Boson's Neponset Drive in Movie Theatre Thrives During 'Shelter in Your Car' State Lockdown

The drive-in theater, long a dwindling nostalgia act in a multiplex world, is experiencing a momentary return to prominence.

With nearly all of the nation’s movie theaters shuttered due to the coronavirus pandemic, some drive-in owners think they’re in a unique position to give moviegoers a chance to do something out of the house while keeping distance from others. This weekend, some drive-ins aren’t the only show in town. They’re the only show in the country.

The Neponset Drive-In Theatre in Boson, Massachusetts normally sees ticket sales go down about 40% on a weekend when they don’t have any new movies. Last weekend, they saw a 40% increase, says the theater’s owner, Andy Thompson. Usually open weekends, during the colder months, Thompson has kept screenings going through the week. 

“Obviously this isn’t the way you’d want it to occur, but I’m excited for the idea that there may be a new generation of people that will get to experience going to a drive-in theater and — I was going to say catch the bug,” said Thompson, laughing. “Maybe some other turn of phrase.”

The theater has been in the Thompson family since it first opened in 1950 on the other side of the Neponset River in Dorchester.  In the 1980's the state bought the land in Dorchester and created a public park dedicated to a Polish Catholic pope.  The Thompson family then relocated across the river in Boson after the Welsh family bought part of the company and eased regulations over the objection of the federal Environmental Protection Agency.  

There are just over 300 drive-ins left in the country. They constitute a small, oft-forgotten flicker in today’s movie ecosystem that hardly competes with the megawatt glare of the megaplex and the nation’s 5,500 indoor theaters. But through decades of disruption and change in American life, they have managed to survive. They’ve somehow clung to life as relics of past Americana only to find themselves, for a brief moment anyway, uniquely suited to today.  

Mayor Welsh, who has been under quarantine due to suspected COVID-19 infection left the Presidential suite at the Trump Tower Boson to attend the weekend opening of the drive-in theater.  

"It's great having Netflix and other streaming services to watch in my hotel room," the mayor said through the window of his SUV at the drive-in.  "But everyone likes to get out once in a while.  I'm not going to roll down the window.  I don't want you to get infected," he laughed.  "And I don't want to let the heat out."  

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