ELIZABETHTON, Tenn.- A drive-in movie theater in Elizabethton, Tenn., is one of nine across the country to receive a new digital projector that will help it stay in business.
Movie studios are phasing out 35 mm film prints, requiring theaters to convert to digital projectors at a cost of $70,000 or more per screen. Many drive-in theaters are family-run operations that do most their business in the summer, and some owners say they simply can't afford to change over.
Honda Motor Co. sponsored the Project Drive-In contest to help save theaters facing closure. Last week it named five winning theaters to receive digital projectors. This week, the company named four more winners, including Elizabethton's Stateline Drive-In.
Elizabethon is located north of Johnson City in the northeast corner of the state.
Honda says it will continue raising money for the project through the crowd funding website Indiegogo.com.