Early drive-ins (before WWII) A partial drive-in theater—Theatre de Guadalupe—was opened in
Las Cruces, New Mexico on April 23, 1915: Seven hundred people may be comfortably seated in the auditorium. Automobile entrances and places for 40 or more cars within the theater grounds and in-line position to see the pictures and witness all performances on the stage is a feature of the place that will please car owners. The first movie shown by the Theatre de Guadalupe was
Bags of Gold, produced by
Siegmund Lubin. Theatre de Guadalupe was soon renamed
De Lux Theater before closing in July 1916. , New Jersey, 1933 In 1921, a drive-in was opened by Claude V. Caver in Comanche, Texas. Caver obtained a permit from the city to project films downtown. With cars parked bumper-to-bumper, patrons witnessed the screening of
silent films from their vehicles. In the 1920s "
outdoor movies" became a popular summer entertainment, but relatively few "drive-in" experiments were made due to logistical difficulties. The drive-in theater was patented in
Camden, New Jersey, by chemical company magnate
Richard M. Hollingshead Jr., whose family owned and operated the R.M. Hollingshead Corporation chemical plant in Camden. In 1932, Hollingshead conducted outdoor theater tests in his driveway at 212 Thomas Avenue in Riverton. After nailing a screen to trees in his backyard, he set a 1928
Kodak projector on the hood of his car and put a radio behind the screen, testing different sound levels with his car windows down and up. Blocks under vehicles in the driveway enabled him to determine the size and spacing of ramps so all automobiles could view the screen. Hollingshead applied for a patent of his invention on August 6, 1932, and he was given on May 16, 1933. Hollingshead's drive-in opened in New Jersey on June 6, 1933, at 2901
Admiral Wilson Boulevard in
Pennsauken Township, a short distance from Cooper River Park where the first commercial airport to serve Philadelphia was located – Central Airport. Rosemont Avenue now runs through where the theater was and is currently the site of Zinman Furs. It offered 400 slots He advertised his drive-in theater with the slogan, "The whole family is welcome, regardless of how noisy the children are." The first film shown was the
Adolphe Menjou film
Wives Beware. Failing to make a profit, Hollingshead sold the theater after three years to a
Union, New Jersey, theater owner who moved the infrastructure to that city, but the concept caught on nationwide. The April 15, 1934, opening of
Shankweiler's Auto Park in
Orefield, Pennsylvania, was followed by
Galveston's Drive-In Short Reel Theater (July 5, 1934), the Pico Drive-In Theater at Pico and Westwood boulevards in Los Angeles (September 9, 1934) and the Weymouth Drive-In Theatre in
Weymouth, Massachusetts (May 6, 1936). In 1937, three more opened in Ohio, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, with another 12 during 1938 and 1939 in California, Florida, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Texas and Virginia. Early drive-in theaters had to deal with sound issues. The original Hollingshead drive-in had speakers installed on the tower itself, which caused a sound delay affecting patrons at the rear of the drive-in's field. In 1935, the Pico Drive-in Theater attempted to solve this problem by having a row of speakers in front of the cars. In 1941,
RCA introduced in-car speakers with individual volume controls which solved the noise pollution issue and provided satisfactory sound to drive-in patrons. Just before
World War II, 9 of the 15 drive-in movie theaters open in the United States were operated by
Philip Smith, who promoted a family-friendly environment by allowing children to enter free and built playgrounds.
Peak (late 1940s–1960s) at this Ohio drive-in , was a reminder of by-gone days, having closed in 1984. The theater reopened in 2002 in
Clarendon, Texas. After 1945, rising car ownership and suburban and rural population led to a boom in drive-in theaters, with hundreds being opened each year. More couples were reunited and having children, resulting in the
Baby Boom, and more cars were being purchased following the end of wartime fuel rationing. By 1951, the number of drive-in movie theaters in the United States had increased from its 1947 total of 155 to 4,151.
and Invasion of the Saucer Men''.
