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Like ice cream, camping and baseball, drive-in theatres are a summertime symbol of a carefree childhood for millions of Canadians.

But with the North American movie industry on the verge of making a money- saving switch from film to digital projection technology, the sun seems ready to set on the big screens under the stars.

''It's been a great ride (but) I think this is the end of the road for drive- ins,'' said Marcel Venne, president of the Quebec Association of Cinema and Drive-in Theatre Owners, and owner of two of the eight drive-ins that are open for business across the province this summer.

According to the latest figures from Drive-On-In, Inc., a website owned and operated by an American brother and sister who are industry nostalgia buffs, there are currently 373 drive-ins open in the United States and 65 in Canada, down from a continent-wide peak of nearly 5,000 in the late 1950s.

According to Venne, drive-ins have been hit hard by myriad challenges over the past 30 years - everything from daylight savings time and the rising cost of real estate to the advent of the rental movie market and high-tech cinemas.

''The industry has been pronounced dead many times (and) we've weathered many storms - literally,'' Venne said. ''But many people have a strong nostalgic attachment to drive-ins. That has helped us stay in business.''

However, he believes few - if any, including his two - will survive the next hurdle.

Starting next year, Hollywood movie studios and their worldwide distributors will begin converting their operations from 35-mm film to digital projection.

The move is expected to save the studios millions of dollars in shipping and handling costs, but it means movie theatres and drive-ins will need to buy numeric projectors that cost upward of $70,000 apiece - $10,000 more for 3D.

''There's no firm conversion date but we're hearing and we anticipate that there will be little film print available by the end of 2012,'' said Pat Marshall, vice-president communications and investor relations of Cineplex Entertainment.

Cineplex is the largest motion picture exhibitor in Canada and the fourth- largest in North America with 129 theatres and 1,343 screens that serve about 70 million guests annually - a huge 66 per cent of the national market share.

The company also owns and operates two drive-in theatres. Both are located in Quebec.

According to Marshall, Cineplex is still contemplating the future of those two facilities.

She said the outcome of continuing talks between exhibitors and movie makers over a possible sharing in the savings and costs of conversion might weigh in the balance.

''But at the end of the day, drive-ins need to make a decision to convert or not to convert,'' Marshall said from the company's headquarters in Toronto.

The future doesn't look bright, she added, for a seasonal industry that is losing its ability to compete.

''Don't get me wrong - I love drive-ins,'' said Marshall, a middle-aged Winnipeg native who counts her family's monthly summer outings to a now-closed local drive-in among her most cherished childhood memories.

The problem, she added, is the money-making ability of outdoor businesses that bill themselves as fun, low-cost alternatives to cinemas.

''Canada's weather really doesn't support the industry,'' Marshall said. ''And exhibitors can't survive off box office alone. You need concessions to make it viable. But drive-ins don't do as well as cinemas because a lot of people bring their own food and beverages.''

Most drive-ins, she added, also offer double-feature showings of first-run films that exhibitors must rent from the movie studios at a cost of 60 per cent or more of ticket prices.

''From a business perspective,'' Marshall added, ''drive-ins are a tough row to hoe.''

Robert Soroka, a professor with McGill University's Desautels Faculty of Management, where he teaches retailing, marketing and consumer psychology, considers drive-ins, which began springing up in the U.S. in the early 1930s, to be quaint but antiquated throwbacks to a bygone era.

''Cars and movies were some of the most exciting consumer items back then and drive-ins were a social happening,'' Soroka said. ''People were ready to tolerate the poor quality of the sound and the bugs and the foggy windows because they were buying the excitement.

''There are many more attractive entertainment alternatives available today, like air-conditioned cinemas, DVD movie rentals and things like Netflix.''

He added that drive-ins have also lost much of their appeal in the 1960s and 70s as a popular spot for young people in search of privacy or parties.

''Demographics and society have changed,'' said Soroka, who moonlights as a consultant for major retailers. ''Youth don't need contrived events to have fun or find intimacy. Drive-ins aren't even on their radar.''

The rise in the value of real estate, he added, is also playing against the industry.

''Land wasn't worth much 30 years ago so a drive-in was a way for an entrepreneur with a field to try and make some money,'' he said. ''But with the price of real estate today there are much more profitable uses for land.''

Soroka believes those changes, together with the industry's typically small, independent-owner business model, both undermine and preclude its ability to renew and/or rebrand the product.

''They have to sell the experience but I think drive-ins have given up on that and chosen not to compete,'' he said.

Despite a slight bump in popularity in the 1990s and 2000s, when several new drive-ins were built across North America, Soroka said the industry now relies almost entirely on young families with parents who want to share the drive-in experience they enjoyed as kids with their kids.

''You can't run a business on nostalgia,'' Soroka said. ''There's no future in that.''

Read full article: , June 25, 2011