For years the American Drive-in experience was just that, an American experience. But in quest to re-invigorate movie going Europeans have taken a page from the drive-in handbook and re-purposing the idea of a drive-in within their own cultural experience.
A former circus juggler and an ex-investment banker may sound like an unlikely pairing, but two such entrepreneurs have hit upon a winning formula for a business: pop-up cinemas.
Gerry Cottle Jnr, son of a circus owner , founded Experience Cinema in 2011, hosting movie screenings on the roof of an East London Bar.. His goal was to combine a trip to the cinema with a traditional night out by hosting screenings in bars.
A childhood friend, Nick Frow, a banker, joined the business in 2012 and the screenings spread to Kensington Roof Gardens. This year the pair added three more venues to the Rooftop Film Club’s portfolio and they launched London’s first commercial drive-in cinema.4
The Drive In Film Club, hosted at venues including a local Racecourse and a swank Palace over the spring and summer, screened movies like Gravity, Back to the Future and Grease, charging $35 per car.
Their company, Experience Cinema, has had 60,000 cars in the capital this year, and now they are looking wider, to the rest of the UK and America.
“Cinema experiences have become a popular night out,” says Cottle, who used to be a circus juggler and clown, before moving into public relations a decade ago and launching his own business.
“We’ve brought community back to cinema. We have themed nights, cocktails and the right atmosphere for the movie we’re showing. People come in big groups. It’s like going to a theatrical show, but a fifth of the price.”
Experience Cinema hosted 280 sold-out Rooftop Film Club events in London over the summer, and 170 drive-in screenings. When the Christmas season started, they launched the Underground Film Club,in the world famous Waterloo Station, which will screen seasonal favorites including Elf, Home Alone and Love Actually.
The company realizes that a rising numbers of people are more than willing to pay more for movie showings that offer something extra over the standard bland movie -going experience.
The Secret Cinema company’s Back to the Future series of showings earlier this year sold 65,000 tickets/ “Parts of our business are obviously seasonal, but we’re expanding so we can show films all year round – that’s why we started the Underground Film Club,” says Frow. “Waterloo is the perfect location. You walk down a cobbled street and it’s all eerie and a bit mysterious.”
Inside, the pop-up cinema has old-fashioned crushed velvet seats. An assortment of your favorite adult beverage beer and hot dogs, nachos and popcorn are available to complete the night out.
It costs $20a ticket, plus booking fee. While expensive by American standards, the $20 fee in the UK is part of the course.
“We know that people are getting squeezed so we’ve tried to keep everything reasonable,” says Frow. “We often run competitions and promotions to give away tickets. At our rooftop screenings in Peckham, we serve craft beer at $5.50 a bottle – we’re the only people in London to serve beer at that price.”
Movie -goers are looking for both simplicity and a sense of community. The sterile world of the hard top theatre are driving movie goers to look to other experiences. Many of them are turning a kind eye to the drive-in.