Horror and
sci-fi were popular on the drive-in circuit, and specifically aimed at teens. The drive-in's peak popularity came in the late 1950s and early 1960s, particularly in rural areas, with over 4,000 drive-ins spread across the United States in 1958. At their height, some drive-ins used attention-grabbing gimmicks to boost attendance. They ranged from drawings for prizes and free admission, small airplane runways, helicopter or
hot air balloon rides, unusual attractions such as a small petting zoo or cage of monkeys, personal appearances by actors to open their movies, or musical groups to play before the show. Some drive-ins held Sunday religious services or charged a flat price per car on slow nights like Wednesdays or Sundays. On "buck" or "bargain" nights during the 1950s and 1960s, the admission price was one dollar per car; during the 1970s and '80s, bargain night admission was generally five dollars. As revenue was more limited than regular theaters since showings could only begin at twilight, there were abortive attempts to create suitable conditions for daylight viewing, such as large tent structures, but nothing viable was developed. One of the largest drive-in theaters was the Johnny All-Weather Drive-In in
Copiague, New York. Covering over 29 acres, it could park 2,500 vehicles. It had a full-service restaurant with seating on the roof and a trolley system to take children and adults to a playground and a large indoor theater for bad weather or for those who wanted to watch in air-conditioned comfort. The largest in the world was
Loew's Open Air in
Lynn, Massachusetts which could hold 5,000 cars.
Decline (1970s–1990s) Several factors contributed to the decline of the drive-in movie industry. Beginning in the late 1960s, drive-in attendance began to decline as the result of improvements and changes to home entertainment, from
color television and
cable TV to
VCRs and
video rental in the early 1980s. Additionally, the
1970s energy crisis led to the widespread adoption of
daylight saving time (which caused drive-in movies to start an hour later) and lower use of automobiles, making it increasingly difficult for drive-ins to remain profitable. Mainly following the advent of cable television and video cassette recorder (VCR), then with the arrival of DVD and streaming systems, families were able to enjoy movies in the comfort of their homes. The new entertainment technology increased the options and the movie watching experience. Many former drive-in movie sites remain, with several re-purposed as storage or
flea market sites, often after residential housing or other higher-value uses came to rural or sparsely populated areas where the drive-ins were located. In Michigan, former drive-in properties have become industrial parks, shopping centers, indoor theaters, and even churches (as with the Former Woodland Drive-In in Grand Rapids, MI). In Philadelphia, the South City Drive-In became the location of the original Spectrum in the late 1960s, with a small portion of its old property line extending into what would become the (now-demolished) Veterans Stadium complex. (Today, that small portion, combined with the original Spectrum location, is part of
Stateside Live!). Another example of a drive in-turned-flea market is Spotlight 88 in
North Sewickley Township, Pennsylvania, which ended business as a drive-in after an F3 tornado destroyed much of the property on
May 31, 1985. As a joke, after the tornado hit, the owners put up the "now-showing" sign
Gone with the Wind. It was most likely copied from a
Taylor, Michigan Drive in called Ecorse Drive-In. On July 16, 1980, a freak
derecho storm with 150 mph straight-line winds swept the Drive-In away leaving only the "now-showing" sign with the letters "Now Playing Gone with the Wind". The screen was rebuilt, but the business never recovered; by 1989, it was sold and now is the site of a
Kroger grocery store.
Revival and new drive-in formats (late 1990s–2000s) , 2009 , 2010 Beginning in the late 1970s and extending through the mid-1990s, those drive-ins still operating acquired a quasi-novelty status, catering to the wave of "boomer
nostalgia" and loyal patrons. This "retro" appeal eventually led to a revival of sorts by the end of the 1990s. This resurgence of the drive-in industry led to the inception of the "do-it-yourself" drive-in beginning in 2001, which used contemporary tools such as LCD projectors and micro radio transmitters. The first was the Liberation Drive-In in
Oakland, California, which sought to reclaim under-used urban spaces such as vacant parking lots in the downtown area. The following years have had a rise of the "guerrilla drive-in" movement, in which groups of dedicated individuals orchestrate similar outdoor film and video screenings. Showings are often organized online, and participants meet at specified locations to watch films projected on bridge pillars or warehouses. The content featured at these screenings has frequently been independent or experimental films, cult movies, or otherwise alternative programming. Aside from Oakland's Liberation, the best-known "guerrilla" drive-ins include the Santa Cruz Guerilla Drive-In in
Santa Cruz, California, North Bay Mobile Drive-In in
Novato, California,
MobMov in
San Francisco, California and
Hollywood, and more recently the Guerilla Drive-In Victoria in
Victoria, British Columbia. A similar, more recent concept is the "boutique" drive-in, which caters to a smaller audience, generally 30 to 50 vehicles (with some also offering seats in front of the screen). At the same time, food trucks are often used as concession stands. However, unlike the "guerrilla" format, this type of drive-in also generally presents mainstream fare, current releases, and popular classics. A key feature of this format is the focus on the "vintage" aesthetics of the drive-in. Faced with the closure of Hull's Drive-In in
Lexington, Virginia in 1999, the nonprofit group Hull's Angels formed to raise funds, buy the property, and operate the theater as a nonprofit venture specializing in family-friendly films. Hull's continues to be the nation's only nonprofit drive-in. By 2006, around 500 drive-in theaters were open in the United States, counting regularly operating venues (about 400) and those that held showings sporadically, usually during summertime, the highest number since the mid-1970s. The industry also rebounded in Canada and Australia during the early 2000s.
