How hard is it to convert a suburban theater to a drive-in?

There’s still a drive in theatre in 1 of the suburbs by me. So easy to sneak people in.

Around here at least, movie theaters are generally parts of complexes of stores, and don't have the right to take over the parking lot and convert it into drive-in theaters. And given the likelihood that the pandemic will last a few years at most, and that drive-in theaters have almost completely vanished because they don't make money, it's unlikely that the theaters will find conversion profitable enough to make the switch, especially if it means they have go buy parking lot space from the other businesses.

Besides, the theater quality sucks, and so many people sneak into drive-ins that they don't sell that many tickets.

That's not the question you should be asking.

The question you should be asking is, how easy is it to set up a drive-in movie theater?


See, converting a suburban movie theater to a drive-in would require taking all the projectors and screens out, knocking the building down, cleaning up the rubble, and setting up the new area, which is just too danged much trouble, to be honest.

Setting up a drive-in movie theater from scratch is much easier by comparison. All you need is a large parking lot, at least one large screen, maybe 2 if you can afford them, at least one film projector (or one per screen), and speakers to pass around to the customers so they can hear the movie.

no washrooms

Home theater quality is really quite good but it does require an investment. Some of my neighbors have purchased outdoor projectors and screens. I hear all these movies playing when I walk by at night.