From the CBC archives: Manitoba drive-ins struggle to survive

Two of Manitoba's three remaining drive-in movie theatres are fighting to stay open, we look at the state of outdoor movie-going in the 1990s and early 2000s.

In Closed for the Season, a CBC-TV feature from October 1992, Peter Jordan visited the Shamrock Drive-In in Killarney, Man., as it was about to close for the season.

"Dorothy, does the Shamrock Drive-In make a lot of money?" Jordan asked Dorothy Gibson, the drive-in's owner at the time.

"No, no it doesn't. It doesn't make a lot of money, but it pays the bills and it gives the kids a place to go in the summertime at night," she replied.

The Motion Picture Theatre Association of Canada estimated that outdoor movie-going peaked in the mid-1970s, with 300 screens operating across the country.

That number shrank to 110 to 120 screens by the early 1990s thanks to booming home video sales, rising real estate values and increased competition for people's entertainment dollars.

"Now, a really good crowd is 50 people, but it used to be 200, 300," Gibson said. "A lot of change; a lot of difference."

'Part of our history'

The decline of outdoor movie theatres was more acutely felt in urban centres like Winnipeg, which used to have numerous drive-ins.

In a March 2004 CBC-TV report, reporter Ian Flett profiled the Cineplex Odeon the city's last drive-in when it was revealed that it would not open for another season.

From the CBC archives: Winnipeg's Cineplex Odeon drive-in to close (2004)

9 years ago

Duration 1:59

In a March 2004 CBC-TV report, reporter Ian Flett profiled the Cineplex Odeon -- the last drive-in movie theatre in Winnipeg -- when it was revealed that it would not open for another season.

"It's part of our history and that's just another thing that's been swept away," one woman said outside the Silver City cinema in St. James.

Winnipeg movie-goers rallied behind the Headingley landmark in 2005, with more than 11,000 people signing an online petition in support of the theatre.

Cineplex finally pulled the plug on the Odeon in 2008, citing declining attendance numbers.

As for the Shamrock, its current owners have launched an online campaign to raise enough money to buy new digital projection equipment.

Another rural Manitoba drive-in, the Stardust in Morden, has successfully raised more than $30,000 in its online campaign.

The Big Island Drive-In Theatre in Flin Flon, Man., is opening this Friday with a screening of Jurassic World, according to its Facebook page.