The suburbs' last drive-in theater opens for the season tonight
The Chicago area's only remaining drive-in movie theater opens for the season in McHenry tonight - and if you want to see the show, you'd better get there early.
The McHenry Outdoor Theater, 1510 N. Chapel Hill Road, will welcome movie lovers tonight with "Avengers: Endgame," the sure-to-be-a-blockbuster superhero flick that's reportedly the last chapter in the "Avengers" series.
The movie will start rolling at 8:30 p.m. on the theater's seven-story-tall screen tower.
Gates are scheduled to open at 6:30 p.m., but theater owner Scott Dehn expects cars will be lined up long before then, so he'll probably open sooner.
The venue has room for 800 vehicles. Dehn anticipates a sellout.
"It's going to be pretty crazy," he said. "But we enjoy crazy here."
A showing of "Captain Marvel," the previous - and hugely successful - entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise, will begin at midnight.
Tickets are $12 for adults and $6 for children, senior citizens and military personnel. One ticket gets you into both shows.
The McHenry theater was left as the area's last drive-in venue this year when West Chicago's Cascade Drive-In announced it wouldn't open for the season. The Cascade had been operating since 1961.
Dehn, a McHenry resident who also owns the Liberty 1 & 2 theater in downtown Libertyville, feels horrible about the Cascade's demise.
"I hate seeing drive-ins close," he said. "It breaks my heart."
In addition to "Avenger: Endgame" and "Captain Marvel," Dehn expects the McHenry Outdoor Theater will show other crowd-pleasing movies this summer, including "Toy Story 4," "Spider-Man: Far From Home" and a live-action version of "Aladdin."
McHenry Outdoor customers can expect fun promotions, including a Tuesday special that will admit car-fulls of people for $12 per vehicle.
"It doesn't matter if you can fit 100 people in your car," Dehn said.
Movie-themed vehicles from the Volo Auto Museum could make appearances throughout the summer, too, Dehn said.
Although drive-on theaters are disappearing from the American landscape, Dehn has no desire to lower the curtain in McHenry. He installed a digital projection system about five years ago, and he bought the land to prevent unwanted redevelopment.
"I'm happy to be here," Dehn said. "As long as I've got one breath left in me, I'm going to keep going."
For more about the theater, go to goldenagecinemas.com.