It’s a warm summer evening in Wichita, and cars packed with families line up for tickets to the Starlite Drive-In Theater. “Moana,” “Supergirl” and “Toy Story 5” are showing on the theater’s twin screens.
Anna McLaughlin drove the hour from Burns to visit the Starlite with her three daughters, the teens’ first time at a drive-in. The family even wore matching striped pajamas for the occasion.
“It's just a neat way to watch a movie and enjoy it, and being able to do it under the stars is actually a very unique thing to do,” McLaughlin said.
Setting out lawn chairs at the Starlite’s second screen, Devin Beatty agreed this was a unique Kansas experience. He’s a travel nurse from Southwest Missouri, and his young children wanted to visit the drive-in for a second night in a row.
“Being from Missouri, we don't really have a breeze,” Beatty said. “Here, it's a completely different experience because you have the Kansas air, which is like a constant moving breeze. Last night, there were thunderstorms in the distance, which is a very Midwest thing.”
“And you have a movie screen tucked in the trees,” added his wife, Samantha. “You see twinkly stars because it's kind of darker here. You forget that you're in the metro of a very large city.”
These summer night experiences used to happen at 125 drive-in theaters across Kansas in the 1950’s. Post-war culture, cheap gas and affordable entertainment combined to bring crowds to the drive-ins.
However, there’s been a steady decline in their numbers since the 1970’s. Now, only four drive-ins remain in the state.
Drive-in owners talk about a long list of challenges in the modern streaming age. There are changing viewing habits and more competition for entertainment dollars. The theaters themselves can be expensive to maintain.
Owners debate whether theaters will disappear entirely, but some see a path forward. An effort to open a new Kansas drive-in is betting that people want the experience. It can be a nostalgic alternative to streaming services and traditional movie theaters.
Starlite owner Blake Smith rescued the theater in 2018. The drive-in had announced its closing and sold off the projectors. The land and other assets were up for auction.
Then, a public campaign rallied to save the theater. An anonymous buyer stepped in to purchase the land and contracted Smith to operate the theater. Following the purchase, the Wichita City Council approved a $200,000 loan to buy new projectors.
Smith is a second generation drive-in owner, operating both the Starlite and the Admiral Twin Drive-in theater in Tulsa. He eventually took over ownership of the Starlite and modernized things like the concession stand and ticket pricing.
Smith said the drive-in experience is family friendly, likening it to a backyard picnic. He credits the drive-ins' previous owners, Jim Quick and Jim Goble, for making the theater a community landmark, worthy of the public campaign to save it.
“In the early part of the 2000s, this might have been the busiest drive-in in the country. I mean, the numbers were staggering,” Smith said. “I've really had one legitimate year here, and that was 2019. And then 2020 hits, and then COVID.”
In addition to the pandemic lowering lower ticket sales, it’s changed how studios think about distributing movies, Smith said. They’ve shifted to streaming and making movies available online sooner.
“After COVID, we probably lost 30% of the people, and they didn’t come back,” Smith said. “Some people have changed their habits. They probably still like to watch movies, they just now do it from their house.”
These lower ticket sales and frequent rainy weekends have Smith questioning the sustainability of drive-in theaters in the area. He acknowledges it’s a broad statement, but he’s not sure of their future.
“We're not having a banner year this year,” Smith said. “I think if we can get the movies right and the weather right, it's still a viable business. But in 20 to 25 years, I really don't know if there'll be any drive-ins left.”
“That makes it sound like we're going out of business,” Smith added. “We're not going out of business. But it's not the heyday, and the heyday is never coming back.”
Brian Neal took over Kansas City’s Boulevard Drive-In from his grandfather, who started by parking cars there in 1950. The Boulevard used to have a petting zoo and a wooden screen.
When Neal transitioned to digital in 2012, he claims the Boulevard was the first drive-in theater in the country to install a 4K projector. The family has always focused on creating an experience, he said.
“I grew up here at the Boulevard Drive-In as a young kid, using a milk crate to reach the pop machine to fill people's drinks,” Neal said. “Grandpa taught me how to run a proper drive-in show, and I am now teaching the next generation how we do a proper drive-in show.”
