Big Picture

For all the promise and potential that digital cinema technology offers, the dark reality is that many small independent theatres are all but certain to fail because of it. This is especially true of the American drive-in, a romantic business venture that has always faced long odds. And while the recent good news out of Texas does little to change that for the industry at large, for two drive-in theatres and their patrons the future is bright. Last month the Big Sky Drive-in in Midland and, a day or two later, the Stars & Stripes Drive-in in Lubbock, both went all digital, the first multi-screen drive-ins in the country to do so. From now on there will be some really bright lights in the Texas night. Here then, the tale of two drive-ins.

AMC opened a new multiplex in suburban Chicago this weekend with all the fanfare that one would expect when a major entertainment center debuts in a major urban area. Among the opening-week festivities there were celebrity appearances, contests and prizes. What should not be overlooked in all the excitement, however, is the fact that what AMC has also done is create a template for the environmentally friendly movie complex of the future.

The first annual CinemaCon, North America’s largest trade event for movie theatre owners, concluded in Las Vegas earlier this month and by all accounts was a great success. The show does not limit itself just to exhibitors, however, and includes appearances by the studio executives and filmmakers who make the movies that fill the big screen. Case in point: one luncheon during the week featured James Cameron, George Lucas and Jeffrey Katzenberg and the three incredibly successful filmmakers had a wide-ranging conversation about digital production and exhibition’s past, present and future.

Drive-ins have survived a long list of challenges over the years. For starters, in almost every region they’re seasonal businesses, limited in the number of showings they can offer because they have to wait until dusk to start. In the 1950s crusaders called them morally depraved and labeled them “passion pits,” a term that may or may not have helped business, depending on your perspective. The advent of color television in the 1960s took a small toll but the biggest challenge came in the 1980s when rising real estate prices made their properties more valuable for other uses. Faced with all of this it’s amazing that so many have survived. But they have and in some places the drive-in business is good. The irony is that digital technology, which is bringing so many new opportunities to the overall exhibition industry, may in fact be the one challenge most drive-ins simply can’t overcome.