Can you remember summer nights at the drive-in theater? Rows of cars parked in the open field, windshields or open hatches facing the enormous screen. Radios tuned into the theater frequency or speakers clipped to driver’s side windows. Crickets chirped from the treeline and lightning bugs danced in the muggy air. Kids ran through the grass, playing tag or tossing balls as they waited for darkness to fall and the movie to begin.
Unfortunately, the drive-in theater has become an endangered species. But with people still wary of the coronavirus and social distancing still in effect, this would be the perfect time for drive-ins to make a comeback.
The two closest drive-ins to Morgantown are in Shinnston (27 miles away) and Carmichaels, Pa. (17 miles away). That’s a long way to go to watch a film. It would be nice if we had a drive-in theater in Morgantown.
Like, perhaps, in the Milan Puskar Stadium or WVU Coliseum parking lots.
It would be a great opportunity for the university to make a little money and do something nice for the community. We understand investing in a screen large enough for a pop-up drive-in would cost some money, but think of it as an investment for the future. If the drive-in is a success this summer, maybe it can become an annual thing. According to HowToStartAnLLC.com, the average ticket price at a drive-in is $10 per person and specials for a carload can be offered at $30 or $40. Discounts could be given for children, seniors and frontline workers.
So, if 500 people come for a movie, that’s $5,000 for a few hours work, not including revenue from concessions.
To buy both a projector and projector screen, it would cost between $125,000 and $400,000, according to HowToStartAnLLC.com. Of course, that’s for a professional set up. A 20-foot inflatable projection screen can be purchased on Amazon for less than $400. Nowadays, the audio is transmitted over the radio, and it doesn’t cost much at all to buy a device that lets you take over a vacant FM frequency.
Getting movies may be a little harder, but not impossible. Most colleges have access to a subscription service that lets them choose a film no longer in theaters but not yet released on DVD or digital for a reasonable price. So the pop-up drive-in might not be showing the hottest new releases, but families would come for the chance to get out of the house. And maybe, just maybe, give parents an opportunity to share a beloved childhood memory with their own children.
West Virginia University could also hire back some of the furloughed staff, at least part time, to man the theater. And if they set up the drive-in in the stadium parking lot, patients and families at Ruby Memorial could also tune in and watch from the safety of the hospital.
Perhaps this isn’t the most feasible idea, but if WVU could make it work, the drive-in theater would provide jobs for furloughed employees, summer revenue after financial shortfalls due to COVID-19 and a needed service — and enjoyable distraction — for the larger Morgantown community.
Morgantown Area News
'Friday, November 15, 2024'
