Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Possible new use for drive-ins theatres in daytime

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Posted by Peter Berrett (Member # 672) on 07-30-2002, 03:32 AM:

Hi all

Recently my young daughter and I have been going to various kids centres that are located in major shopping centres in Melbourne. I don't know if you have these overseas or not. Basically they consist of an indoor play centre with rides, slides, swings, toys and a number of other things to keeps kids happy. Adults are free and kids cost $A5-6. There is generally a snack bar located on site for the hungry parents as well.

These centres are a relatively new innovation here in Melbourne and are proving very very popular with parents with young kids.

Whilst watching my daughter play in one of these centres on the weekend it struck me that one could utilise a drive-in site to do the same thing. Drive-ins operate at night so in the daytime they are just one big car park with a useless snack bar sitting idle. If one was to build a kids play centre in the centre of the lot, linked to the snack bar, then the drive-in could be usefully utlilised during daylight hours to earn revenue. Obviously there is no problems with parking.

Does anyone know of any drive-ins that have been successfully utilised during daylight hours in this way, or of other ways drive-ins have been used during daylight hours (aside from weekend markets or as chruches).

cheers Peter

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 07-30-2002, 04:08 AM:

I think drive-ins should play matinee kid movies. A different kid movie on each of the 36 screens. If you look closely, you MIGHT be able to see the picture. But that doesn't matter because people don't go to the drive in to see a movie, they go for "the experience".

And it beats the Flea Market which occupies the drive-in lot during the days on the weekends. I bet they could easily do this during the dark season in Alaska. Too bad no one lives there!

Anyone ever interlock a print in a drive in?

Posted by Bob Maar (Member # 763) on 07-30-2002, 10:05 AM:

Joe Said: (Anyone ever interlock a print in a drive in?)

I once interlocked with Georgia Print at a drive-in. Does that count?

Maybe it wasn't Print but Peach.

Posted by Joshua Lott (Member # 240) on 07-30-2002, 10:44 AM:

*AHEM*

No one lives in Alaska... Come on now only a few hundred thousand people in the entire state... and you say no one lives here.

They used to have a drive in theatre in the Anchorage area. Years ago an indoor theatre was built there.

Running movies in the summer would prove to be difficult at best as the sun doesn't really go down. It kinda just goes across the horizon. In the winter it gets down to 4-6 hours of day light per day in dec.

Posted by Gerard S. Cohen (Member # 994) on 07-30-2002, 12:03 PM:

Joshua wrote,

<<Running movies in the summer would prove to be difficult at best as the sun doesn't really go down>>

Couldn't an electrician install a switch? As George Herriman's Krazy Kat said, in a 1926 strip, apropos electrification of Coconino County,

"This switch turns on the light. And this switch turns on the dark."

Gerard

Posted by Peter Berrett (Member # 672) on 08-04-2002, 10:08 PM:

Hi again

With all this discussion about Alaskan Drive-ins I can't help but put a plug in for my web site
Drive-in Theatres Of The South Pacific

In fact there were 3 Alaskan Drive-ins and I have links off my Alaskan page to photos of some of them.

Check out the PNG and Singapore pages which have quite extensive information about those respective Drive-ins. I hope to visit the (still open!) Hickson Drive-in theatre at Mont Dore in New Caledonia one day.

Enjoy!

cheers Peter