Drive-In Season is Here!
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July 7th, 2025
Summertime is here, and for me, that marks the beginning of drive-in season! The scorching hot temperatures may make the days a chore to get through, but the nights are totally worth it when you get to watch movies under the stars. This past weekend, my girlfriend and I went on a double date with our friends to the Holiday Drive-In Theater to catch a showing of Jurassic World Rebirth. This place has been open since 1961, and it's held a special place in my heart ever since I was a little kid. My parents took my brother and I here many times when I was growing up, and because of this, I've been in love with drive-in theaters ever since I was about seven years old. They're my all-time favorite way to watch a movie, and to me, going to one is an experience that can't be beat!
There are only a few hundred of these theaters left in the United States, but Indiana is lucky enough to have almost twenty of them that are still operational. At some point, I may write a blog post about my dumb obsession with these theaters and just how into them I got at such a young age. But if I had to pick my biggest reasons for loving them, they would be the food and the atmosphere. At every one I've been to, the food is absolutely incredible. Whether you like cheeseburgers, tenderloin sandwiches, hot dogs, or your classic popcorn and candy, a trip to the concession stand is guaranteed to give you some of the most filling and comforting junk food that you can get at the movies. The environment of a drive-in is also a lot more relaxed than a standard theater experience. You can do things like talk and smoke without bothering anybody around you, and in most places, you can bring your pets along to enjoy the night as well. Whenever I go to one, I like to take a little bit of time to just hang around the concession stand and watch the movie with the moon and stars illuminating the sky above the screen. It's an incredible image that always reminds me of why I love movies and specifically these theaters so much.
As for Jurassic World Rebirth, the movie is about as good as a seventh installment in a long-running franchise can be. Any series that goes on for this long is guaranteed to jump the shark at some point, and this one is no exception to that rule. This movie features things such as Veliciraptor / Pteranodon hybrids and a multi-armed mutated T-rex whose head kind of reminded me of a Xenomorph. It's completely ridiculous compared to the original three films, where the dinosaurs felt like real animals instead of just movie monsters. However, I still had quite a bit of fun with it. Many of the characters are much more likable than the protagonists of the previous World installments, and there are a lot of fun set pieces where they have to try to extract DNA from the dinosaurs without being eaten in the process. A big highlight is one scene where the characters encounter a herd of peaceful Titanosaurus, as it's the closest that these new installments have come to recapturing some of the magic and wonder of the original movie's dinosaurs. It does retread several iconic scenes from the original film, as well as backtrack from some of the ideas that the last movie laid out. But, I guess those sorts of things are bound to happen when you make another movie in a series that was thought to have a definite ending. Regardless of how dumb these movies get, they've had their claws in me since I was about 11 years old, and I'll probably keep showing up to them as long as they're still being made.
That's about it for this one. When I get a chance to make another drive-in trip, I'll be sure to write about it here. If you're lucky enough to have one in your state, make the drive and give them some of your support. They're a classic piece of Americana that we need to preserve for generations to come, and if you've never been to one, I promise that the trip is well worth it!
