To have an effective drive-in, it had to be on at least 15 acres of land. Slowly, drive-ins began to lose their appeal. The development of the VCR made it more appealing to stay at home and watch movies without paying for a movie at the drive-in. To make up for lost revenue, drive-ins began losing their family-friendly atmosphere by showing exploitation films like slasher horrors as well as adult content. During the ‘70s oil crisis, people downsized their cars in order to save money on the inflated cost of gas, making it uncomfortable to watch movies at the drive-in. They maintained popularity as both a space for families to spend time with each other as well as an affordable date night option.ĭrive-ins could only show movies during certain times of the year and were dependent on decent weather.

There were over 4,000 drive-ins throughout the U.S., and most were in rural areas. Drive-ins gained immense popularity 20 years later during the 1950s and ‘60s with the Baby Boomer generation.

The success of Hollingshead’s drive-in caused more and more drive-ins to appear in every state in the country and spread internationally as well. Appealing to families, Hollingshead advertised his drive-in as a place where “The whole family is welcome, regardless of how noisy the children are.” He created it as a solution for people unable to comfortably fit into smaller movie theater seats after creating a mini drive-in for his mother. Though there were drive-ins as early as the 1910s, the first patented drive-in was opened on Jby Richard Hollingshead in New Jersey.

Many people hear stories of their grandparents going to the drive-in theater for a Friday night hangout, but do you know the history of the classic movie experience?

Paramount drive in movie theatre