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produced. This was less of a problem at
the new complexes and twins as they
ran a film until the business dried up,
which often took months. The
productive well of titles - films like
Blazing Saddles, What’s Up Doc? and
A Clockwork Orange - ran dry, moving
to instant availability as video rental.
With the VCR the second-run
market disappeared overnight as
audiences stayed at home with their
favourite movie. The 'R' rated market
also vanished, as most preferred the
privacy of home for these titles.
Smaller audiences hastened the
downward spiral: old weathered
speakers, dusty fields and an often
well-deserved reputation for poor
quality food. Audiences decided drive-
ins were no longer the place to be.
Rising land values made the option
for most drive-in owners an easy one;
sell. What were once back-blocks was
now valuable commercial or residential
land. Toorak, French’s Forrest and
Coopers Plains were 15 acre sites that
had developers knocking on the door
for years; now their owners were
listening. The drive-ins were
surrounded.
At first the massive capital required
for multiplex construction seemed
beyond the local chains, until they
realized the sums needed were sitting in
their land banks; aka the drive-in.
In the early 1980s the marginal
trading locations were first to go, then
the watershed year of 1984 saw the
circuits make the hard decisions. Drive-
ins were either closed or twinned.
Greater Union, Village and Hoyts
closed half their drive-in locations and
twinned most of the others.
In Sydney Hoyts and Greater Union
had established the major circuit of
drive-ins in partnership back in the
1950s.
GU was aligned with Village during
their expansion and now, in Melbourne,
the new Village-Hoyts drive-ins Top: GU Toowoomba Downs, Queensland - 495 cars. The 'wing' on the screen was to
emerged. They agreed to share film intercept light from the highway.
product, ban sex films, move to Centre: Sandringham was the only true independent in Melbourne. Programmed by
exclusive first release and jointly Hoyts for much of its life, it finished in the AZ Theatres group.
promote the new twin sites. Above: Grantville, south Gippsland today. The bush reclaims the site.
Most invigorated drive-ins traded
well, but one by one even they were drive-in theatre exhibition completely Today Greater Union operates
sold off to boost dwindling cash with their sale of 50% of Coburg drive-ins at Blacktown and Bass Hill
reserves and equip even more drive-in to Village. Independent and in Sydney and Village operates Coburg
multiplexes. This was especially so at country operations also felt the tides of in Melbourne. Lunar Dandenong and
Hoyts, who made the decision to exit change. Dromana are independents.

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