Drive-In
Centenary Square, Broad Street,
Birmingham,
B1 2ND
Centenary Square, Broad Street,
Birmingham,
B1 2ND
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On May 16, 1996, a special message of the then-upcoming 1996 British International Motor Show was announced by Roger King, the SMMT Director of Public Affairs, that a drive-in theatre will be built near Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre in Centenary Square, featuring the surroundings of classic cars from all over the world and a 50x30ft mammoth screen that comes along with the movie.
The star-studded event which lasted from October 13 until October 27, 1996 featured a special significance as both the British Cinema and the British Motor Industry come together to celebrate their 100th anniversaries, and was held in conjunction by the Birmingham International Film and Television Festival.
The drive-in kicked off the short event with a screening of Kevin Costner’s “Tin Cup”, and throughout the one-week event featured mostly American first-run features (such as “Sleepers” and “The Pallbearer” that were added to the list in the event), but also paid tribute to Lynda La Plante as well. Although the total capacity of the drive-in remains unknown, but its more than a hundred.
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50sSNIPES
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Recent comments (view all 2 comments)
Correction: The event lasted for two weeks, not one.
Here’s the real true story on how Britain attempted to build its first drive-in theater:
Throughout much of January and February 1964, plans were announced by Mr. Billy Butlin, Mr. Cecil King, and ABC Cinemas for a family entertainment center on an 800-acre site in the east part of Stanley Park located in Blackpool, claiming that the joint project will be the most comprehensive of its kind in Europe at the time. The plan was later purposed, and more drive-ins including ones in Gloucester and Tollerton were also planned both by ABC themselves.
This includes the first drive-in theater in the United Kingdom with room for a capacity of 1,000 cars and a holiday camp nearby for 8,000 people. Some other addictions to the project include a zoo, a golf course, an exhibition hall, and parking spaces for 12,000 vehicles as well as a horse racing track. Special additions to the planned theater include a bandstand, restaurants, several snack bars, beer gardens, and an arts and crafts studio. The screen will be a vast CinemaScope screen measuring 120ft long that will be functioned with most climatic difficulties except both heavy snow or fog.
Unfortunately all of those plans ABC mentioned were immediately halted and were completely dropped a few years later.