Second-last SEQ drive-in closes, citing wet weather and competition from streaming

3 months ago 15

Ipswich landmark the Tivoli Drive-In has announced its immediate and permanent closure, bringing to an end a near 50-year history of drive-in cinema.

The cinema, which opened in 1976, posted on social media that “we have been forced [to] bring forward the inevitable”.

The statement by Pastor Fred Muys, the CEO of Goodness Enterprises, operators of the drive-in, said that “weeks on end of storms and rain and continuing forecasts of wet weather” were partly to blame, as was “a lack of new-release movies being produced for cinemas”.

The Tivoli Drive-In, Ipswich, has closed after 49 years.

Costly upgrades for the cinema’s projector and car park were also deciding factors.

Muys told this masthead the community response to the closure had been overwhelming.

“We’ve had nearly 2000 reactions on Facebook from people expressing their sadness, disappointment … and regrets of the passing of an era.”

“This is very sad to hear,” posted one fan. “I went to this drive-in as a kid and now I’ve been able to bring my own son. It had a really good run and had many memories.”

Another wrote: “This is sad news, [I] remember growing up as a teen and going to dusk-to-dawn here.”

Muys said most movies these days were produced by the streaming houses such as Disney+ and Netflix for streaming into people’s homes.

He said the cinema’s digital projector, purchased in 2013, needed to be replaced at a cost of $270,000.

“The suppliers of digital projectors tell us that projector is now obsolete, that spare parts are no longer available.

“We also have seen our crowds drop from 300-plus cars a week on Saturday night, offering family movies for $15 a car, down to 100 families a week.”

The drive-in was reopened by the charity in 2008 with the goal of providing affordable entertainment and employment experience.

This Saturday’s double feature of Kangaroo and Runt had been cancelled due to forecast wet weather.

The Tivoli previously closed in March 2000, and the property was purchased by Rivers of Life Christian Church in 2003 and transformed into a church and community centre. The church revived the Tivoli Drive-In in 2008.

Muys said they had now sold eight of the drive-in’s 20 acres to developers to be turned into a residential estate.

Twelve acres would be retained by Goodness Enterprises to build a koala conservation reserve.

“At the end of the day we’re a charity, our focus is on trying to meet the core needs in the community,” he said.

“The objective when we first reopened Tivoli Drive-In was to provide a place where young people could get employment experience, and also provide a place where lower-income families could find entertainment.

“The need for food and employment remains there, and we’re continuing that [with the reserve].”

Australia’s first drive-in cinema, the Skyline Drive-In, opened in 1954 in Burwood, Victoria. The nation had about 330 drive-in theatres at the peak of the trend.

Beenleigh’s Yatala Drive-In is now the last remaining drive-in cinema in south-east Queensland.

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