Retro enjoys drive-in boom as it plans to screen Slane shows
IRELAND is experiencing a drive-in movie boom, with the main player in the sector now hoping to screen footage of classic Slane rock concerts at the Co Meath venue.
Retro Drive-In Movies — established five years ago by Ryan O’Neill — has seen business jump 50pc year-on-year as movie lovers seek alternative venues.
So far this year it has hosted outdoor events and movie nights accommodating 20,000 cars with 75,000 people at a range of venues around the country. It is now planning to show movies to a drive-in audience at Leopardstown Racecourse every weekend night.
The company will also screen a singalong version of the movie Bohemian Rhapsody at Slane Castle later this month and hopes to screen the footage of Queen’s iconic 1986 Slane concert.
“[The owners of] Slane are really, really interested in that and approached us about potentially reliving some of the golden moments of the concerts that have been there over the years. Obviously it is a bit of a minefield as to who owns the rights to the footage, so there’s a bit of work to do. But definitely we’re making progress and are looking at it for September.”
Retro Drive-In Movies has now leased a twoacre site until the end of the year at Leopardstown Racecourse, where it plans to host 150 cars for regular movie nights.
“We’ll start off with Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights and see how we go but it opens up the possibility for corporate entertainment during the week. That whole corporate entertainment business has been decimated and we are hoping to offer a real alternative.”
O’Neill said he was already in discussions with banks, insurance companies and online retailers about hosting major corporate events at the site. He said he has a lot of sympathy for cinema owners at the moment and it was never his plan to compete head-on with indoor venues.
“I don’t ever see us competing for new movies, for example. As the name suggests, we are very much about the classics and providing something a little bit different,” he said.