News:
For the latest updates to the page, see the "What's New" page.
6/13/12
Finally stopped being lazy and added the two newest drive-ins to the web page. Adding open drive-ins to the list are always a good thing. Fortunately for this year, none to remove from the open list. I’m also thinking about putting something on Facebook in regards to this web site. I see many of the open drive-ins have Facebook pages, and maybe it’s time for this site to have one as well. I may have some more updates in the near future, as well. Found some old ads for the Perry Circle drive-in, and some pictures of the remains of the Rouman drive-in in Rhinelander. Maybe even some from out of state.
9/15/11
It’s been a while, in fact, way overdue. I’ve managed to re-post the web site, with some very small updates at this time. However, a lot of new stuff is coming, including many new photos, information, and two, yes, two new drive-ins to list!
The last couple of years have been a bit rough, and sadly, nothing was done with this page. Haven’t been making it to all of the drive-ins in the state like I used to, but I’m hoping that may change for next year (2012). If things go better, the full tour may continue. I may even add something to FaceBook when time permits.
As soon as I can, the two new drive-ins will be added, and more content for the drive-ins already listed.
8/9/06
Time for an update. I’ve made it to four so far, with the rest to come in the next few weeks. It’s been a pretty busy season with other things, but plans are to make it to all of them again this season. Check each of the individual pages for additional pictures.
5/15/06
Way overdue for an update. The last year was very busy with a LOT of stuff going on for me. With much of my time being split between drive-in stuff and drag racing in the summer months, getting around to making updates to the page got put on hold, but hopefully this year will fare better than the 2005 season did. I did make it to every drive-in in Wisconsin during the 2005 season, but didn’t get a chance to report on it here. Check the individual pages for the results of my trips for the 2005 season and updates for the 2006 trips as they happen. I do plan to take in all of them again this year. Also, check under the drive-in list for drive-ins outside of Wisconsin. I went to three in the Dayton, Ohio area over the Easter 2006 weekend.
5/1/05
Updated the list for who is open. Many are open and all will be open soon. And as always, make sure you call ahead to see what’s playing. I’ve also added the links to the web pages of the drive-ins that have them.
4/15/05
The beginning of the 2005 season starts today! Check the phone number listing or “What’s Playing” to see who’s open for the season. I will update the list as I find out who’s open. Please call the theater to see if they are open. If anyone knows of a drive-in that’s open (or opening) for the season, and I don’t have them listed, please let me know.
3/19/05
It’s been a while since there’s been an update, but I’ve finally registered my domain and I’m the proud new owner of www.moviesbystarlight.com ! I also have more web space available for updates. I’d pretty much run out of space before, and had no room to add more information. I now have almost 30 times the space for information for this page. Expect to see more updates in the future. Now, hopefully if this snow finally goes away and it warms up, the drive-ins should be opening in the next month or so.
11/21/04
That wraps it up for another season. The return of cold weather and the promise of that four-letter word “snow” brings everything to an end. Watch these pages for the start of the 2005 season. Should start in April again. Also added a picture of the old marquee at the 59 Outdoor in Waukesha, and updated the drive-in tips page.
9/24/04
Well, it’s been a hectic summer, but I managed to make it to all of the drive-ins in Wisconsin again. Lots of good movies and a couple of turds, check my movie review page to see which ones were good and which were bad. My apologies for not updating over the summer, but with two hobbies that take me away from the house most of the time, I’ve gotten behind on keeping things up to date.
5/7/04
Everybody's open for the season! Go and go often!
4/28/04
Updated the main page with who's open and opening for the season. The Sky-Vu in Monroe is open for the season, and Field of Scenes has announced their intentions to open on May 14th for the season. I hope to be there that night, so if you want to meet up, I'll be there (weather permitting). Watch for a white Pontiac with GUNSTAR on the plates.
4/7/04
Made my first trip to the drive-in for the year. It was cool outside, but the weather turned out great for a trip to the 18 Outdoor theater. There were actually some brave souls sitting outside. It was breezy and in the low 40's to high 30's. Good crowd, though. With the number of big movies coming out this year, it should be a good year for the drive-ins.
