Drive-in movie theatre season has begun!

In warmer parts of the United States, drive-in movies are shown year round. But, for the rest of the country, drive-in movies are only shown during the warmer months. The drive-in theatres that are only open seasonally have begun to open again this year, and it won't be long until the drive-in theatres further north have all opened too.

There used to be over 4,000 drive-in movie theatres in the United States. Now there are less than 400. 

The drive-in movie theatre in this video is the Starlight Six Drive-In Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia. I believe there are actually five drive-in movie theatres still open throughout Georgia. The Starlight Six Theatre is especially unusual because there aren't many drive-in theatres left in the US that have THAT many screens at one drive-in. I remember as a kid going to drive-ins with multiple screens, and I was always turning my head around to see what was going on at the other screens in the distance. Of course, we couldn't hear their sound. You could only hear the sound of the speaker from the pole by your car (or placed on your car window) or the radio station you were tuned to. Most drive-in movie theatres these days broadcast sound through radio stations only. Most drive-ins don't have those classic vintage speakers anymore. The theatres that still use those are rare gems. 

Another thing that makes the drive-in theatre in this video unique is that they allow people to bring in their own food AND they allow people to use portable grills and have a little cook-out. Most drive-in movie theatres these days don't allow people to grill. Most encourage you to purchase food from their concession stand, and some prohibit you from bringing in any outside food or drinks at all. Costs are so expensive that for some theatres, their only profit comes from food sales. This theatre in Atlanta also has a swap meet on weekends which helps support the business. Before you go to a drive-in, be sure to find out what their policies are. It's important to purchase food or drinks at their concession stands if you can since less than 10% of drive-ins in America remain open and we don't want any more of them to close. Those little dancing hot dog advertisements at drive-ins in the 1950's helped those drive-ins to stay open back then.

At Retropolis we're working on posting every single drive-in movie theatre in America to this site. That way, you can just click on TRAVEL, then click on "Entertainment", type in your zip code and search by miles (you might want to try searching within 100 miles since there aren't many drive-ins left). It will map out the drive-in movie theatres near you, and you can click on any theatre for more information. If you don't have any near you, we may not have posted them yet. After they have all been posted and you still find that there are no drive-in movies near you, just remember to use the Retropolis Travel Search next time you travel. That way, you can just type in the zip code of your destination and you can see if there are any drive-in movie theaters near your travel destination. Or, maybe you are heading out on a road trip and want to stop somewhere overnight where you can watch a drive-in movie. The Retropolis Travel Search will help you with that! We're still working on it, but we hope to have every drive-in movie theatre in the U.S. listed on this site by the time every drive-in movie theatre is open this summer.

Have fun under the stars! 

Thank you to ADAMDNG for posting your drive-in movie experience to YouTube. Looked like such a fun night!