As Arkansans begin to ease back into normal life, two of the state's remaining drive-in movie operations are adapting to business in a pandemic while the third remains closed but has plans to open soon.
The Kenda Drive-In in Marshall in Searcy County and the Stone Drive-In in Mountain View in Stone County have been open for the past few weekends, but at reduced capacity and requiring social distancing because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The 112 Drive-In in Fayetteville hasn't opened for the season, but its out-of-state owner plans to open in the coming weeks as Arkansans venture out from isolation.
The state's three drive-in movie theaters are just a few of the 305 drive-in operations with a total of 594 screens nationwide as of late 2019. In 1958, the industry's high-water mark was 4,063 screens, according to the United Drive-In Theater Association, an industry group.
Drive-ins make up a tiny fraction of the movie theaters in the country. According to Statistica, in 2018 there were 5,869 movie theater sites in the United States. Most if not all of the indoor operations remain closed, and major movie companies have also shut down, providing no new blockbusters for moviegoers to buy tickets to see.
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Kenda Dearing, who owns the Kenda Drive-In along with her family members, said they have some advantages that allow them to operate without much, if any, human contact. They also use the E-Hungry app that allows people to order concessions and alerts them when their order is ready without lines or other complications. She said they marked off areas for cars to park to give patrons designated spots to help keep their distance from one another.
"So far, so good," Dearing said in a recent phone interview. "It's amazing to see how people are social distancing. They've been super-respectful." Kenda Drive-In's website is: http://www.kendadrivein.com
Holly Jones owns and operates the Stone Drive-In along with her family. She said they use online ticket ordering and offer only limited concessions like wrapped candy and canned soda. She said the operation's concession area and bathrooms are being remodeled currently and are expected to be completed midsummer.
She said to help moviegoers maintain a safe distance from one another they ask patrons to simply keep a parking space between each other.
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"We just asked and they did it," she said. More information about Stone Drive-In is available at: https://stone-drive-in-theatre.business.site
Anthony Bowling, whose family has managed the 112 Drive-In for decades, said many of the workers vital to keeping the theater open are in high-risk groups, so they have been cautious about opening up before they had a solid plan in place to protect the workers and the patrons.
He said the 112 Drive-In's location in a fairly busy metropolitan area and its fairly large size, coupled with the inability to sell tickets online or automate concession sales, made opening quickly a challenge. He said they are working on a strategy to begin showing movies in the next few weeks.
"We want to make things as safe as possible," Bowling said. Updates to 112 Drive-In's schedule can be found on its website: https://www.112driveintheatre.com
John Vincent, president of the United Drive-In Theater Association and a drive-in theater owner himself, said at the height of the lockdown only nine drive-ins in the United States were open and now about a third are up and running. He said many are having to upgrade to online ticketing and make adjustments to their concession operations and how they operate day-to-day.
"Nearly all of us have to think out of the box," Vincent said. "We've had about five years of change in five weeks."
He said many of the operations that are open are operating at reduced capacity to help with social distancing and that movie selection is limited since Hollywood slammed on the brakes when the pandemic hit the country.
The Kenda and Stone drive-ins have been showing a variety of films so far this year -- titles like Trolls World Tour and Call of the Wild, along with classics like Shrek and Back to the Future.
Jones from the Stone Drive-In said typically a first-run film might eat up about 60% of ticket sales where older films cost about 30%, but it works out about the same with having to reduce the number of patrons who can come see a movie. She said the drive-in's maximum capacity is about 100 cars but so far a typical night is about 50, which is about perfect for current conditions.
"People now don't really care what we're running, they just want to get out," she said.
Dearing at the Kenda Drive-In agreed, adding that her customer base comes from about a 100-mile radius and moviegoers have been showing up early just to be assured a spot.
"It's different now," she said. "People are just grateful to come out."
SundayMonday Business on 05/24/2020