Could drive-in theaters be a COVID-19 antidote?

As the days progress, the COVID-19 diseases causes more and more of our daily activities to change or modify for the foreseeable future.  Restaurants are reduced to takeout or delivery only.  Department stores are reducing their hours.  Heck, the casinos are closing.  I mean, when was the last time a casino closed?  Well, there was that one in Atlantic City that was owned by that real estate magnate…

So I started thinking about what to do – to somehow create a workaround, to give us back some semblance of our lives BEFORE the dark times.

And it occurred to me.  There might be an old-school opportunity to at least provide something of normalcy.

The drive-in theater.

Hear me out on this.

Once upon a time, drive-in theaters or “ozone palaces” were a staple of every city in America.  But in recent years, they’ve fallen to various factors – their open land worked well for a new Home Depot or Walmart; they couldn’t get their projectors upgraded to the new digital system in place today; you couldn’t convince people to stay in their cars for two full films.

However, the few theaters that have survived – especially the ones in this area – have found ways to thrive.  Ice cream shops and updated snackbars.  Custom car shows and flea markets.  And they’re now getting the same major blockbusters – in the same week – as their mall-anchored brethren.

So let’s see how a night at the drive-in might work.

You drive up to the admission booth and hand the teller your $10 for a carload of movie fans.  You then park somewhere on the park’s grounds.  You have already brought an FM radio, or you turn your car radio to the specific frequency necessary to hear the film.

You either stay in your car, or you set up your lawn chairs to be at least six feet away from the cars to your left and right.  Social distancing, mind you.

Do you want a snack?  Maybe there’s an upgrade available, you could punch in a request on your phone and a runner could bring you some cheeseburgers and curly fries and clam strips and a milkshake.  Perhaps they could bring back those trays that hooked onto the side of your driver’s window – similar to the ones at the old A&W carhops of years ago.

Bathrooms – well, that’s tricky.  But considering the bathrooms are probably on the same level as the men’s room at CBGB’s, I don’t think any virus could technically survive there.

And you get two films for the price of one.  That’s seriously budget-worthy.

So what do you think?  Could this be a worthwhile idea?  I mean, there are still some kinks to work out, but at this point it’s either this or Netflix.

And there’s only so much Netflix a person can handle.

Let me know your thoughts in the comment section below.