What's the New Drive-Through Drive-in Movie Theater like?

A Vegas News item recently described a fast-food drive-through drive-in movie theater that opened up in town. I've never heard of such a thing. Has anyone tried it or even seen it? I'm really curious about what it looks like and how much it costs and how it works. Actually, if you can just tell me what it IS, I'd be happy.

You're in luck. Our reviewers checked out Burger51 for the current issue of the Las Vegas Advisor. And since you ask so nicely, we'll post the review here (which we don't mind doing from time to time to show what the inside of the newsletter looks like).

When we first started hearing about Burger51 in July 2019, we couldn’t visualize it either.

The concept of a drive-through drive-in movie theater was entirely foreign to us and apparently, we weren’t alone; Burger51 bills itself as the “world’s first experiential fast-food place.” It opened in late July at 101 N. Decatur, just north of US 95 (on the east side of the street) and is the brainchild of the owner of downtown’s Heart Attack Grill.

You pull up to the ordering window, housed in a shipping container decorated in sci-fi cult movie posters like The Amazing Transparent Man, How To Make a Monster, and The Brain that Wouldn’t Die. The offerings are limited to burgers (single $3, double $4), popcorn and shave ice ($4), candy bars, and sodas in glass bottles. Then you pull forward to a second container, pick up your food, and park in one of the 20 spaces in front of the 20-by-30-foot movie screen, perched on a third container.

Once parked, tune your car radio to 94.3 FM for the audio and the movies run continuously, three five-minute (or so) films interspersed with long commercials. Burger51’s raison d’etre is to “elevate small independent filmmakers” and some of the screenings are produced locally. The evening we went, the films consisted of one sexy, one psychological, and one animated short. With the long commercials, it’s a 35- to 40-minute experience — then the films repeat. If you come in in the middle of one of them, you can wait for it to reappear and catch the beginning.

There are some practical considerations. The screen faces southeast, which causes a bit of a problem with the sun in your eyes, albeit non-directly, especially around sunset. You won’t have to deal with glare if you go at night (hours are 11 am-1 am daily). The flicks are supposed to be “family-friendly” before 9 p.m., but one that we saw definitely wasn’t and a second would’ve gone over any kid’s head. So it’s not necessarily an alternative (to the West Wind Drive-in a little farther north) for the family.

The burgers, which come with a “secret sauce” (known to insiders as Thousand Island dressing) are pedestrian, though decent for the price. They’re also messy—bring some extra paper towels or even a car-upholstery covering. A good play would be to come later and get a couple buckets of popcorn and a soda or shave ice — for $8 per person, you can catch the latest in the short-film genre and have an entertainment experience that you can’t get anywhere else. Strange? For sure! But we liked it.

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rokgpsman Sep-14-2020

Drive-in movie theaters reopening

They've reopened a long-closed drive-in movie place near me. I think it's happening at other places around the US. There's still a lot of interest in watching a movie on the big screen, especially as a fun activity for couples and families. With indoor theaters shutdown for much of this year the drive-in movie is getting some revived business. By using a low power radio transmitter for the movie sound you don't need to repair or replace all those old speakers on poles and associated wiring. Just a fresh coat of reflective paint or a large vinyl covering on the screen and you can get the drive-in movie place back in action.

Ray Sep-14-2020

revival?

It seems like the dying outdoor theater industry was revived by social distancing. If they do it well, maybe they can survive better this time. 
Certainly a unique idea like this sets themselves apart from the others, and maybe a larger screen, larger parking area and better sun-screening would make their prospects even better. (Are you listening, possible competition?)

Jackie Sep-14-2020

Interesting

He created a new idea out of a dead one.  Containers are cheap to buy and easy to resell and no building codes to mess with plus the large screen can be sold as advertising signs to casinos.  Independent films are cheap, have no run limits or contracts and the ads interspersed generate income.  In other words, cheap to set up and profitable to take down and luckily for him at a time when a pandemic came along to make it an almost mandatory enterprise.  The old drive-ins died out mainly due to becoming non profitable through theater complexes driving them out of business and major film release distributors charging higher prices.  His timing of the experiment was perfect given the pandemic but once that is over and done with will his experiment die along with the pandemic?

O2bnVegas Sep-14-2020

So good

Wonderful ingenuity and industry.  A phoenix out of ashes.  We've become so used to perfection; this kind of thing will make us appreciate what we had (back then), what we don't have to have, how we can use our brains to create something out of not much and make it work.

Thanks to LVA for the nice write-up.

The Dr Sep-14-2020

Drive-In Others

There are numerous other options too.
Keith Urban help a concert in a drive in.  Now others are too.
Jim Gaffigan (?) comedians held a show.
Maybe the major hotels will have shows in their parking lot. LOL

Sep-14-2020

Party pooper

Sorry, everybody, but this Burger51 is a total loser to me. The only solid food they sell is a hamburger, but it comes with "special sauce", period. What if you don't like "special sauce" (as I and lots of other people don't)? What if you want different condiments on it? And they don't offer french fries to go with it? And they don't offer any sugar-free drinks for us diabetics (even iced tea)? And about the "movies", you only get to watch 15 minutes of film but have to watch 20 minutes of commercials? What's so great about that? And you have to have your radio on to hear the audio; we either do it with the engine off and thus drain your battery, or else with the engine on and waste gas. What in the world does anybody see that is attractive about this experience? It sounds like what somebody would dream up as a satirical TV skit, or a prank version, of a real drive-in movie experience. That someone would actually create this for real, and that anyone would pay for it, is unbelievable.

Bob Nelson Sep-15-2020

Battery

If your battery won’t run your radio for an hour without running the engine it is probably shot.

Question of the Day - 14 September 2020

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