Lost cinema: What happened to Australia’s drive-in theatres?
Australia once enjoyed the third highest number of drive-in cinemas in the world behind only the United States and Canada. At their peak in the late 1970s, there were 330 operating nationwide. Today there are fewer than 12.
In the Ipswich suburb of Chuwar, The Tivoli Drive-in Movie Theatre is one of only six drive-ins left in Queensland.
Pastor Fred Muys has been running the hybrid drive-in theatre and outdoor entertainment venue for over 20 years.
“I bought it as a rather derelict property in 2003. It had been closed for several years when my organisation the Rivers of Life Church purchased it and turned it into a not-for-profit,” Mr Muys revealed to realcommercial.com.au.
“It originally began operating back in 1976 during the halcyon days of outdoor cinema, when drive-ins were a very popular way to spend a Saturday evening all over Australia.”
Tivoli Drive-In, Queensland. Picture: Supplied
Following a $1 million redevelopment project in 2015, The Tivoli now boasts one of the largest outdoor cinema screens in Queensland, plus an auditorium, café, and green activity space for live events.
Fred Muys said his drive-in provides Ipswich locals with an authentic retro experience that is “few and far between” in an age of Netflix and streaming services.
“It’s a great night out for the family where parents can bring their kids along and say, ‘Hey, this is what we did when we were young.’ And the kids love it. They love lying on a mattress on the roof of an SUV or in the back of Dad’s ute tray while watching a double feature.”
“Sadly, there aren’t many venues left that offer that kind of unique experience.”
Drive-in beginnings
Australia’s first drive-in, Hoyts Skyline, opened in the Melbourne suburb of Burwood in February 1954.
Launching with the musical comedy ‘On The Riveria’, such was the excitement surrounding opening night, the venue experienced a traffic jam as 2,000 cars competed for only 600 spaces.
Hoyts Bulleen Drive-In, Melbourne 1966. Picture: John Mulligan, National Library of Australia.
Based on drive-ins from the USA, families were encouraged to arrive early before the film started for a meal at the American-style snack bar while the kids ran amuck in the playground.
At the Hoyts Skyline, patrons could order hot dogs, hamburgers, soft drinks and lollies by pushing a button on a post next to the car, alerting an attendant to come and take their order.
Media academic and former lecturer at University of the Sunshine Coast, Ben Goldsmith, noted that while many private operators would later emerge, major chains such as Hoyts, Greater Union and Village were some of the first to open Australian drive-ins.
“Those big companies had all the distribution deals and therefore access to screen new release movies, which made them very profitable,” he explained.
A cultural explosion
The overnight success of the Hoyts Skyline in Burwood prompted a flood of applications for operating licences across the country.
Within a year, four more had opened for business – three in Victoria and the first in South Australia. By Christmas 1955, Queensland and Western Australia had joined the cultural phenomenon sweeping Australia. In 1956, Tasmania opened its first drive-in at Hobart’s Elwick Racecourse.
After a delay in licensing legislation, the first NSW drive-in, the Skyline at Lambton near Newcastle, opened in October 1956, having cost around £200,000 to build.
Within 10 years, the number of drive-ins had reached 230.
The Skyline Drive-In movie theatre in Sydney. Picture: Getty
Ben Goldsmith said the key drivers of their success were families enjoying post-war economic prosperity and the proliferation of widespread car ownership.
“There were initially restrictions on the importation of American and British cars to Australia. But when Holden finally took off in the 1950s, cars suddenly became a big thing. They became much more affordable. And that led to an explosion of drive-ins.”
The emergence of suburbia in the 1950s and 60s also helped to popularise the drive-in, thanks to the abundance of vacant and cheap land on urban fringes.
“Drive-ins followed the people, they went where the families went,” said Mr Goldsmith.
“But they weren’t only about watching movies – they were major outings for the whole family. Many of them had amazing additions like swimming pools, ballrooms, mini golf, reading and writing lounges and pony rides.”
