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Author Topic: Debating on buying Drive-In Steve Greeno Film Handler Posts: 15 From: Frankfort, In. USA Registered: May 2008 posted 12-15-2009 09:11 PM                     Yes, it gets dark around 9:30 in the summer. The screen will need painted but still in good condition. A friend of mine owns a restoration company and has several lifts so I know I could get the screen done fairly reasonable. Most of what is visible needs plain old elbow grease. We have yet to meet with the owners and check out the equipment. Hope to do this soon.  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 12-15-2009 11:49 PM                        The numbers aren't terrible. At least the place makes a profit right now. Obviously, the new owner will be spending more on maintenance, unless he just wants to run the place into the ground and then sell the land. It would be interesting to see the numbers from the previous few years. Unless something has changed recently, or is likely to change, it might be worth considering. As for , no distributor has, as far as I know, threatened to stop making film prints available. Presumably, this will happen at some point, but it's many years away. As long as there is nothing about that location that would physically prevent installing a projector (such as not having 3-phase power or the ability to install it), I wouldn't worry about it. The equipment is only going to get better and cheaper over time, and the economics might actually work out in the future (they don't now). Good luck!  |  IP: Logged Barry Floyd Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1079 From: Lebanon, Tennessee, USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 12-16-2009 09:37 AM                        quote: Scott Norwood As for , no distributor has, as far as I know, threatened to stop making film prints available We haven't seen a "no 35mm prints made" scenerio yet, but have faced a couple of "no 35mm prints available for you" situations. Mostly this past fall when "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" came out. Seems most of the big indoors were playing it on their 3D screen for the first couple of weeks, then when the next big 3D thing came in, "Cloudy" got bumped to one of their 35mm screens and all of the available 35mm prints went to the indoors who were holding it over in 2D. By the time we got it (4 weeks after the break) it was basically "played out" and our weather had already turned cold. If we could have gotten a print of it on the break when the weather was 70+ degrees in the evenings it had the potential to be huge, instead it was just another cartoon that everyone had already seen. I do think as the digital 3D installations grow in numbers, we will eventually see a "Digital 3D ONLY" film release - if the consumers will continue to put up with the "premium add-on's" on ticket prices for 3D.  |  IP: Logged Paul J. Neuhaus Expert Film Handler Posts: 126 From: Iraq.. Again! Registered: Jun 2005 posted 12-16-2009 11:54 AM                     quote: Todd McCracken Light pollution seems to have been the demise of all the close to Los Angeles drive ins I have seen this a couple of times especially if there are car dealerships nearby that just drown out the film on screen.  |  IP: Logged Robert E. Allen Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1078 From: Checotah, Oklahoma Registered: Jul 2002 posted 12-16-2009 04:36 PM                     Hey Steve: If you go ahead with this project and need a manager or assistant contact me.  |  IP: Logged Barry Floyd Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1079 From: Lebanon, Tennessee, USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 01-14-2010 08:57 AM                        What ever happened here? Do you go for it? Still for sale? Just curious.  |  IP: Logged Steve Greeno Film Handler Posts: 15 From: Frankfort, In. USA Registered: May 2008 posted 01-16-2010 11:56 PM                     Haven't moved on the Drive-in as of yet. The realtor has this Drive-in listed as commercial property for sale on their website. No mention of it being a Drive-in. We have been waiting for a break in the weather to get out there and check the place out. Hopefully here soon we will be meeting with the owners. Still keeping in contact with the realtor. Will post on here first thing when we get to see the place.  |  IP: Logged Louis Bornwasser Film God Posts: 4441 From: prospect ky usa Registered: Mar 2005 posted 01-17-2010 07:35 AM                        Steve; drive ins in Indiana were hurt badly by advancing the time (in the Summer) by 2 hours. Many contained old equipment that produced a dark picture. Theatres closed rather than fix the problem. We (in Kentucky) went through this back in about 1962; those who put in "maximum power" continued, others did not. The issue is start time; when is "too late?" Louis  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 01-17-2010 10:07 AM                     The Spud Drive in located in Victor Idaho was just purchased for in excess fo 400K. Rumor has it they are going to switch to digital. Must be someones pet project.  |  IP: Logged Jack Ondracek Film God Posts: 2348 From: Port Orchard, WA, USA Registered: Oct 2002 posted 01-17-2010 12:45 PM                        quote: Mark Gulbrandsen The Spud Drive in located in Victor Idaho was just purchased for in excess fo 400K. Rumor has it they are going to switch to digital. If they do, a lot of other drive-in owners will be watching. As far as I know, no drive-in has done this yet. Several years ago, NEC demonstrated their equipment at the Transit Drive-In (Lockport, NY). It looked better than many expected, though it took a lot of effort by the local techs to get/keep it there. quote: Louis Bornwasser Many contained old equipment that produced a dark picture. A few of them only have single phase power. A couple have had decent results, tying a couple of Super Lume-X supplies together. Others figured out right away that you could get 4K service out of the 7K Strong switchers. But you're right about some drive-ins being underpowered. It amazes me how many are running fairly large screens on super Lume-X lamphouses & see nothing wrong with it.  |  IP: Logged Barry Floyd Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1079 From: Lebanon, Tennessee, USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 01-18-2010 10:31 AM                        quote: Jack Ondracek Several years ago, NEC demonstrated their equipment at the Transit Drive-In (Lockport, NY). It looked better than many expected, though it took a lot of effort by the local techs to get/keep it there. We had a guy several years ago propose to his girlfriend via video projector on the drive-in screen. He was a student at Watkins Film school in Nashville, and brought with him a small conference room sized video projector. Ended up running a 150 foot extension cord from the ticket booth to his car on the second row. He put the video projector on the roof of his car and it actually looked pretty decent. Not cinema quality, but it was a pretty good picture.  |  IP: Logged Jack Ondracek Film God Posts: 2348 From: Port Orchard, WA, USA Registered: Oct 2002 posted 01-18-2010 01:55 PM                        Yah, pretty amazing. Wish I could have seen that. The Tower Drive-In (Rule, TX) did some video gaming on their screen for awhile. There's a former drive-in that's been turned into a trailer park... ummm... "mobil home community". They left the screen up and now are running DVDs on one of those business projectors once a week for the residents. It's probably about what you described (projector on top of car), but there's no other drive-in around, so the locals are pretty enthusiastic about it.  |  IP: Logged Frank Angel Film God Posts: 5305 From: Brooklyn NY USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 01-18-2010 02:48 PM                        It seems that the ability of digital to produce good light levels has grown leaps and bounds in a very short time and that nemisis of it not being able to match film on larger screens is quickly becoming a thing of the past. Brad posted lumen outputs from a digital projector that were staggering (I searched but couldn't find that thread). I can't image at those levels, even a 100ft DI screen wouldn't light up just fine. We are using two R6+ Barcos (stacked) and I am getting an image with them on a 55ft screen that is as bright as film with a 4.5KW Orc (albeit nastily efficient as it is). And those Barcos came on the market in 2005 -- that's a long time as far as tech advances go. I bet if a Drive-In asked the manufacturers to do another demo like NEC did a few years back, they could do that quite easily lighting up an 80 to 100ft DI screen.  |  IP: Logged Louis Bornwasser Film God Posts: 4441 From: prospect ky usa Registered: Mar 2005 posted 01-18-2010 06:15 PM                        Check with the tech at the Transit; ran a 6k bulb at almost 8k to "meet the 35mm." Louis  |  IP: Logged Adam Fraser Master Film Handler Posts: 499 From: Houghton Lake, MI, USA Registered: Dec 2001 posted 01-19-2010 09:05 AM                        If that was for sale around here I would jump at the chance at a drive in for $150,000. The other indoor operators around here seem to want large amounts of money for poorly performing theatres. Example: $300k for a theatre that doesn't see 10k patrons a year. And the property is not valuable.  |  IP: Logged

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