More money using them as flea markets. Plus the drive-in movie sound is crappy compared to what you get in theaters. I really don't see much of a drive-in revival.
...in 1956, maybe. Now any rinky-dink drive-in can use a $99 500mW FM stereo transmitter that you tune into from each car, much like the aftermarket add-on CD changers and such that use FM modulators. You can even use your own Walkman in your lawn chair.
When I was a kid my folks would load us all in the station wagon (five kids) with a cooler and blankets. Sometimes Mom would dress us in our pajamas.
We would go see a double feature and fall asleep before the second one was done. Near the Fourth of July there were also fireworks, no additional charge.
Sometimes (when we weren't in pajamas) we could go to the playground before the show started and play on the equipment. One drive-in in Indianapolis, the Pendleton Pike Drive-In, even had a small roller coaster and merry-go-round.
Wonderful times, and I am glad to see they are undergoing a revival. My son with three children would probably go to one if it were close to our house. I would go too, because you can SMOKE in your car while you watch a movie.
More money using them as flea markets. Plus the drive-in movie sound is crappy compared to what you get in theaters. I really don't see much of a drive-in revival.
My brother and I went to a drive in in Tucson Arizona on a when we were on our way back from a trip to the Grand Canyon in 1993. This drive in had a sound system that used low powered FM stereo radio signals to distribute the sound rather than the old fashioned speakers placed in a window. The quality of the sound was excellent but mainly depended on the quality of the stereo receiver and sound system in the car.
They have advantages, however. You can bring a girl to one of those things, lose interest in the film, and move on to other things (in a big car with a bench front seat....or a van). Plus the cost in mininal, and food is sometimes served right up to your window. On a regular movie (theater) date, on the other hand, you end up having to actually take the girl out to dinner (either before or after the flick), the movie tickets cost you at least $10 a piece, the cokes and popcorn cost another $15 dollars, and if the movie is bad you have a very difficult time ignoring it.