2023-08-17 23:00:00
The drive-in season got off to such a good start last spring that the owners of certain establishments thought they were heading towards a record year in terms of attendance. But that was before Mother Nature came to spoil the party in July.
“In Orford, we had seven weekends in a row with rain or the risk of showers on Friday and Saturday, deplores the co-owner of Ciné-Parc Orford, François Pradella.
“It’s been a tough year for drive-ins so far. And it’s really because of the weather because when the weather was nice in June, the level of traffic was excellent. In fact, until the National Day weekend, it was going so well that I thought we were going to break records.
According to him, things took a turn for the worse towards the end of June, when the rain set in regularly on weekend evenings.
Result: regarding a month from the end of the season, sales at the Ciné-Parc Orford are down from last year’s figures at the same date.
“I would say that we are at 50% of the results of last year. In short, it’s a year to forget, ”he laments.
Same observation on the side of the Ciné-Parc Belle Neige, in the Laurentians.
“It’s an up and down season, analyzes its general manager, Nicolas Vallières. The films were there but the weather worked once morest us, unfortunately. If it rains on a Monday, it can be fine. But when it rains on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, which are normally our best days, it doesn’t help us. In addition, at the start of the season, there was the smoke from the forest fires which was very present in our area and which scared people a little ”.
The effect Barbie
As in the cinemas, Barbie has been the top-grossing movie at provincial drive-ins since its July 21 release. But there once more, the rain prevented Greta Gerwig’s comedy from reaching its full potential.
“The weekend of the release of Barbie, it was raining siaux, says François Pradella. Instead of having 400 cars the first night the film premiered, we only had 22. It sucks, but it’s something we can’t control. On the other hand, on the evenings when it was not raining, Barbie was our number one film, by far!”
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