Drive-in theatre must go digital or close

One of the last drive-in movie theatres in the province, the Twilite in Wolseley, is faced with closing down unless it can convert to a digital projection format.

The Twilite is hoping film buffs will help out with the $100,000-plus cost to make the switch, made necessary because movies distributors will no longer be sending film prints, beginning next year.

Diane Banbury's family has run the Wolseley theatre since the 1950s.

"There's got to be somebody out there that has a love for the past and the movies and movie memorabilia," Banbury said. "If they could get some money together than maybe somebody else could say 'Well, they raised 40,000, we'll raise 40,000.'"

Banbury is seeking sponsorship money and is planning a fundraising campaign.

"We'll do all the fundraising we can," she said. "But because we are such a small community every little sportsplex, and the curling club, and everyone else all needs fundraising all the time too."

Banbury's cousin, Don Zuba, runs the theatre. His dad Stan Zuba built it in 1954.

There are only a few drive-in theatres left in Saskatchewan and many of them are only open for a very short season.