all with gloved hands, masked faces and the sanitized care of a hospital wing under a state review

Before you and your trusty steel chariot lies a screen that would make an IMAX either jealous or hungry for a lawsuit. It is supported by being bolted to the face of the once glorious Sears that stood as an entrance to the once-bustling cesspool of disease and weird, niche chain restaurants in the food court except for that McDonalds. That was pretty decent, to be honest.

But as you have that thought, the trailers begin to play, and the entire car sits enraptured by the cinematic glory of yet another comic book adaptation being previewed before the feature: another comic book adaptation.

And everyone reacts to the movie and can sit and enjoy the company of others in a safe place. We can have that community love for film and joy that comes with laughing or gasping with everyone else. That energy, even if we all stay away in our cars, is still there. It’s different than on your couch. There is a flat feeling about it.

Community is a huge part of Cinema and that’s why it can’t go away. It can’t just die out as we all go further and further online and behind our screens. Yes, its safer for now, in the short term, but we need to find a longer term solution that’s fun and safe and keeps the love of theaters alive. So please consider, the next time you drive by that abandoned store with a giant parking lot, what it would look like draped with a screen and surrounded by all the cool cars around town.  

Peter James Mann is an Independent Writer and Contributor to Dork Daily.

As promised, for everyone interested, here are some resources to find Drive-Ins near you!

Fandom list of active drive-in’s

Driveinmovie.com: The Internet’s Oldest Drive-In Movie Resource

The United Drive In Theater Owners Association Website, with a list of all of its members from around the world.