Present and digital conversion (late 2000s onwards) In the second half of the 2000s, drive-ins had another decline because of the oil crisis and a worsening economy. Reduced use of automobiles and more people moving out of suburban and rural areas during the 2010s have also put the drive-in's future at risk, with numbers again on the decline. By 2013, drive-ins comprised only 1.5% of total movie screens in the United States, with 389 theaters in operation nationwide, mostly located in the South and the West Coast (at the industry's height, about 25% of the nation's movie screens were at drive-ins). In 2010, the Galaxy Drive-In Movie Theater in
Ennis, Texas became the world's first drive-in theater to show
3-D films. In the fall of 2014, retro-themed burger chain
Johnny Rockets announced that it would team up with USA Drive-Ins to open 200 drive-ins by 2018, serving Johnny Rocket's food at the concession stands, but the plan never came to fruition, as did a proposed "Project Drive-In" scheme by Honda, which would have donated digital projectors. By 2018, less than 300 drive-in theaters were reported to operate worldwide, with only a handful outside North America. The ongoing conversion of film distribution from celluloid to digital also puts additional pressure on drive-in theaters. Most small drive-ins lack the finances (beginning at $70,000 per screen) needed to convert to digital projection. or similar digital display equipment in drive-in theatres, restrictions of the projector booth can be avoided; that is, no projector is needed. The move to digital conversion took its toll on the industry; by October 2019, figures for operating drive-in theaters rose to 305 because of increased numbers of smaller 'boutique' operations that had never used traditional projectors, while several older drive-ins have closed. ,
Germany During the
COVID-19 pandemic, drive-in theaters reported an unexpected surge in attendance in several U.S. states, as unlike with indoor theaters unable to operate because of
bans on mass gatherings, these were allowed to operate, with such events as graduations, because people are automatically separated from each other by their cars, and usually enough space remains to walk around and still practice proper
physical distancing. The largest drive-in theater in the world, the
Fort Lauderdale Swap Shop (opened 1963), doubles as the world's largest daily flea market.
Current drive-in theater experience (since 2020) There was some renewed interest in drive-in theaters among North American moviegoers at the outset of the 2020s. This trend was more apparent in 2020 through 2022. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, drive-ins accounted for an estimated 85 to 95 percent of North America's box office revenue according to a
CNN report. The article also claims that the new experience in drive-in cinemas is gaining popularity not just in North America but in other countries as well. After decades of decline, drive-in theaters re-emerged elsewhere. One of the countries where drive-in theaters is returning is the
United Kingdom. In North America, several new drive-in venues have opened recently with long-term business goals and expansion plans. Some owners believe that drive-ins will help renew and modernize the outdoor movie experience. Many of these new drive-in theaters feature updated designs that include electronic screen systems, allowing films to be shown during the day. These advancements improve both visual quality and convenience, removing the need to wait for darkness. Other improvements include upgraded concession areas and public facilities. One such example is LoCo Drive-In, a project by Whitener Company and London Entertainment LLC, which also plans to host additional social events such as car shows and community gatherings. Another modern example is The Drive-In Experience Ottawa, which opened in 2020 and now operates two locations in the Ottawa area. Beyond movie nights, the drive-in hosts live entertainment such as comedy shows and concerts, and offers site rentals for events including graduations and weddings. The venue provides a large screen, wireless in-car FM transmission, and a stage for live performances. According to the company, this community-oriented model is designed to sustain the drive-in experience into the future. The Ottawa Business Journal reports that local businesses and organizations can also rent the space to host private screenings and events. The venue can be used for activities such as yoga classes and fitness training. The director of The Drive-In Experience Ottawa stated that the goal is to help communities reconnect while hosting large-scale weekly entertainment for Ottawa residents. This trend extends beyond Ottawa. According to CTV, several drive-ins in Ontario and other provinces have expanded their offerings to include live concerts and various entertainment options while continuing to focus on family-friendly movie experiences. In Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, some drive-ins also host religious events and other community activities. == Drive-in theaters around the world ==