With summer fast approaching, drive-ins are coming back to life. Some establishments, including those of Saint-Hilaire, Orford and Saint-Eustache, did not wait for the first warm evenings to start welcoming moviegoers again.
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Ciné-Parc St-Hilaire was the first to open its doors, in mid-April. Those of Saint-Eustache and Orford followed suit last weekend.
“We had a lot of people for our opening on Friday, but Saturday we really had a big evening, says the co-owner of the Ciné-Parc Orford, François Pradella.
“It must be said that we had two very popular films on the bill: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, but also Super Mario Bros.which is still working very well five weeks after its release.”
The Ciné-Parc Belle Neige (in the Laurentians) should resume its activities around May 18. As for the one in Chandler, in Gaspésie, it is scheduled to open at the end of May.
- Listen to the interview with Kevin Patenaude, co-owner of Ciné-Parc St-Hilaire on Yasmine Abdelfadel’s show via QUB-radio :
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While drive-in theaters experienced a resurgence in popularity at the start of the pandemic, the numerous postponements of Hollywood films have sometimes played tricks on them for three years. Last year, their season got off to a good start, but a shortage of new films led to a drop in attendance towards the end of the summer.
“The good news is that this year, we have a lot of good films spread over the whole season, advances François Pradella. We also have promising Quebec films, such as slush heart, which was not the case last year. I believe this is going to be our first normal season since the pandemic. Last year, there were no more health restrictions, but we were still feeling the impact of COVID on the Hollywood film schedule. There, we feel that it will be more normal.