Drive-In Theater: Difference between revisions

[[File:Drive-In_TheaterIn Theater.jpg|frame|An iconic image from the drive-in's heyday. The movie is ''[[The Ten Commandments]]''.]]

'''The Beginning:''' The drive-in theater was created in 1933 by chemical company magnate Richard M. Hollingshead Jr., who opened the first one in Pennsauken Township, [[Joisey|New Jersey]]. It was popular enough that [[Follow the Leader|similar theaters began to open around the country]]. The drive-in became known as a place where a family could enjoy watching movies from the privacy of their car.

'''The Fall:''' Drive-ins gradually declined for a number of reasons. The real estate they used became too valuable to "waste" on a business which could operate for only a few hours a day, a few months a year, and even then was subject to bad weather. Meanwhile, audiences began turning to cable TV and [[Home Video Tropes|home video]], cable or satellite TV for their movie fix, or hitting up the then-new concept of the multiplex theatercinema. North American motorcars had become smaller (and less comfortable) due to the various energy crises in [[The Seventies]]; the re-introduction of Daylight Savings Time as a conservation measure shifted the start time of every film an hour later. Some drive-ins responded by changing their emphasis from family fare to the [[Darker and Edgier|increasingly violent and sexually explicit]] exploitation and [[Horror Tropes|horror]] films that were, ironically, the successors to the 1950s [[B-Movie|B Movies]]s. (A few drive-ins even showed outright pornography.) Another common tactic was for drive-ins to add multiple screens. Some rented their land during the day to other businesses, such as flea markets-- — or managed such businesses themselves. A few operated amusement parks or other attractions to which the cinepark became merely a sideline. Especially in urban areas, the vast expanses of land necessary for a drive-in became too expensive to maintain, and the land was sold for redevelopment because it just wasn't financially feasible to keep it open. ThereforeThe same pressures with land costs were killing independent motels in favour of economy limited service hotel chains, manywhile the drive-in "car hop" restaurant was supplanted by the drive-through format. Most drive-ins were forced to close between [[The Seventies]] and the [[Turn of the Millennium]], with additional closures in the twenty-first century as studios refused to continue distributing content as reels of photographic film; the six-figure expense of new digital projectors (as the feature now arrived on computer hard drives) was often difficult to justify for a small, purely-seasonal business which was already struggling. In many cases, the land was even turned over to build a shiny new multiplex theatercinema. It seemed that the drive-in was headed for extinction—or was it?

'''The Resurgence:''' In the 2000s and 2010s, drive-ins have enjoyed a [[Revival]]; a few new theaters have even opened in the last few years. Some of this is due to Baby Boomer nostalgia, although many current21st-century drive-in visitors are too young to remember the medium's heyday. Also, a "guerrilla drive-in" movement has developed to show films in parks, parking lots and other open urban spaces. Drive-ins received an additional popularity bump during the 2020 pandemic: people could go to see a movie on a big screen ''and'' maintain physical distance from everybody else at the same time. Although it's unlikely that drive-ins will ever again be as numerous as they were during [[The Fifties]], it seems that they're here to stay-- — at least for the foreseeable future.

During [[Intermission|intermissionsintermission]]s, drive-ins traditionally show [[Advertising Tropes|advertisements]] for the snack bar, as well as [[Public Service Announcement|public service announcements]], ads for local merchants, safety messages and reminders of when the next movie is going to start ("10 minutes to showtime!"). These peppy, often animated ads have a following of their own; many are available on DVD compilations and in the Internet Archive's [http://www.archive.org/details/DriveInMovieAds Moving Image Archive].

They've also changed as technology improved. Originally, Drive-ins had physical speakers, attached by wire to a post, which you removed from the post, rolled down your window, placed the speaker inside, then rolled up the window. This often caused people to forget they had the speaker attached, causing them to drive off, usually ripping the speaker off the post and possibly breaking the window. (Some very small ones just had a single, large speaker.) Today, drive ins have low-power broadcast transmitters, that send the audio to your car radio. Some drive-ins even have digital sound (usually the DTS format, since they are the only company that does installations for digital sound in drive-ins). This also means, if the car has good stereo, that the sound can be as good as that in a high-quality walk-in theater. Some drive-ins run AM as well as FM signals for the few people who don't have FM radio.

* There's an especially bad slasher film called ''[[Drive in-In Massacre (Film)|Drive in Massacre]]''.

* ''[[Explorers (Film)|Explorers]]'' has a memorable scene where the home-built spaceship flies slowly across the screen of a drive-in movie theater in the middle of a campy 1950's sci-fi schlockfest. A patron in one of the cars complains that the special effects look fake, thinking it's part of the movie, and claims to be able to see the string. Then the ship turns and zooms right over his head, and he spills his popcorn in shock.

* One was featured in a [[Played for Laughs]] scene in ''[[Back to Thethe Future (Filmfilm)|Back to The Future]] Part 3''.

