When I hear about drive-in theatres, the thought that comes to mind is an exciting night under the stars while stuffing your face with popcorn and junk food, and no one can see it. There may be some people that thought drive-ins weren’t around anymore when really, they haven’t gone anywhere.
Peter Boros and his team at Premier Theatres have been involved in the drive-in business for many years and have seen first hand that drive-in theatres have never gone away, “Drive-ins never disappeared. A lot of people think drive-ins just came back because of COVID,” Boros said. Premier Theatres and Boros started with one drive-in location and have expanded to opening six locations through the years, “We started with the one in Oakville now we have six,” Boros said regarding the expansions.
In response to COVID delaying movie releases from Hollywood, Premier Theatres played old movies that people would be interested in, “Last season we got creative, and we picked old movies that people would love to see. We also did a double bill every night, which is getting to watch two movies for the price of one,” Boros said. Also to keep business on the right track, events were being held on the drive-in lots when no movies were playing, “Last summer we ended up getting corporate clients coming out, we had graduations, funerals, bar mitzvahs, weddings, we did everything last summer. It was just a crazy year of busyness. We got slammed,” Boros said in regards to adjusting the plan due to COVID and not many movie releases.
This season, Premier Theatres are planning ideas such as movie festivals, “We’re gonna play the Fast and Furious. We’ll have two movies every Friday night until the series is complete,” Boros said as an example of the festival idea.
In early March, Premier Theatres will be opening three drive-in locations: The 5 Drive-In Oakville, The Starlight in Hamilton, and The Stardust in Newmarket. The Oakville, and Hamilton locations will open on March 5, and the Stardust in Newmarket will either be open on March 5 or 12.
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