Originally published 2020-05-10.
When the coronavirus closed cinemas across the United States in the spring of 2020, one old American institution suddenly looked modern again: the drive-in. Families could watch a film from inside their own car, separated from strangers by metal, glass and a few metres of tarmac. By May 2020 drive-ins were being promoted by politicians, copied by restaurants and booked out weeks ahead in Germany and South Korea. Here is how that comeback unfolded, why it worked, and what it left behind.
Why drive-ins suddenly made sense in spring 2020
An indoor cinema is close to the worst possible place during an airborne epidemic: hundreds of people from different households share one room, in the dark, for two hours or more. As lockdowns spread in March 2020, roughly 40,000 American screens went dark, and studios began pushing their big releases back. The James Bond film No Time to Die, Wonder Woman 1984 and Disney's live-action Mulan were among the titles caught in the delays.
A drive-in solves most of that problem by design. Each household stays inside its own vehicle, ticket checks can be done through a closed window, and the screen is outdoors. That is why, in many places where gatherings were banned, drive-ins were allowed to keep going or were among the first venues permitted to reopen.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo summed up the logic at a briefing in April 2020: "Where is the public safety issue? It's a drive-in theater. You're in the car with the same people."
The industry was in poor shape to take advantage, though. The Hollywood Reporter counted about 320 drive-ins left in the US that April, and fewer than 25 of them were actually open. Many were seasonal businesses that normally stay closed until late spring.
A short history of the drive-in
The idea is older than most people think. Richard Hollingshead Jr., a businessman from Camden, New Jersey, patented the concept in May 1933 and opened the first drive-in on 6 June that year in Pennsauken Township. It had room for 400 cars and a screen roughly 40 by 50 feet.
The format took off after the Second World War, when car ownership, suburbs and the baby boom grew together. By 1958 more than 4,000 drive-ins were operating across the United States, many of them in rural areas where a traditional cinema was hard to reach. Sound first came from speakers beside the screen, then from small speakers hooked onto each car window; RCA introduced in-car speakers with volume controls in 1941. Today most venues broadcast the soundtrack on a low-power FM frequency, so you simply tune your car radio.
The decline began in the late 1960s. Colour television, then cable and home video, gave people a cheaper night in. The energy crisis of the 1970s made driving more expensive, and as land values climbed in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the big plots drive-ins sat on became worth more as shopping centres or housing. The switch to digital projection, which costs tens of thousands of dollars per screen, pushed more small operators out. By October 2019 only 305 were left in the US.
Germany and South Korea showed what was possible
Some of the clearest evidence of demand came from abroad. In Germany, the Autokino Essen, one of only two year-round drive-ins in the country, sold out every screening after lockdown began in early March 2020. Its manager, Frank Peciak, told the Hollywood Reporter: "It doesn't matter what we show, people just want to get out and watch a movie." One evening in April it sold 500 tickets for Manta Manta, a German comedy from 1991.
Other German venues adapted their rules. The drive-in at Cologne, which has space for about 1,000 cars, admitted only around 250 so that vehicles stayed well apart. Pop-up screens appeared too, including one in a car park at the Düsseldorf trade fair grounds and another behind a biker bar in Marl.
In South Korea, which was hit early but brought its first wave under control quickly, the Cine 80 drive-in in Daegu reported ticket sales up about 20 per cent and the Jayuro drive-in near Seoul about 30 per cent. A district in eastern Seoul even put up a large screen in a park and showed older films for free.
Restaurants and pop-ups joined in
In the US, some of the most inventive drive-ins were not cinemas at all. Restaurants that had lost their dining rooms looked at their empty car parks and saw a screen and an audience. One widely shared example was the People's Restaurant in Corpus Christi, Texas, which began showing films on a projector screen in its parking lot in April 2020, according to the local Caller-Times. Owner Joe Gonzalez said takeaway and delivery alone had not been enough to keep the business going, that the idea came from one of his daughters, and that the first screenings sold out remarkably quickly.
Others followed the same pattern, pairing a family film with food delivered to the car. Churches, schools and towns used the same set-up for services, graduations and concerts. It was a reminder that a drive-in is really just three things: a big screen, a way to deliver sound to each car, and enough open ground.
The obstacles: licences, films and money
The revival was never as simple as hanging a sheet on a wall. Showing a film to a paying audience requires a public performance licence from the rights holder or a licensing agency; buying a Blu-ray does not give you that right. Several pop-up organisers learned this the hard way in 2020.
The second problem was content. With the major studios holding back new releases, drive-ins leaned heavily on classics and family favourites. That worked for nostalgia nights but made it hard to charge premium prices week after week.
Finally there was the question of investment. A screen, projector and FM transmitter cost real money, and nobody knew how long the closure of indoor cinemas would last. Could an evening in the car compete, once restrictions lifted, with surround sound in a modern auditorium or the huge catalogues on streaming services? Many operators decided to treat the boom as a temporary lifeline rather than a new business model.
What happened next
For a few months the drive-in was the main way North Americans saw films on a big screen. A CNN estimate cited on Wikipedia put drive-ins at 85 to 95 per cent of the North American box office during the height of the pandemic. Walmart and several festivals and promoters ran temporary drive-in seasons that summer, and the UK saw a similar burst of interest.
The fears for indoor cinemas were partly borne out and partly not. In spring 2020 some analysts warned that a long closure could push big chains toward bankruptcy and close a large share of US theatres for good. Many independent cinemas did close, but the largest chain, AMC, raised fresh money and survived. The delayed blockbusters each took a different road: Mulan went to Disney+ in September 2020, Wonder Woman 1984 arrived in cinemas and on HBO Max together that December, and No Time to Die was held back until autumn 2021.
Once indoor screens reopened, most pop-ups disappeared. The established drive-ins, however, gained a new generation of customers who had never been to one before, and several used the windfall to modernise their projection and sound.
Tips for a good night at the drive-in
If the 2020 boom introduced you to the format, a few habits make the evening much more comfortable:
- Check the radio frequency when you arrive, and bring a small portable FM radio if you do not want to run your car's electrics for hours.
- Protect your battery. Switch off headlights and daytime running lights, and know how to put the car in accessory mode. Many venues keep jump leads on hand, but it is better not to need them.
- Arrive early for a central spot, and park so taller vehicles do not block the view of cars behind.
- Bring layers and blankets. Evenings cool quickly once the sun goes down, even in summer.
- Buy from the snack bar. Concessions are often what keeps a drive-in in business.
The pandemic did not bring back the 4,000 drive-ins of the 1950s. It did prove that a very old idea can still solve a very modern problem, and that people will happily sit in a car park for a shared night out when the alternative is another evening on the sofa.
Sources: The Hollywood Reporter, April 2020; Interesting Engineering; Wikipedia: Drive-in theater; Variety; Corpus Christi Caller-Times. Related on this site: a cinema that replaced its seats with beds and anti-war films worth watching.
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