A local businessman is trying to get people excited about going to the drive-in theatre again.
Kyle Selle, owner, and operator of Sellebration Productions in North Bay has purchased three 33 foot inflatable screens which he is now using to create his own drive-in theatre.
Selle,is piggy-backing off the northern drive-in concept that was introduced back in 2020 to North Bay by Horizon Drive-In based out of Sudbury. That company attempted to run a few events in North Bay in the summer of 2020 in the parking lot at North Bay's Memorial Gardens.
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Selle decided it was his companies' turn to try and make the drive-in experience in North Bay work.
"It all started when the out of town group came here and I was at my cottage and people were sending me pictures of the screen and how they had a tough time seeing the video and I started looking on Facebook at all the comments and I thought if I invested the proper amount of money and proper equipment I could do something pretty different," noted Selle.
"If I had multiple screens I could have more cars wide and I could make a go at this."
Selle has done three events this year all located at Canadore College. a one-screen event for Le Carnaval featuring some local films on February 8 and most recently the three-screen event licensed by ACF Films showed Disney's Encanto and Ghost Busters Afterlife on February 11.
When Canadore College found out about the unique three screen event, they were happy to book Sellebration for a drive-in movie night.
"They booked it and once they found out I was upgrading to three screens and three projectors, they wanted it for an event at the main campus and they booked us for that," noted Selle, noting viewers would get their movie sound through their FM car radio.
Selle hopes the Canadore event is one that other companies or communities will jump on.
"My ultimate goal is to team up with municipalities that want to do this and I am also hoping in the spring run events Friday nights somewhere to have Drive-in movies again," he said.
"To kind of bring back the nostalgia of the drive-in movie theatre but with cutting edge technology and equipment. Kind of a taste of the past with a future twist."
