Unfeasible, unprofitable

When the Jurong Drive-In opened here in 1971, it was the first of its kind in Singapore and Malaysia.

Spread over an area the size of about eight football fields, it was equipped with 899 speaker stands and could accommodate up to 900 cars and 300 walk-in patrons.

Jurong Drive-In was closed in 1985 due to dwindling attendance.

Today, even though drive-in movies like the ones organised by Ape Communications have been seeing a revival in attendance, there are no plans for two local cinema exhibitors, Golden Village and Cathay Cineplexes, to set up another drive-in like the one in Jurong.

A spokesman for Cathay Cineplexes, which had managed the Jurong Drive-In, said the amount of logistics involved in such a set-up makes it an unfeasible project.

However, it may organise open-air movies as a one-time event during Cathay's 75th Anniversary later this year.

While Mr David Glass, Managing Director of Golden Village Multiplex Singapore, thinks that drive-ins are 'a fantastic idea', they too have no plans to set up a drive-in cinema here.

"We would enjoy far greater financial yields by building office blocks, apartments or shopping centres than we would from running a dedicated drive-in cinema. Due to high land costs, it just does not make financial sense," Mr Glass explained.

This article was first published in The New Paper.