3/25/04
The 2004 season is about to start! Watch these pages, and as I find out which ones are opening, I'll post it here. If anyone knows of their local drive-in theater opening, and I don’t have it posted here, please let me know and I'll update the page. I'm looking forward to a long, nice summer. The 18 Outdoor is going to be opening soon, with other soon to follow. Have a fun and safe drive-in season.
Also: As of 3/19/04, this site has been on the internet for 5 years! Yeeeeehaaaaaa!
11/7/03
Sadly another season is over. I'll probably have updates for the site during the winter as I get stuff done that needed updating. The 2003 season seemed to do pretty good for the drive-ins of Wisconsin. And as always, watch this space for the beginning of the next season!
10/3/03
Well, the 2003 season is winding down. Only a few still open. As always, call ahead to make sure they are open before driving there. If you do go, stay warm! Bundle up and enjoy movies on the big screen!
9/21/03
Whew, what a whirlwind tour of the drive-ins for the end of the year. Amazingly, I made it to all of them again this year! Since my last update, I made it to the Gemini, Keno, Starlite 14, Sky-Vu, and 18 Outdoor. For the most part, the weather cooperated for my visits to the drive-ins. Only ended up slightly wet on a couple of visits. Theaters are beginning to close for the season, so if you are going to go, get there soon. But as always, call ahead to see if they are still open. I will update my page as soon as I find out the status of the drive-ins. Everybody seems to have had a good season and should re-open next year. I apologize to all those who have sent me e-mails and I haven't responded to them. It's been very hectic as of late and I will respond as soon as I can. Thanks for your patience.
8/26/03
Sadly way, way overdue for an update here. It's been a very hectic summer. I'm working to get everything back on track around here. Made it to the, Skyway, and Moonlight Outdoor since my last update. Check their respective pages for updates. Pictures coming soon!
6/23/03
Well, it's less than two weeks until the opening of Wisconsin's newest drive-in theater! Field of Scenes opens on July 4th! This is going to be a very nice drive-in theater. Make sure you check it out. I'll be there for opening night.
5/30/03
All of the current drive-ins are open for the season! Shouldn't be long and "Field of Scenes" should be open soon. Now for the weather to cooperate. Have fun at the drive-in!
5/9/03
Almost everybody is open for the season. As always, call ahead to make sure. Have a fun season! I'm off to the drive-in for the first trip of the year!
4/16/03
Drive-in season is here! They're beginning to open for the season and the weather is getting better (although today, April 16, would fool you). I'll post openings when I find out about them. Plus, this season we will have a new one to go to in Freedom. See the map to find it. Watch this page for more information.
3/3/03
Unfortunate news: At this time, it appears that the Sky-Vue drive-in in Wausau will not re-open for the 2003 season. For reasons not yet fully known to me, the theater has again been sold and parts are being sold off. It's sad that this drive-in had a short but sweet life. It always seemed to be busy every time I visited the Sky-Vue. A bit of good news comes out of this, though. Apparently the projection equipment has been sold to the owner of the new drive-in that is being built in Freedom, WI.
Note: Please do not confuse this drive-in with the Sky-Vu in Monroe. To the best of my knowledge, they plan to re-open for the 2003 season.
2/1/03
Today is a tragic day in US history. We lost one of our shuttles and her crew. Columbia broke up on re-entry from orbit. All hands on board were lost. I've always been proud of our space shuttle program even since seeing the first launch of Columbia live on TV when I was in junior high. I can clearly remember the day we lost Challenger on January 28, 1986. My condolences to the families of the crewmembers who were lost on this tragic day.
1/13/03
Happy New Year everybody! A new year and a new update. I've added a couple of grand opening ads to their respective pages and updated my movie review section. Outside it is dang cold right now and drive-in season seems a long way off. I can't wait for May!
12/28/02
Not much new to report right now, although I'm working on some updates with information I picked up over the summer and fall. Right now the only update is a comparison between Widescreen and Fullscreen movies on Laser Disc, DVD, and VHS. See it here. And to top it off, Happy Holidays! It's almost 2003! May seems so far away… sigh.
