Did you know that the history of drive-in theaters comes way back than the good old sixties? It actually was created 30 years before, and I can guarantee you that you would never imagine how this type of theater came to life!
Drive-in theater was created in 1932 by American businessman Richard Hollingshead. The idea came after the American’s mother complained that the conventional cinema seats were very uncomfortable, especially for people who were overweight. So, Richard decided to put his mother in a car, took a white sheet, stretched between two trees and, with a Kodak 1928 projector placed on top of the car, showed a film he watched with his mother in the vehicle! Interesting, right? Over time, Hollingshead tried to discover better ways to turn popular this funny way to watch movies and, a year later, he created the first Park-In-Theaters, with room for 400 cars. The success was so great that it spread throughout the United States very quickly.
Unfortunatelly, after 40 years of existence, this type of cinema has fallen into decay and stoped being as common. However, in 2020, nobody expected that a pandemic would come and change completely the routine of the world’s population, as well as of all establishments that reunite a large number of people in the same place, such as cinemas. And, as a result, it didn’t take so long until the drive-in style surfaced again after so many years – especially in Brazil – and become so successful!
“I loved the drive-in theaters idea! I thought it was well organized, even though the ticket was expensive and I still had to pay for parking (at least at the location I went to), which I didn’t like. Other than that, I loved the experience! The people who work there are very friendly and proactive! ”, comments Maria Gabriella Nery, an architecture student.
“I was dying to go to the drive-in theater and I thought it was so worth the experience that I went twice! The first one I went to was at “Tom Brasil”. The ticket was expensive, but if you compare it to other films, it wasn’t too much. The movie I watched was not available at that time in other drive-in theaters, wich explains the high price. The only bad thing is that the film was dubbed. Apart from that, it was very organized, the screen was big, the radio line you had to connect to listen to the movie was not interfering and I ate a delicious hot dog with potato chips and drank a soda. I ate well and did not pay so much for it.” says Giuliana Cassoni, a student at the Federal University of ABC. “In my second experience, the ticket was cheaper (at least on Mondays and Tuesdays). I thought “Morumbitown” was so much better! There was more space between the cars and the screen was taller so none of the cars obstructed the others’ view. It had a great variety of food options too! Very cool!”.
After knowing more about drive-in theaters, how about enjoying a night out and going to watch a good movie?
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The article above was edited by Giulia Gianolla
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