Drive-in theaters have been a part of the moviegoing landscape for 100 years, but current events have shifted them from a minor, seasonal player in the movie industry to the best game in town.
After delays, the sprawling Vali-Hi in Lake Elmo finally opened last week, but other drive-ins have been popping corn since mid-May, with rules in place to protect staff and customers during the COVID-19 pandemic, such as filling lots to only 50% capacity to make physical distancing possible.
The wide-open outdoor spaces of drive-in theaters have lately attracted non-movie events, rented out by day for graduations, church events and corporate meetings. Some have staged concerts. But the real business of drive-ins begins at dusk.
"The nice thing is everybody knows what to do and does what we ask," said Dave Quincer, owner of the Starlite Drive-In in Litchfield, one of two classic drive-ins in Minnesota still using signage from the 1950s (the other is the Long Drive-In in Long Prairie). "They're parking where we need them to park, observing the social distancing marks on the floor, following signs and doing what they're supposed to do."
In a textbook chicken-or-egg situation, studios have hesitated to release new movies until they're confident multiplexes will be widely open — Warner Bros. just moved the highly touted "Tenet" from July 17 to July 31 — but theater owners, who gradually began reopening last weekend, are reluctant to do so with no movies to play. And questions linger about the pandemic.
So operators of outdoor theaters have gotten creative. Some are screening recent-ish blockbusters (Vali-Hi will have "Jurassic World" and "Jumanji: The Next Level" this weekend). Others are showing pre-pandemic releases that still have some life in them: Pixar's "Onward" and Harrison Ford in "The Call of the Wild" have popped up a lot.
The Starlite has played those movies, but it has two screens, and one has been devoted to vintage titles such as "Grease" and "Beverly Hills Cop." This weekend offers maybe the splashiest retro bill, pairing classics that seem made for giant outdoor screens: "Jaws," which marks its 45th anniversary this weekend, and the original "Jurassic Park," which celebrated its 27th anniversary last week. "Jaws" will also chomp on swimmers at the Sky-Vu in Warren, Minn.
Response has been good. Quincer said the fact that people are heading out to see movies they could stream at home suggests that, when it's safe, customers will be eager to return to theaters.