10/26/02
Finally got off my butt and did an update. Fall is here and there will be more time to make updates. It was a very busy summer. I did make it to all of the drive-ins again this year. Plus, there is good news! There is a new drive-in being built in Freedom called Field of Scenes. All of the drive-ins were busy this summer and there were plenty of good movies to be seen. My apologies to people who have written to me recently. I re-built my computer with some new parts and unfortunately I lost a number of e-mails from people. Thanks to the fine quality of MS products for that one…
6/11/02
Added a new marquee at the top of the page! This excellent piece of work is from Sean Thorne. The Sky-Vue in Wausau is now open for the season, so everybody is open now. Remember: You can't go too many times!
5/15/02
Only one more to go and they are all open for the season! Now we just need warm and dry weather… sigh. I've added a bunch of stuff! Check the "What's New" page for all of the details! Star Wars: Attack of the Clones starts tomorrow! Sadly, Lucas is not letting drive-ins run it until it's been out a while. I guess he doesn't want it running on the BIG screen... sigh.
5/2/02
Just about everybody is open or opening soon. The weather is warming up and there's going to be some good movies this year! Sadly, the 41-Twin has been eradicated from the face of the earth… Sorry Milwaukee drive-in fans. But if you don't mind a little drive, Jefferson and Kenosha are not too far away and they have nice drive-in theaters as well.
And always remember: Go and go often!
4/16/02
Well, the 2002 season is starting up and it's time to start doing more updates. I've updated the main page with the seasonal opening dates for most of the 9 remaining drive-ins. Watch the main page for near future updates. Here it is April 16, 2002 and it was 85 degrees. I'm really itching to get to the drive-ins! But the warm weather also will start to bring out the mosquitoes, so bring your bug spray (or buy a Pic mosquito repellent). I'm also working on a new drive-in addition to the page!
3/30/02
Very sad news… The 41-Twin will not be re-opening for the 2002 season. It is currently in the process of being torn down. An insurance company is building on the site and the theater is being removed. I made quite a few trips there and will miss the enjoyment that it brought. I took quite a few pictures and will post them when I get them developed.
I found one of my old Badger 4-Plex tickets and added it to the Badger Outdoor page.
3/6/02
Alright, I let this go a bit long. Sorry about the lack of updates lately. Only a couple this time, but some good ones. I've added a couple of links on the drive-in theater links section. There's a new link for a drive-in theater web-ring and for those of you on the eastern seaboard, there is a link to drive-ins in the Mid-Atlantic states, and New York state.
10/5/01
The season is almost over with only one drive-in theater still open for the season. Check the main page to see who. I've managed to make it to all of them again this year, and in some cases, two visits. On a sad note, the 41-Twin may not re-open again next year. Check the 41-Twin page for more information. The only one thankful that the drive-in season is over is my poor car. Although, if there's a nice weekend in the near future, I do plan to make one more run to the remaining drive-in theater. All-in-all, it was a very good season at the drive-ins. Everybody seemed to be doing good with large crowds. What helped were the good movies that were released. I'll still be doing updates during the winter, so check back to see what's going on.
8/27/01
Updated several of the individual drive-in pages and added some movie reviews. Make sure you visit your local drive-in!
8/15/01
Made my first visit to the Moonlight Outdoor theater in Shawano on 8/4/01, and also stopped at the Keno Drive-in in Kenosha. I've updated their pages and added some pictures of the Moonlight Outdoor theater. I've also added a section for reviews of movies that I've seen at drive-in theaters over the years.
8/1/01
Wow, I've gotten behind on my work! I've made it to several drive-ins so far this year. Check the individual pages for which ones. A couple of things I'm working on: A movie review page for movies that I've seen at drive-ins. Also, I'm looking at going through movies that feature drive-in theaters and digitizing pictures of scenes with drive-ins in them. This may take a while, but hopefully it turns out well. Look for these things in the near future.
