Drive-in theater in Salem, Alabama
Will Dockery
By Larry Gierer
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/news/story/697139.html
Chris Cantrell laughs when asked if anybody thought he and Kyle
Christian were crazy to open a drive-in movie theater in a pasture in
Salem, Ala.
“Pretty much everybody,” he answers.
But the Field of Screens has now been in operation since Feb. 14, and
the guys have discovered there’s no business like show business.
[...]
The sign on the barbed wire fence says “Hollywood Blvd.,” but the
theater is located on Lee Road 179. On the way, customers pass a lot
of cows, then see ducks on a pond and horses grazing. Strings of
Christmas lights brighten the path.
The natural lay of the land with its small slopes made it perfect for
a drive-in theater, though some of it was graded. Movies are shown on
a 28-by-42-foot plywood screen, and a white wooden hut is home to the
digital projector. Tickets are sold out of a tin hut and concession
stands are set up each weekend. There are plenty of places for kids to
run. A formal playground may be in the future.
And, yes, those are real coyotes you hear howling during the show.
Drive-in theaters now are as rare as chilly days in July, but the
Starlight 6 of Atlanta — which has been in business since 1949 — and
the Continental Drive-In Dothan — which is actually in Newton, Ala. —
are successful operations.
“We visited both places,” Christian says. “The owners were very
helpful.”
The partners then had to get in touch with the film studios to make
arrangements to rent movies. Again, they were welcomed with open arms.
[...]
“There’s not much to do for entertainment around Smiths,” says
Cantrell, “so we came up with this.”
It’s a chance, they say, for people to see “stars under the stars.”
Their friends never second-guessed the duo after helping them in 2007,
on a whim, decorate a 70-foot pine tree in the field for Christmas.
They did it again in 2008, but this time the friends projected
Christmas movies onto a screen next to the tree. Soon, passers-by were
stopping to watch.
That gave them the idea for a business.
--
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A drive-in theater in Salem, Alabama
By Larry Gierer
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/news/story/697139.html
Chris Cantrell laughs when asked if anybody thought he and Kyle
Christian were crazy to open a drive-in movie theater in a pasture in
Salem, Ala.
�Pretty much everybody,� he answers.
But the Field of Screens has now been in operation since Feb. 14, and
the guys have discovered there�s no business like show business.
[...]
The sign on the barbed wire fence says �Hollywood Blvd.,� but the
theater is located on Lee Road 179. On the way, customers pass a lot
of cows, then see ducks on a pond and horses grazing. Strings of
Christmas lights brighten the path.
The natural lay of the land with its small slopes made it perfect for
a drive-in theater, though some of it was graded. Movies are shown on
a 28-by-42-foot plywood screen, and a white wooden hut is home to the
digital projector. Tickets are sold out of a tin hut and concession
stands are set up each weekend. There are plenty of places for kids to
run. A formal playground may be in the future.
And, yes, those are real coyotes you hear howling during the show.
Drive-in theaters now are as rare as chilly days in July, but the
Starlight 6 of Atlanta � which has been in business since 1949 � and
the Continental Drive-In Dothan � which is actually in Newton, Ala. �
are successful operations.
�We visited both places,� Christian says. �The owners were very
helpful.�
The partners then had to get in touch with the film studios to make
arrangements to rent movies. Again, they were welcomed with open arms.
[...]
�There�s not much to do for entertainment around Smiths,� says
Cantrell, �so we came up with this.�
It�s a chance, they say, for people to see �stars under the stars.