![]() McHenry Outdoor Theater & drive in
The McHenry Outdoor Theatre (frequently called the McHenry Drive In), located ½ mile north of Route 120 at 1510 North Chapel Hill Road, has a single screen and is open seasonally May to September. McHenry Downtown Theater
Why do we love to go to the Movies?At the cinema, there are no distractions as there would be at home (OK, sometimes there is that annoying person who talks through the whole movie, but hopefully that doesn't happen too often). There's no phone (you did turn off your cell phone, right?), no doorbell, no internet, no commercials - it's a much different experience! With the advent of cable TV, the DVD player, and movies by mail, it's easier than ever to catch your favorite flick. But there's just no substitute for watching a movie in a real cinema with the lights down. It's a break from the world, a chance to slip away into a world of imagination that unfolds before you easily and without effort. After watching a great movie that totally absorbs your attention for two hours or so, it's like waking up from a dream, refreshed and ready to face the world. For me, that's one of the biggest reasons to go see a movie in a theater rather than at home. DRIVE IN theaters: A CULTURAL PHENOMENONDrive-in theaters operate today in nearly every U.S. state
and Puerto Rico. Illinois had more than 120 outdoor theaters
in its heyday in the late 50’s but only 12 remained
continuously open, with two reopening after the year 2000. Hollingshead had the first patent on August 6, 1932 and a
year later the first drive-in opened in New Jersey. The
inventor advertised that “The whole family is welcome,
regardless of how noisy the children are!” The 80’s brought cable TV and VCRs so people stayed at home and attendance dropped at the drive-ins, which closed by a staggering figure of 3000 with only 500 rem aining nationwide. However, baby boom nostalgia for the drive-in has created a nationwide upswing to the extent that many drive-ins reopened in the 90’s and some owners ran out of parking space. Even further, twenty new drive-ins were built in the U.S. between the summer of 2005 and the summer of 2006. A cultural phenomenon, the drive-in theater proves it is here to stay!
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McHenry Downtown Theater | McHenry Outdoor Theater