Rooftop Cinema Club’s Drive-In at Sawyer Yards a perfect way to be social, and socially distant | HOUSTON LIFE | KPRC 2Published: July 23, 2020, 3:09 pmHave you missed going to the movies lately? How about enjoying a contact-free movie experience? Rooftop Cinema Club presents The Drive-In at Sawyer Yards, for a safe, “away from home” movie experience.

Two of the most classic pieces of Americana are coming together this summer: drive-in theaters and Walmart. Beginning in August, the retailer is converting 160 of its US store parking lots into drive-in movie theaters. As the pandemic continues, drive-in theaters have been making a comeback as a safe alternative to the traditional movie theaters that remain closed in much of the country. Locations and movie titles haven't yet been announced, but they will be revealed later on a special website. Drive-in movie venues have been popping up all over the country, with small business owners forced temporarily to shut down their traditional theater operations opting to reopen old drive-in locations or build makeshift theaters in parking lots in a bid to make up for lost income.

Drive-in theaters have been part of the American landscape for nearly a century. You would think it was 1983 from the crowds!”According to DriveInMovie.com, which tracks the business of drive-ins, Texas is currently home to about 20 operations. (A second Blue Starlite opened in Round Rock last winter.) “It’s funny that everybody is talking about this drive-in revival, as though drive-ins were dead,” says Josh Frank, owner of Blue Starlite. Because Hollywood has postponed the releases of potential summer blockbusters, other first-run theaters have embraced the retro-style experience.

SPRING – When the owners of Butler House in Spring transformed the parking lot next door into a drive-in movie theater, they had “no idea” if anyone would show up. “I couldn’t wait to come,” Dan Mitchel said from the bed of his truck, sitting alongside his wife and two daughters. The Frenchaks posted an invitation to the pop-up theater on Facebook, and the response was overwhelming. Butler House will show two movies per night for at least the next week, the Frechaks said. Many who attended the Butler House movie night said they could not remember the last time they visited a drive-theater.