“The Starlight Aspley in Queensland even had a mini zoo.”
Tors Drive-in Cinema in Charters Towers, Queensland opened in 1966 and is one of the few drive-ins still operating in Australia. Picture: Westernthunderer, National Gallery of Australia
Drive-in demise
Despite drive-ins reaching a peak in the 1970s, the tail end of the decade marked the beginning of their downfall.
The arrival of colour television was partly to blame, with Australia experiencing one of the fastest uptakes of colour television during the 70s, taking a third of the time compared to the United States to reach a 60% saturation rate.
Then in the 1980s, the rise of the VCR allowed even greater flexibility of viewing films at home, while the introduction of daylight savings restricted the hours drive-ins could operate during the summer.
1950s drive-in theatres in Australia were influenced by those in the U.S.A. Picture: Getty
Technology and timing shifts aside, drive-ins were also starting to earn a bad reputation.
“They began to lose their family-friendly identity and become known as ‘passion pits’ – basically places for young people to hang out and make out while they screened R-rated horror and sex films,” explained Ben Goldsmith.
As Australia’s cities grew, land value also increased, making the drive-in cinema a less attractive proposition compared to their lucrative development potential.
Throughout the ’80s and ’90s, many were sold off to make way for shopping centres, freeways or new housing estates.
“It’s ironic that the suburban areas which played a key role in the early success of drive-ins would later contribute to their downfall,” Mr Goldsmith said.
“As soon as they became unviable, or when a developer came along with a competing offer for land, many drive-ins – particularly ones owned by big chains – tended to sell up, move on, and go back to focusing on traditional hard top cinemas.”
But not every acquisition of a drive-in cinema resulted in its disappearance.
In 2018, the Coburg Drive-In – one of Victoria’s last remaining drive-in cinemas – was sold to property group Charter Hall for $12.5 million.
As part of the sale, the popular venue (operating since 1965) was leased back to Village Roadshow Theatres for an initial 10-year term.
The Coburg Drive-In was sold in 2018, and Village Roadshow Theatres has a 10-year lease on the property. Picture: realcommercial.com.au
At the time, Charter Hall CEO David Harrison said the purchase provided “attractive investment characteristics for our investors and resilient accretive cash flow while our platform unlocks potential higher and better use options in the longer term.”
Property expert Steve Palise called the exchange “a clever land banking play.”
“It’s a win-win for both parties; a smart long-term purchase with a solid net rental return and the ability for the cinema to continue operating,” he explained.
“Coburg is perfectly situated near Essendon Airport with an undersupply of properties, so there’s exceptional potential for Charter Hall should the drive-in become unprofitable.”
Cinema survival
Dwindling drive-in numbers aside, recent years have proven difficult for cinema across the board, with small theatres and large chains alike enduring dwindling audiences since COVID and fierce competition with streaming services.
According to a 2024 IbisWorld report on Cinemas in Australia, consumers are cutting back on discretionary spending due to rising interest rates and inflated cost-of-living expenses, which has threatened reduced cinema attendance during 2023-24.
“Cinema tickets are also getting very expensive, which probably isn’t helping attendance numbers,” noted Ben Goldsmith.
The drive-in has been a Coburg fixture since 1965. Picture: realcommercial.com.au
In an effort to ease the cost-of-living squeeze and attract more customers, The Tivoli Drive-in currently charges $15 for a family to watch two new release movies.
Pastor Fred Muys said providing a movie experience for those who can’t afford to go to a “regular cinema” is of paramount importance.
“By the time you’ve bought a little bit of popcorn, it costs a family with three kids in excess of a hundred dollars to go to the cinema. For those battlers today who can barely afford to put food on their table on a regular night, let alone pay their rent or electricity, it’s frankly ridiculous.”
“That we’re able to give something back to the community while also keeping a cultural tradition alive makes it all worthwhile.”
