Some theaters have a limited number of radios available, or you may be able to pick up the signal on your phone. It’s also a good idea to bring a portable radio to pick up the sound, so you don’t have to leave your car radio on. Familiar practices such as reversing your pickup and lying in the flatbed or using folding chairs are still allowed, but chairs are not allowed on the sides of vehicles, to ensure physical distancing. Some drive-ins initially required customers to stay in their cars, but that has loosened. (The others, in Warren, Luverne and Long Prairie, are heftier road trips.) The Starlite is about a 90-minute drive from Minneapolis but the Elko, which has “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” and “Terminator: Dark Fate” this weekend, is just over 30 minutes. Other options include the Starlite in Litchfield, which Quincer said has been doing great business but has not sold out its 250 spaces so far and Elko Speedway in Elko New Market, which shows a single movie on weekend evenings rather than the standard double- or triple-feature. In summers past, though, the Vali-Hi has sold out frequently, with cars lined up long before showtime. In the Twin Cities metro area, the Vali-Hi in Lake Elmo has room for about 375 cars at half capacity. If you’re contemplating a trip to the drive-in, here are a few things to keep in mind. We still want to be with people,” said Quincer, adding, “There are a lot of reasons people want to go to the movies.” The message Hollywood should be getting is, even though we can sit at home and watch movies on our TVs, we still want to get out. Quincer said the fact that people are heading out to see movies they could stream at home suggests that, when it’s safe, customers will be eager to return to theaters. ![]() “Jaws” will also chomp on swimmers at the Sky-Vu in Warren, Minn. The Starlite has played those movies, but it has two screens, and one has been devoted to vintage titles such as “Grease” and “Beverly Hills Cop.” This weekend offers maybe the splashiest retro bill, pairing classics that seem made for giant outdoor screens: “Jaws,” which marks its 45th anniversary this weekend, and the original “Jurassic Park,” which celebrated its 27th anniversary last week. Others are showing pre-pandemic releases that still have some life in them: Pixar’s “Onward” and Harrison Ford in “The Call of the Wild” have popped up a lot. Some are screening recent-ish blockbusters (Vali-Hi will have “Jurassic World” and “Jumanji: The Next Level” this weekend). ![]() So operators of outdoor theaters have gotten creative. just moved the highly touted “Tenet” from July 17 to July 31 - but theater owners, who gradually began reopening last weekend, are reluctant to do so with no movies to play. In a textbook chicken-or-egg situation, studios have hesitated to release new movies until they’re confident multiplexes will be widely open - Warner Bros. ![]() “They’re parking where we need them to park, observing the social distancing marks on the floor, following signs and doing what they’re supposed to do.” “The nice thing is everybody knows what to do and does what we ask,” said Dave Quincer, owner of the Starlite Drive-In in Litchfield, one of two classic drive-ins in Minnesota still using signage from the 1950s (the other is the Long Drive-In in Long Prairie). But the real business of drive-ins begins at dusk. The wide-open outdoor spaces of drive-in theaters have lately attracted non-movie events, rented out by day for graduations, church events and corporate meetings. Drive-in theaters have been a part of the moviegoing landscape for 100 years, but current events have shifted them from a minor, seasonal player in the movie industry to the best game in town.Īfter delays, the sprawling Vali-Hi in Lake Elmo finally opened last week, but other drive-ins have been popping corn since mid-May, with rules in place to protect staff and customers during the COVID-19 pandemic, such as filling lots to only 50% capacity to make physical distancing possible.
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