* Sean from ''[[The Monster Squad (Film)|The Monster Squad]]'' lives near one, and he sometimes sits on his roof to catch free movies with his dad (don't remember if they had a radio with them, but they could hear the movie).

* The ending of ''[[Pee Wee-wee's Big Adventure (Film)|Pee Wees Big Adventure]]''.

* One of the scenes in ''[[Air Buddies]]'' has the puppies go to a drive-in theatre and interrupt the showing of ''[[101 Dalmatians (Disney)|One Hundred and One Dalmatians]]''. A biker gang is there watching the movie, and when the puppies pass by them... they ''literally'' [[Pet the Dog]].

* ''[[Cars (film)|Cars]]'': The characters are watching parodies of other [[Pixar]] films at the end of the movie; since they're all vehicles of some sort, [[Captain Obvious|of course it's a drive-in theatre]].

* In ''[[Red Dawn (Film)|Red Dawn]]'', the [[Dirty Communists]] turn this icon of American culture into a prison/reeducation camp.

* [[Wikipedia (Wiki)|Wikipedia]] describes the Australian feature ''[[Dead End Drive In|Dead End Drive-In]]'' as "a 1986 science-fiction Ozploitation Film about a teenage couple who become trapped in a drive-in theater which is really a concentration camp for societal rejects who are fed a steady diet of junk food, rock and pop music, and movies."

* [[Stanley Kubrick]]'s ''[[Lolita (Literature)|Lolita]]'' has Humbert sitting between Lolita and Mrs. Hayes at a drive-in showing the Hammer Film ''[[Frankenstein (Filmfilm)|Frankenstein]]''. At a shocking moment hands grab other hands, with awkward consequences.

* The original ''[[That Darn Cat (Film)|That Darn Cat]]'' features a [[Chase Scene]] at a drive-in.

* ''[[Blood Rage (Film)|Blood Rage]]'' begins at a drive-in, where the killer (then a young boy) claims his first victim by hacking up a random patron up with an axe that was lying around... for some reason.

* The killer gets chased to a drive-in by angry bikers in ''[[New Years Evil (Film)|New YearsYear's Evil]]''. He escapes by knifing one of them and hijacking a car.

* This might be how [[The Dresden Files (Literature)|Harry Dresden]], who makes pop culture references all the time despite being [[Walking Techbane]], manages see most movies. However, it's possible that he just goes to normal movie theaters and is careful to sit far from the projector.

* In an early episode of ''[[That/That 70 s Show|That]]'' Eric, Donna, Kelso and Jackie go to the local drive-in to watch ''[[The Omen (Film)|The Omen]]'' - well, actually to make out.

* In ''[[Green Acres (TV)|Green Acres]]'', Oliver and Lisa go to a drive-in, while in the pick-up truck next to them, a couple are busy [[Make-Out Kids|making out with extreme passion]]. Oliver tries to pull the speaker off of the post, but it's too short, it flies back, smashing the driver's side window of that same vehicle. The couple is so busy with heavy necking that ''they never even notice''.

* [[Angel (TV)|Angel]] takes Connor to a drive-in in an attempt at father-son bonding.

* In the "Julie" segment of the [[Made for TV]] [[Anthology Film]] ''[[Trilogy of Terror (Film)|Trilogy of Terror]]'', a student who has [[Hot for Teacher|an unhealthy obsession with his teacher]] takes her on a date to a drive-in, knocks her out with [[Slipping a Mickey|a spiked drink]], then takes [[Blackmail|compromising photos]] of her while she's unconscious.

* One of the last episodes of ''[[Cold Case (TV)|Cold Case]]'' began with a guy getting sniped in a drive-in.

* The ''[[Mission: Impossible (TV series)|Mission Impossible]]'' episode "The Psychic" begins with Briggs receiving his assignment at a drive-in.

* An episode of ''[[Family Matters (TV)|Family Matters]]'' took place at a drive-in and focused on the dates of Laura, Steve, and Waldo. The latter of which didn't even come in a car, rather Maxine and he just walk in with folding chairs and coolers.

* ''[[Vigilante 8 (Video Game)|Vigilante 8]]: 2nd Offense'' had a level set in a desert which featured one of these; driving through the screen would get you a power-up and (depending on the character) is necessary to complete the level.

* ''[[Fallout 3 (Video Game)|Fallout 3]]'' has a drive-in theater. [[Tear Jerker|One of the cars has two skeletons embracing on the hood.]]

* One of the fields in ''[[Backyard Sports (Video Game)|Backyard Baseball]]'' is Starlite Orchards Drive-In.

* One of the stages in the first ''[[Destroy All Humans!]]'' has a drive-in theater.

* An abandoned drive-in is present in the ''Stilwater'' of ''[[Saints Row 2 (Video Game)|Saints Row 2]]'', just north of Stilwater University, and used as part of one of the [[Career Killers|Hitman]] Activities. Complete with boarded up building, old speakers on poles, rusted up cars, and [[Hobos|homeless bums]]!

