Marcus Theatres plans to open a second Milwaukee-area drive-in theater, this time outside of its South Shore Cinema in Oak Creek.
The
'Parking Lot Cinema' is slated to open June 26, the company said in a statement Monday morning. It joins the drive-in theater Marcus opened late last month outside of its Majestic Cinema
 in Brookfield, as well as two others in Nebraska and Ohio.Â
Movies play on a 42-foot screen attached to the outside of the movie theater building, and s
ound comes through a radio frequency. Food and non-alcoholic drinks can be ordered via Marcus Theatres' app or website and picked up at a designated spot outside the building.Â
Site plans submitted to the City of Oak Creek show the projection screen mounted to the east side of the building, facing a parking lot that has been reconfigured to fit 125 cars, with 44 overflow spaces around the perimeter. A concessions table would be set up near the theater's main entrance for customers to pick up their online orders.
The Majestic drive-in, which shows double features seven nights a week has space for 100 cars.Â
Plans for the South Shore drive-in are pending approval from the city's Plan Commission and are set to be reviewed during a June 23 meeting.
Marcus said its drive-in concept has been "
extremely well received by our guests who are looking to get out and enjoy movies together again."
Meanwhile, the company is
preparing to welcome customers back inside its theaters after being almost entirely shut down for the past three months due to COVID-19.
Starting June 19,
six of its 90 theater locations, including Marcus Ridge in New Berlin, BistroPlex at Southridge Mall in Greendale, Marcus Renaissance Cinema in Sturtevant, and Valley Grand Cinemas in Appleton, will reopen their doors. The other two are theaters located in Nebraska and Georgia.
Those theaters will initially have limited business hours and follow a set of new health and safety protocols aimed at preventing the spread of the coronavirus. Marcus said this first phase of reopening will help set the tone for reopening the rest of its theater locations in the coming weeks,
in time for summer blockbusters based on when studios release new films.Â
Marcus is not the only drive-in theater operator in the area. Milwaukee-based ROC Ventures
recently opened The Milky Way Drive-In at its
Ballpark Commons mixed-use development in Franklin. The 150-vehicle theater has taken over the parking lot adjacent to the home field of the Milwaukee Milkmen minor league professional baseball team.