That family line of succession is something many drive-in theaters lack, Neal said. As a member of the United Drive-In Theater Owners Association, he said the organization knows that’s a problem.
“So as each year goes by, those owners get older and older, and they just can't do the work,” Neal said. “A lot of them don't have sons, or grandsons, that are interested in taking over the business. So they have a hard time finding someone who wants to buy the drive-in and take it over.”
Neal said expanding his business with things like weekend swap meets and private events have helped keep the theater afloat in down years. This expansion, plus the social experience of drive-ins, has him feeling optimistic about the future.
“There's still a lot of people who love to come watch movies outside,” Neal said. “It's not just a movie theater. It's an experience. You come with your friends. They hang out, they eat, they talk. They have fun.”
Preserving that social experience in small towns led the Kansas Department of Commerce to assist a rural drive-in earlier this year.
The Kanopolis Drive-In’s 4K projector broke this spring. The owners faced a tough choice, either pay $100,000 to replace it or shut down.
Sara Bloom is director of the department’s Quality Places Division, which focuses on strengthening community assets and revitalization efforts. She also grew up in the Kanopolis area and remembers attending movies at the drive-in.
She said the department heard about the theater’s problem from both the public and state representatives. They stepped in with a $65,000 grant to supplement community fundraising for the new projector. It was just in time to start showing movies for the summer season.
Beyond being a piece of history, drive-ins play an important role in improving an area’s quality of life, Bloom said. And that translates to drawing businesses to the area.
“It's really hard to attract businesses without having a strong workforce,” Bloom said. “We can't have a strong workforce unless we have quality communities for people to live in.”
Bloom said she thinks drive-ins are more relevant today as indoor theaters continue to close. According to the National Association of Theater Owners, more than 4,800 theaters have closed since 2020. That’s about 12% fewer screens than the pre-pandemic movie era. Recently, theaters in Pittsburg and Salina closed, leaving the residents with no place to see a movie.
These closings are attributed to a mix of things. There's the increasing popularity of streaming. Plus, people are not returning to theaters after the pandemic.
Regional drive-ins can fill these theater gaps with a different experience, Bloom said.
“As the whole industry continues to change, people are going to continue to look for ways to see these films in unique ways,” Bloom said. “I actually think the drive-ins could be even more supported in the years that are coming.”
One Kansas town is finding support for the outdoor movie experience. The Trego Skyview Foundation is a community group dedicated to building a drive-in theater just outside WaKeeney in northwest Kansas.
Foundation president Lanelle Schubert said they’ve raised more than $150,000 to install an outdoor screen and license movies. A local DJ provides a projector and sound system for the rural theater.
Getting to the theater requires taking a dirt road and driving to a field.
“We do tell people to drive slow because it's a little bumpy,” Schubert said.
About 100 people attended the first double feature of “Hocus Pocus” and “Little Shop of Horrors.” Now, they’re raising money for restrooms, landscaping and a better digital projector.
Schubert knows there’s a long way to go. She said she’s run into some skepticism locally, but is getting a good response from younger movie goers.
“And there are some people that think this is a dumb idea,” Schubert said. “Well, not everybody likes every idea, but our teenagers are really embracing it. Really we hear it all the time, ‘there's nothing to do.’ And so the teenagers are enjoying it.”
Schubert said the plan is to operate the theaters as a non-profit, loaning money or giving grants to community projects. She sees the drive-in as a way to provide affordable, family entertainment in a small town without many options.
“We know that there's a trend that people want to experience something unusual,” Schubert said. “They want to step back in time and have a nostalgic experience.”
Schubert is more optimistic than some drive-in owners in the state. She’s looking forward to a time when the Trego Skyview sustains the community’s future.
“I would like to think that I am actually ahead of the curve this time,” Schubert said. “I think there's a resurgence for drive-ins. We are bringing some entertainment to a region of Kansas that doesn't have a whole lot to offer.”
Roger Nomer reports from the Wichita area for the Kansas News Service. You can email him at nomer@kmuw.org.
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