This is topic August Moon "Drive In" in forum Digital Cinema Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.


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Posted by Michael Cornish (Member # 6529) on 06-28-2018, 07:04 PM:
 
Has anyone else scene information on the August Moon Drive In opening near Nashville sometime this year? It sounds like a fantastic idea but the up front cost is out of this world. This is their website https://augustmoondrivein.com. Also Variety has had several right ups on it.
 

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Posted by Barry Floyd (Member # 385) on 06-28-2018, 07:25 PM:
 
As the guy who owns the closest "REAL" drive-in to Nashville, we've been following this very closely. With that being said... they haven't broken ground yet. It ain't happening this year from what we can see. My wife and I end up at Nashville's Restaurant Depot every weekend buying more food for the drive-in, which is literally right across the street from where they propose to build this thing.

What they are building is NOT a drive-in... not even close. It's more of a themed restaurant on the lines of Planet Hollywood, Hard Rock Cafe, Rain Forest Cafe', etc... but it's "Drive-In Theater" themed. It's such a novel concept that Disney built one just like it about 20 years ago (Sci-Fi Dine In Drive-In) in the Hollywood Studios theme park.

Their information on their website shows they'll have 40 "classic cars" parked inside their enclosed dome, and various other seating areas ("Tree House Seating") scattered around inside the dome. They'll do the dinner and movie concept like Studio Movie Grill and others, just drive-in themed. They said they'll show first run features, but also have retro programming as well.

The area in which they propose to build it is a heavy industrial area about 3 blocks away from the Tennessee Titans stadium. I can't see how using such valuable land to build something like this makes any financial sense. Last I saw, they had an estimate cost of approximately $10 million to build it. If they really want to go into the drive-in business, they could buy mine for half that!
 

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Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 07-07-2018, 09:36 PM:
 
Wow...pretty impressive if they can actually get it off the ground. Nice thing about the concept is that it can be run during the day, although I have seen those blowup bubble buildings and at least the ones I have seen, they are made of some kind of translucent material which may let enough daylight thru to thwart daytime operation. Also, there would be the issue of traffic noise and depending on the proximity to the stadium, crowd noise could also be a factor. At the stadium on campus at NDU, we could be a half mile away from the stadium and still hear the roar of the crown during touchdowns.

Still, if they could actually get this off the ground and viable, it could become a real tourist attraction, much like Rock and Roll McDonald's in Chicago (although much to my disappointment, on my trip there last month, I was shocked to find it demolished).
 

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Posted by Jack Ondracek (Member # 1466) on 07-08-2018, 01:07 PM:
 
Seems way to top-heavy, cost-wise, considering how many people they can stuff into 40 cars. I may be jaded, considering I have a real drive-in, but why would you go to a theme park when the real thing is just down the street... and probably less expensive to attend?
 

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Posted by Tony Bandiera Jr (Member # 2365) on 07-09-2018, 04:14 PM:
 
Jack, the ONLY advantages I can see for this concept are:

• Weather is not a factor
• Time of day won't matter

Other than those two things, with the VERY limited capacity you point out (and I don't think the "tree swings" and other cutesy idears will add that much more), I agree the concept is way too top heavy to succeed.
The fact that, close to eight months into the year they said they'd open, the groundbreaking hasn't even happened yet, speaks volumes.

Nice concept, maybe back in the 60's, 70's or 80's when media was different, it would have worked.

But with today's "moviegoers" being perfectly happy to watch streaming movies on a smartphone, no way it will ever be profitable.

Now, if you built a location with hundreds of private "rooms" with a massively huge 4g capability, so one can "watch" a movie on the phone in privacy, you might have a winner.
 

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Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 07-10-2018, 09:53 PM:
 
From what I can tell it still hasn't opened. I am movng there next week, gotta get out of this horrible air here in Salt Lake Silly and have quite a few friends living there. So I will have some time to check it out if it did somehow open. I think they are still looking for investors though.

Mark
 

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Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 07-11-2018, 04:21 AM:
 
Thing is, while they seem to be emphasizing the vintage car idea, i.e., a DI movie theatre concept, since they have will have to have a real sound system (they are not using window speakers, there is no reason whey they couldn't have a seating section so as to give it a capacity that would at least allow some profit potential. But even if they COULD make a profit it will be limited at best, i.e., no one is going become a millionaire with this venture so that leaves it vulnerable to the threat that has done in so many DIs -- that of the land grab. And this one, even more-so.

This is in the middle or even on the outskirts of a metropolitan city -- there will be developers who always looking to purchase such valuable land and will offer very tempting sums to put their condos or big box stores or whatever on land that from the standpoint of profit potential simply makes no sense to turn down those offers. Many a mom-and-pop Drive-in closed when some greasy developer came and offered what amounted to a massive retirement plane for those hard working people....a sum that would set them up for a comfortable life and which they couldn't refuse. Same here. Say they do get investors and enough capital (it certainly is a very unique and sexy idea that might attract investors), again it might take year to amortize followed by modest profit if they are lucky; it might not take much of an offer to have everyone throw in the towel when a buy-out comes along.
 

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Posted by Marcel Birgelen (Member # 6801) on 07-11-2018, 09:10 AM:
 
Maybe they hope to make this profitable by selling tons of premium concessions like full-meals.

It's a great idea, but the capacity is really a problem, even if you sell your tickets at premium prices and even though you don't need to account for the weather or light, you can't really fit more than two shows in an evening.

Maybe you can also put a stage in front and sell some tickets at premium prices for some live shows...
 

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Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 07-11-2018, 11:06 AM:
 
I tend to agree with what Frank said. And having already spent time there I've seen lots of development going on just like anywhere else. What it really all depends on are the property taxes. Its property taxes that put many DI's out of business once those taxes exceed profits. Today you either need multi-screens at a DI, or an indoor multiplex to make the project pay back.

Mark
 

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Posted by Barry Floyd (Member # 385) on 07-13-2018, 01:26 PM:
 

quote: Mark Gulbrandsen

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From what I can tell it still hasn't opened. I am moving there next week, gotta get out of this horrible air here in Salt Lake Silly and have quite a few friends living there.

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quote: Barry Floyd

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You're moving to Nashville? That's awesome. Come see us sometime.

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