A movie for 50 cents? You can see two this weekend at Beaufort’s Highway 21 Drive-in
Wish you could go out and see a new movie without having to break the bank?
Stop wishing. This Friday and Saturday, you can.
Beaufort’s Highway 21 Drive-In is hosting a special movie showing with “turn back the clock” ticket prices.
For 50 cents a ticket, moviegoers can watch a double feature that includes the not-yet-released Amazon original “The Vast of Night” and the 2011 film “Super 8.”
The event is the result of a partnership with Amazon. The company is working with dozens of drive-ins across the country for the same special-priced event to screen “The Vast of Night” before it is streamed online.
Gates open at 6:30 p.m., with the first movie starting at 8:30 p.m. The second film begins at 10 p.m. Free “The Vast of Night” T-shirts and movie posters will be given to some of the first to arrive each night..
“I think it’ll be something that will be fun and a little different,” Joe Barth said. He and his wife, Bonnie, bought the drive-in in 2003.
The theater first opened in 1978. The Barths have since converted the two screens to digital while keeping the concession stand and other aspects reminiscent of the past.
Drive-in movies during coronavirus
The drive-in has been taking safety precautions since the coronavirus pandemic began spreading into Beaufort County, even closing the concession stand at one point. The Beaufort Gazette previously reported the concession stand accounts for up 80% of the business’ revenue.
Like many other businesses in the Lowcountry and throughout the world, the drive-in has felt the financial impact caused by having to close or follow new restrictions. A GoFundMe page was created to help the family-owned business in April, raising almost $2,400 of its $10,000 goal.
Now, the concession stand is reopened, and, for the first time, the drive-in is offering online ticket and food ordering.
“The drive-in has already been a fairly safe way to go to the movies anyway,” Barth said. “You’re in your car, which is basically an extension of your home, with your family where you can protect yourselves.”
He said the drive-in is practicing social distancing and asking customers to do the same if they do get out of their cars.
Among the changes the coronavirus has prompted is a slowing of movie releases.
Barth said the drive-in tries to change its movie lineup weekly, but that’s been difficult since studios aren’t releasing as many movies as they typically do.
He said there may be more events in the theater’s future, including showings of retro movies.
About the event’s movies
▪ “The Vast of Night,” which won’t be available on Amazon Prime Video until May 29, takes place “in the twilight of the 1950s” in New Mexico.
“A young, winsome switchboard operator Fay (Sierra McCormick) and charismatic radio DJ Everett (Jake Horowitz) discover a strange audio frequency that could change their small town and the future forever. Dropped phone calls, AM radio signals, secret reels of tape forgotten in a library, switchboards, crossed patchlines and an anonymous phone call lead Fay and Everett on a scavenger hunt toward the unknown,” a description of the movie trailer says.
▪ “Super 8” premiered in 2011 and was written by J.J. Abrams and produced by Steven Spielberg.
“In the summer of 1979, a group of friends in a small Ohio town witness a catastrophic train crash while making a super 8 movie and soon suspect it was not an accident. Shortly after, usual disappearances and inexplicable events begin to take place in the town, and the local deputy tries to uncover the truth - something more terrifying than any of them could have ever imagined,” the movie’s description says.
This story was originally published May 14, 2020 at 1:06 PM.
