#Van buren drive in double feature movie
#Van buren drive in double feature upgrade

“Now, no one has to physically do anything to it,” he said. Williams said the Van Buren theater has also saved a lot of time and manpower with the change. Since the transition, he’s had nothing but happy customers.

Previously, Williams would field complaints from patrons about murky projections of movies with inky hues such as the Christopher Nolan Batman trilogy, where the superhero stalks in shadows. “It’s really nice, the picture just pops off the screen now,” he said. Williams, who has worked at Van Buren since 1969, was wowed when he first laid eyes on the new projection. The results of moving to digital are instant for some. Let’s just say it is a work in progress.” While the Skyline Drive-In in Barstow has yet to convert to digital, a posting on its Facebook page said the theater “has every intention of staying open indefinitely and are working on the digital conversion. “Right now, the schools aren’t even out yet and our weekdays are even doing well,” Williams said. Fred Williams, manager of the Van Buren Drive-In, said the business is up considerably, even on the usual slow days. The Van Buren and Rubidoux theaters raised tickets by $1 in November 2013. Mark Clemons, owner of Smith’s Ranch Drive-In, said his theater upgraded to digital in November at a cost of $95,000 for the equipment, plus installation. The DeAnza Land & Leisure Corp., which owns a number of drive-ins including both Riverside locations, reportedly spent $2 million to upgrade. “I used to throw my back right out.”īoth Van Buren and Rubidoux unveiled the new digital projection systems in May 2013. “My God, those film cans were heavy,” said Vogel, who owns Maryland’s last drive-in, Bengies in Baltimore. Now, it’s as simple as downloading a file from a hard drive. Edward Vogel, a member of the United Drive-In Theatre Owners Association.īefore the conversion, drive-in theaters would receive heavy canisters and a projectionist would have to spend time cutting and slicing reels of film to prepare for each showing. It’s well over 50 percent – I think we’re up to 80,” said D. “The majority of drive-in screens have converted. Indoor theaters quickly transitioned, but it’s been a longer road for drive-ins.

#Van buren drive in double feature upgrade

Theaters, at the time, were expected to upgrade or perish.

#Van buren drive in double feature movie

The landscape of the movie industry changed in the early 2000s as studios began filming more movies in the digital format. Today, the association estimates there are 348 drive-ins still in operation with a total of 591 screens. However, at the dawn of the 1980s, television and indoor multiplexes lured audiences away from drive-ins in droves.