* The multiplayer map "Drive-In" from ''[[Call of Duty: Black Ops (Video Game)|Call of Duty Black Ops]]'' is set in an [[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin|abandoned drive-in]]. Besides having an arcade with [[Easter Egg|Call of Duty: World At War]] games, the old movie screen has a chunk torn out of it to make an effective sniping post.

* The syndicated opening and closing credits of ''[[The Flintstones (Animation)|The Flintstones]]'' feature the "modern stone age family" visiting a drive-in theater.

* A drive-in also appears in ''[[Scooby -Doo and Thethe Reluctant Werewolf (Animation)|Scooby Doo and The Reluctant Werewolf]]''.

* In an episode of ''[[The Simpsons (Animationanimation)|The Simpsons]]'', Marge and Homer double-date with Grandpa and his girlfriend, Zelda, to a drive-in to see ''Dude, Where's My Virginity?''. Grandpa and Zelda start making out in the front seat.

** In another episode, Apu reveals that he sometimes gets up on the roof of the Kwik-E-Mart so he can watch movies at the drive in across the street for free.

* The Jersey Drive-In is the battleground for the penultimate episode of ''[[Megas XLR (Animation)|Megas XLR]]'' in "Universal Remote". It's mentioned that Coop destroyed all the other drive-ins in Jersey. They also sneak Goat in the trunk of Megas because sneaking people into the drive-through is a "time-honored tradition".

* The ''[[The Magic School Bus (Literature)|Magic School Bus]]'' episode "Spins a Web" shows the students seen into a Movie Within a Show on a drive-in screen in which they soon find themselves. As with most shows to feature a drive-in that isn't a period piece, a [[B-Movie]] is being shown.

* The ''[[Animaniacs (Animation)|Animaniacs]]'' episode "Drive Insane" features the Warners crashing Dr. Scratchansniff's date at a drive-in theater. There's a joke featuring them bouncing around in the car that will go over the heads of kids [[Parental Bonus|but will mean plenty to adults]].

* The ''[[My Life As a Teenage Robot (Animation)|My Life Asas a Teenage Robot]]'' episode "Future Scope" features a drive-in movie theater, but this is likely due to the [[Days of Future Past|Retro-Future]] feel of the series.

* There was a one-hour ''[[Rugrats (Animation)|Rugrats]]'' special, "Runaway Reptar", that was partly set at a drive-in theater.

* The ''[[Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers (Animationanimation)|Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers]]'' episode "Good Times, Bat Times" begins at a drive-in theater.

* Part of the ''[[Pac-Man (Animationanimation)|Pac-Man]]'' episode "Pacula" took place at a drive-in theater.

* The ''[[Aqua Teen Hunger Force (Animation)|Aqua Teen Hunger Force]]'' movie has a parody of snack bar advertisements in which friendly, anthropomorphic snack food mascots are replaced by the metal band Mastodon.

* The ''[[Two Stupid Dogs (Animation)|Two Stupid Dogs]]'' episode "At the Drive-In". Watching the movie, Little Dog comments on how bad the movie is and wonders why people would go there. Cue the bouncing and rocking cars.

* On ''[[Beavis and Butthead (Animation)|Beavis and Butthead]]'', the two go to a drive-in, but since they naturally don't have a car, they wander around. They take a picture of a hideous she-beast having sex in her van, and spend the rest of the episode fleeing her.

* The credits of ''[[Johnny Bravo (Animation)|Johnny Bravo]]'' were "projected" onto a drive-in screen.

* ''[[Casper the Friendly Ghost (Animation)|Casper's Haunted Christmas]]'' begins with the Ghostly Trio wreaking havoc at a drive-in.

* Synergy, the supercomputer of Jerrica "[[Jem (Animation)|Jem]]" Benton and her family, was found at the Starlight Drive-In.

* In the ''[[Ruby-Spears Superman (Animation)|Ruby-Spears Superman]]'' episode "Bonechill", the titular villain makes the monsters from a [[B-Movie]] shown at a drive-in come to life.

* Finn and Marceline crash one of these in at end of the the ''[[Adventure Time (Animation)|Adventure Time]]'' episode, ''Go With Me''.

* One episode of ''[[American Dad (Animation)|American Dad]]!'' had Roger gaining some old 80's movies and a pack of cars mistakenly sent to the Smith house. Steve, in another attempt to get a girl, has Roger play the movies on the side of the neighboring house while Steve, his friends, and the current girl of his attention and her friends watch from the cars as a makeshift drive in.

* Was the focus of an episode of ''[[The Replacements (Animationanimation)|The Replacements]]'' when Riley starts working there but finds the manager too strict and has him replaced with a film director {{spoiler|who promptly gets the place closed down due to horrible management.}}

{{quote| :''Thank you for reading the Drive-In Theater page! [[TV Tropes (Wiki)|TV Tropes]]Allthetropes.org appreciates your patronage. Please remember to replace the speaker on the post when you leave the theater, and have a pleasant evening.''}}