The Lavazza Drive-In Film Festival at Toronto’s Ontario Place is set for July 20-31. The festival, which is sponsored by Christie Digital Systems, is co-hosted by the Italian Contemporary Film Festival and presented by IC Savings and CHIN Radio/TV. Moviegoers will be able to enjoy a curated selection of films from countries hardest hit by COVID-19, in a safe, socially distanced environment.
Innovation Arts & Entertainment, the Chicago based company that founded and operates the annual Beach Road Weekend music festival on Martha’s Vineyard, has been awarded a contract to build and operate a new outdoor entertainment center on Cape Cod.
Nightflix Drive-In Cinema kicked-off screenings June 19 and topped all UK and Ireland cinema ticket sales for June as cinema goers have flocked to its site in Colchester. From day one demand was high, leading to the site’s capacity being increased to meet demand on the majority of screenings across the month.
CineLife Entertainment, a division of Spotlight Cinema Networks, has announced the drive-in theatre rollout of The Rolling Stones: Havana Moon, a concert filmed in Havana, Cuba in 2016. The company will partner with UK content provider Eagle Rock to bring this film to drive-in theatres across the U.S. and Canada for an exclusive summer concert experience beginning July 1, while observing specific state reopening guidelines.
The UK Cinema Association has published safety guidelines for the re-opening of drive-in cinemas—the first step in the recovery of the U.K. cinema sector from the COVID-19 lockdown. Drive-in cinemas, which were allowed to open in England on June 15, have seen a resurgence in recent weeks, particularly in the United States and Germany.
Marcus Theatres has added a drive-in movie theatre to its Twin Creek Cinema in Bellevue, Nebraska. Strong Technical Services worked with Marcus to develop the concept. Additional locations are under consideration.
As movie lovers cope with the challenges of quarantining, entrepreneurs around the world have experimented with an almost endless number of variations of drive-in and pop-up theatres. No one knows if this is a trend that will sustain itself or a fad that will fade away once the pandemic has ended. But I thought it would make sense to get some perspective about what’s involved in that kind of business from the people at Cinemobiel in Belgium, a group of friends who, for the past 20 years, have been presenting movies from a fire truck in towns all across their country. Which is why I spoke, via email, with Simon Verschelde, Cinemobiel’s only fulltime employee.
Golden Age Cinemas’ drive-in theatre in McHenry, Illinois will reopen for business May 8 and May 9. The first features planned are the animated film The Flintstones, followed by the action-adventure picture Jurassic Park. But, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the theatre will be operating under guidelines from the state’s Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.
The trade organization Cinema Technology Community has released a comprehensive guide to drive-in movie screenings. The guide is in direct response to resurgence in drive-in screenings around the world as the cinema industry seeks to provide the big screen experience to movie-goers while adhering to government guidelines which have forced the closure of cinemas globally and the requirement for social distancing.
Filmweb, Nordisk Film Kino and Odeon Kino have collaborated with Telenor Arena and Rema 1000 to create Norway's newest indoor drive-in cinema at Fornebu. Beginning April 7 audiences are welcomed to four daily performances for seven days through April 14.
