Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Digital movies could mean the end for remaining drive-in theatres

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Posted by Frank Cox (Member # 6258) on 06-16-2012, 12:25 AM:

Digital movies could mean the end for remaining drive-in theatres (includes video)

quote:
Winnipeg's last drive-in theatre, the Odeon Drive-In, closed in 2008 but there are still three left in the province: the Stardust Drive-In in Morden; the Shamrock Drive-In in Killarney; and the Big Island Drive-In in Flin Flon.

However, their days may also be numbered. The movie industry has warned movie theatres it is converting completely to digital format starting in 2013. Some movie production companies have already gone solely digital.

At Morden's Stardust Drive-In, Marlene Nelson shares ownership with her brothers Ken and Larry Freund. Behind the scenes of the giant outdoor screen the families still make fresh popcorn and run two giant projectors, just like when the drive-in first opened in 1964.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 06-16-2012, 12:32 AM:

[SIGH] More misinformation from the media.

- The movie industry HAS NOT announced that it's completely converting in 2013. One company (Fox) said in 2011 that their end-of-film day will come "in the next year or two," but has not given a definite date. The other distributors have not set a date at all. (Not that I'm saying film isn't going to end, mind you.)

- Many drive-ins have (and are still) converting to digital, so it's not exactly an automatic end for all drive-ins, as the article implies.

I don't know who is more irritating: The writers who write this half-baked crap or the editors who allow it into publication.

Posted by Brent Francis (Member # 5008) on 06-16-2012, 02:39 PM:

How about that guy in another post trying to build a drive-in in Haiti? He had the right idea (everybody's got a car + no theatres). But is there any point now?

Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 06-16-2012, 02:53 PM:

One of my very good friends is converting drive-ins in Florida. They're certainly not closing.

In fact, they're simulcasting stereo as well as multichannel sound, for those cars that support it.

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 06-16-2012, 03:43 PM:

I am not sure about the neighbor islands of Hawaii but The island of Oahu had four drive in theatres operating at one time. One of them was even equipped to show 70mm films and they did once. It was the Kailua Drive In and they showed MY FAIR LADY when the print moved over there from the CInerama when they finished their road show run of the film. The others were the Waialae and the Royal Sunset operated by Royal Theatres and the Kam operated by Consolidated in addition to the Kailua. At one time, there was a fifth theatre, consolidated's Kaoiolani. Consolidated did not own the real estate at their Kam and Kailua drive in theatres but they owned the Kapiilani real estate and felt the land located right in the heart of the city of Honolulu at the gateway to Wakiki was too valuable to use for a drive in theatre so they closed it in the fifties and commercially developed it. One of the business to locate at the newly developed site was the Toho Theatre owned and operated by the Toho Motion Picture of Japan for the first run showing of all of their films in the United States along with their other theatre in Los Angeles, the Toho La Brea. The Toho was later leased to Consolidated and the name of the theatre was changed to the Kapiolani.

All of the drive in theatres in Honolulu closed years ago and today, there are none in Hawaii.

-Claude