<P> During their height, some drive - ins used attention - grabbing gimmicks to boost attendance . They ranged from drawings for prizes and free admission, small airplane runways, unusual attractions such as a small petting zoo or cage of monkeys, personal appearances by actors to open their movies, or musical groups to play before the show . Some drive - ins held Sunday religious services, or charged a flat price per car on slow nights like Wednesdays or Sundays . On "buck" nights during the 1950s and 1960s, the admission price was one dollar per car . </P> <P> One of the largest drive - in theaters was the Johnny All - Weather Drive - In in Copiague, New York . Covering over 29 acres, it could park 2,500 vehicles . It had a full - service restaurant with seating on the roof, and a trolley system to take children and adults to a playground and a large indoor theater for bad weather or for those who wanted to watch in air - conditioned comfort . </P> <P> The shift in content of drive - ins was less of a problem than competition from home entertainment, from color television to VCRs and video rentals . This, along with the 1970s energy crisis led to a sharp decline of attendance as well to the widespread adoption of daylight saving time (which made the shows start an hour later), making it harder for drive - ins to operate successfully . Also, the 1980s real estate interest rate hikes made the large property areas increasingly expensive, and thus far too valuable for businesses such as drive - ins, which in many cases were summer - only . Drive - ins were also subject to the whim of nature as inclement weather often caused poor attendance or cancellations . Less than two hundred drive - ins were in operation in the U.S. and Canada by the late 1980s . Since the 1990s they have lapsed into a quasi-novelty status with the remaining handful catering to a generally nostalgic audience, with many drive - ins continuing to successfully operate in some areas, mostly on the West Coast . Newer theaters opened during this time, as well as a handful of them reopened . By 2013, drive - ins comprised only 1.5 percent of movie screens in the United States, with 389 theaters in operation . At the industry's height, about 25 percent of the nation's movie screens had been in a drive - in . </P> <P> Many drive - in movie sites remain, but re-purposed as storage or flea market sites, often after residential housing or other higher value uses came to the lightly populated or unpopulated areas where the drive - ins were located . The largest drive - in theater in the world, the Fort Lauderdale Swap Shop, doubles as the world's largest daily flea market . Former drive - in properties in Michigan, for example, have become industrial parks, shopping centers, indoor theaters, and even churches (as with the Former Woodland Drive - In in Grand Rapids, MI). In Philadelphia, the South City Drive In became the location of the original Spectrum in the late 1960s, with a small portion of its old property line extending into what would become the (now demolished) Veterans Stadium complex . Another example of a drive in - turned - flea market is Spotlight 88 in North Sewickley Township, Beaver County, Pennsylvania, which ended business as a drive - in after an F3 tornado destroyed much of the property on May 31, 1985 . As a joke after the tornado hit, the owners put up in the "now - showing" sign Gone with the Wind . It was most likely copied from a Taylor, Michigan Drive in called Ecorse Drive - In . On July 16, 1980, a freak derecho storm with 150 mph straight line winds swept the Drive - In away leaving only the "now - showing" sign with the letters "Now Playing Gone with the Wind". They rebuilt the screen, but it never recovered; by 1989, it was sold and now is a Kroger grocery store . </P>

What was the first movie to be shown at a drive-in theater