05/19/01
Updated the main page and the phone numbers page with the openings of the drive-ins around the state. Everybody is open for the season now! Also, added a page about something interesting that I found on DVD. And, finally, I updated the TV-Movie page again.
05/06/01
Added a couple of links to the links section. Also updated the main page with another theater soon to open. Also updated the phone numbers page with the number for the Moonlight Drive-in theater in Shawano. Made my first drive-in trip for the season. Looking forward to a nice long summer and drive-in season!
05/03/01
Updated the main page again with more drive-in season openings. Only a couple left to open!
04/26/01
Cabin fever has been cured! Drive-in's are opening for the season! The weather is getting nice again! I'm going to have to mow my lawn again… (well 3 out of 4 ain't bad). I made some updates to the page again. Check the main list to see who is open and opening up. All is happy in America's Dairyland! Make sure you check out the "IMPORTANT READ THIS" link on the main page. There's going to be an article in Wisconsin Trails Magazine in the July/August issue. Buy one! Buy many!!
02/06/01
Added a few more pictures to the pages. Also some more movies on the TV-Movie section. Cabin fever is setting in, bad…
02/01/01
There is a special made for TV movie coming out on CBS on February 4, 2001. Check out the link!
01/01/01
Happy New Year everybody! Time for the first update of the new year! Didn't really do much, just added a new logo to the main page. Just happens to contain the classic opening scene from the Flintstones! I happened to realize that I had a Flintstones laser disc in my collection, so out with the digitizer! Added some more stuff to the links pages. Created sections for links to Japanese Anime and Automotive pages.
12/16/00
Finally got off my dead butt and did some updates. I added some more pictures and old grand opening advertisements to the page. As always, check the "What's New" page to find out where. Found out some sad news: 2001 may be the last year for the 41-Twin in Milwaukee. Make sure you get there and get there often to enjoy what may be it's last year. Since it's the middle of December, it's a long way to drive-in season. But, on the other hand: HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
10/8/00:
Made a few updates. Updated the phone page because a few more have closed for the season. Added something neat that I found over the weekend. Click on "Thomas Dolby" to find out what. I've managed to top the 10,000 visitors mark! Never thought it would get that popular. Thanks for all the visits from all the great drive-in fans out there!
10/1/00:
Well, now that we are nearing the end of the drive-in season, it's just in time for a new drive-in to open! The new Moonlight Outdoor Theater has opened on September 30, 2000. I will add more information to the web page when I have more to put here.
9/24/00:
Well, the 2000 season is almost over. Some of Wisconsin's drive-ins have closed for the year. I've updated the main page and the phone number page to reflect which ones are open and which are closed. I've made a bunch of updates to the page including some more pictures and advertisements. I managed to get some more space for the page, so I should be making more updates as time goes on.
9/20/00:
I got sick of the length of my links page. I'll bet that everyone else did, too. So I decided to change it. I've broken it down into several smaller sections. I've also added a couple of new links to the "Fun links" and one to the "Drive-in" links. Check them out, I think you'll find something interesting there.
9/18/00:
Decided to add the "News" section to the page. Just a little something to keep people up-to-date on what's going on with the page.
I had been hearing rumors of a new drive-in being built in the Shawano area. I drove up to Shawano to see what I could find out. I knew a couple of years ago that the old screen from the 57-Outdoor had been moved up to the indoor theater on the west side of town. The screen tower was in back of the theater waiting to be reassembled. After talking with one of the employees of the theater, she had informed me that they intend to open the theater (if all goes well) on September 23, 2000 and run until the weather no longer cooperates.
After the visit to Shawano, I headed off to Wausau to see a couple of movies at the Sky-Vue. I had an opportunity to talk with the owner and he said that he is still working on the details of the new drive-in for the Kaukauna area. Things are looking promising for the new theater.
I'm currently running low on space for the page, so for right now updates will be minimal until I can get some more space.
The drive-in season is winding down for the year, but keep an eye on this page to see what the status of the drive-ins around the state are. Always remember to call ahead before going to the drive-in to make sure they are still operating for the season. I will try to update the page as the drive-ins close down for the season.
Back to…