News Coverage: The drive-in movie theatre is poised for a comeback in Vancouver
Howard is involved with a new drive-in movie theatre initiative which was recently covered by the Georgia Straight (May 20, 2020)
For your grandparents’ generation, the idea of drive-in theatres conjures memories of first dates in the front seats of Chevy Bel Airs and Chrysler Plymouth Furys, listening to Beach Party or Attack of the 50 Foot Woman on a scratchy speaker.
For your parents, it brings to mind wearing pyjamas and piling into sleeping bags in the back of the station wagon, waiting for the dancing hot dog to cue snack time on-screen.
At the drive-in’s height, thousands dotted North America. But thanks to the rise of the multiplex, digital projectors, video stores, and streaming—not to mention the decline of car culture—the number here in B.C. had been reduced to just three: the Starlight Drive-In located in Enderby; the Park Drive-In Theater in Prince George; and the Twilight Drive-In in Aldergrove.
Throughout the pandemic, the Twilight has been drawing people in droves (with new capacity limits, plus a requirement that everyone must be in a car). But now as many as three different groups are trying to secure large parking-lot areas in the heart of Vancouver for a new style of pandemic-era movie-watching. And the plans being bounced around go beyond nostalgic fare and into everything from screening culturally diverse programming to live events like concerts and grad ceremonies. Even the concession stands may look different than you’d expect.
That said, the proposals are inextricably tied up with nostalgia—which takes different forms, depending on who you speak to. “For me, coming from England, we didn’t have drive-ins, so for me as a young film nerd, the idea of the drive-in is almost wrapped up in that mythological lore of American cinema from the ’60s and ’70s,” says Tom Charity, year-round programmer at the Vancouver International Film Festival, one of the local organizations vying to set up a major drive-in screen here. “It was when American film was cool and there was that mythology of Roger Corman, the drive-in king and a mentor to Scorsese and Coppola and Demme.”
At press time, all that stood in the way was health-authority approval and city permits. VIFF, Point Blank Shows (headed by Howard Blank, past chair of Variety BC, working with Famous Artists Ltd. president Bill Allman and HiKu Productions’ Scott Hinde), and Fresh Air Cinema (a group known for staging outdoor screenings in Stanley Park each summer, and one that’s already held a drive-in in Pemberton since COVID lockdown hit) are all proposing concepts to get up and running by June.
Red the full article online here.