Most Americans are practicing self-isolation, hunkered in their bunkers at home. Almost every single movie theater in America has closed, which no one would have believed possible just four short weeks ago. While the box office is mostly non-existent, there are a few theaters left open in the U.S. as of this past weekend. Not surprisingly, 13 of those theaters are Drive-In movie theaters, which used to be a thing of the past but are finding their resurgence in these desperate times.
This past weekend, these 14 theaters across the country were still open and quite operational, bringing in what little money the box office has seen in recent days.
- The Van Buren Drive-in in Riverside, CA
- The Mission Tiki in Monclair, CA
- The Galaxy Drive-in in Ennis, TX
- The Glendale 9 in Glendale, AZ
- The Sacramento 6 Drive-In in Sacramento, CA
- The Starlite Drive-in in Cadet, MO
- The South Bay Drive-In San Diego, Ca
- The Auto Drive-in the Greenville, NC area
- Hi-Way 21 in Beaufort, SC
- The Jesup in Georgia
- The Ocala in Florida
- King Drive in Huntsville, AL
- The Lake Worth in Palm Springs, FL
- The Epic Theaters of West Volusia, Florida.
As of this writing, the Van Buren theater in Riverside has now closed due to local restrictions. As of this moment, the other 13 theaters are still showing features at night, so if you're in the area and feel so inclined, pack up the kids, grab some snacks, and lock your doors upon entry. But you better go quick, there is no telling when these theaters might get shuttered.
Vice Admiral Jerome Adams, the US surgeon general has called these next two weeks some of the toughest Americans will ever have to face, with multiple people referring to this moment in time as our 'Pearl Harbour' or our '9/11' moment. So any of these last remaining 13 movie theaters could close down any night now.
There are three newer movies that are still being tracked at the box office. These include the hit horror movie The Invisible Man from Universal Pictures and Blumhouse, which debuted before the movie theater business went belly up and proved to be a commercial hit. It has since debuted on Digital release. It played at 7 of the drive-ins this past weekend, as well as The Epic, bringing in $36.6K.
Also on the marquee was Universal and Blumhouse's The Hunt, which opened during one of the bleakest box office weekends in history. It too is available now on Digital. It is playing at 8 of the drive-ins and earned $36K. Disney's Onward, which was release in March on VOD and Digital before debuting on Disney+ this past weekend is showing at 10 of the drive-in locations, earning $22.7K.
It is believed that some of these still-open movie theater locations will be showing Universal and DreamWorks Animation's Trolls World Tour this coming weekend, as it also makes its Digital debut at home as a premiere rental. It is not believed to be a huge cash grab at these handful of theaters, as American moviegoers can watch at home for $19.99, which covers a 48 hr rental window. At this time, no On-Demand grosses are being reported, because that can't be simultaneously tracked as movie tickets can. This news was originally reported at Deadline.