Big Sky Drive-In
405 Main Street,
Billings,
MT
59105
405 Main Street,
Billings,
MT
59105
1 person
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Additional Info
Previous Names: City-Vu Drive
Nearby Theaters
The City-Vu Drive-In opened June 27, 1951 with Bud Abbott & Lou Costello in “Here Come the Coeds” & Maria Montez in “Gypsy Wildcat”.
The Big Sky Drive-In was closed on September 2, 1979 with Goldie Hawn in “Foul Play”, Peter Falk in “The Brinks Job”, Jack Nicholson in “Goin' South” & Ruth Gordon in “Harold and Maud”. It was demolished in spring of 1998. Now a Target store.
Contributed by
James Monroe
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Recent comments (view all 6 comments)
This opened as the City-Vu Drive-In on June 27th, 1951. Grand opening ad in the photo section.
The Big Sky Drive-In opened on June 10th, 1965. Grand opening ad in the photo section. Closing year to come.
Final night of operation was September 2, 1979 with “Foul Play”, “The Brink’s Job”, “Goin' South” and “Harold & Maude”. Plans were made to build a new Holiday Inn on the drive-in site, but that apparently fell through as the drive-in remained standing until it was demolished in spring 1998.
Elaborating on Drivein101’s note, here’s a quote from Boxoffice, Sept. 24, 1979: “Theatre Operators Inc., headquartered in Bozeman, Mont., held a special celebration to mark the closing of its Big Sky Drive-In Theatre in Billings, Mont. The Big Sky is being dismantled and the ground will be used for the construction of a new Holiday Inn Motel. The final program was called a "Chicken Little Night” because the Big Sky is falling."
Boxoffice, Sept. 8, 1951: “Billings' newest drive-in, the City-Vu Drive-In, opened this summer a mile east of town just off Highway 10. It has three-way exits which open onto two highways for quick and safe departure. Steve Trenka, who opened the ozoner, has been busy nearly a year on the new theatre and did most of the work himself.”
The Screen/Drive-In built prior to Cinemascope /Widescreen (1953) was in the old 1:37-1 Format which is why it looks more Vertically Square. When the Projectionist recieved a Scope/Widescreen Print he would have to change the aperature plate in the projector to compensate for tthe intended wider width. Consequently most movie goers weren’t aware that what they were seeing or not seeing was cropped. If they used a Scope Aperature plate which was usually a 2:35-1 ratio the picture would be off the Screen. The Motor-Vu which was built prior to the City-Vu in 1948 did widen their Screen in the Mid 50’s when more feature films were being shot in Widescreen Format. In fact the Motor-Vu Screen after the Addition was the Lrgest Screen in Montana …