Point Drive-In
3601 Point Township Drive,
Northumberland,
PA
17857
3601 Point Township Drive,
Northumberland,
PA
17857
5 people
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Comerford Theaters Inc.
Functions: Movies (First Run)
Previous Names: Arrow Drive-In
Phone Numbers:
Box Office:
570.275.9926
Nearby Theaters
News About This Theater
- Nov 12, 2008 — Electric co. turns off drive-in power
Opened as the Arrow Drive-In in June 25, 1952 with John Wayne in “Flying Leathernecks”. It was closed in 1956. On April 27, 1957 it reopened as the Point Drive-In with “The Big T” & Rod Cameron in “Spoilers of the Forest”. In the 1960’s it was operated by Comerford Theatres chain. By 1993, it was operating with 3-screens and is one of the few remaining drive-in theatres to maintain three screens. The main (original) screen was demolished by July 2022. It continues to operate on the other two screens.
Every Halloween, there is a Horror Fest show showing four back-to-back films on one screen (including black and white classics on certain weekends). There is a small haunted house for patrons to tour at their leisure, and the staff even creeps around scaring the viewers in their cars.
Contributed by
TyLean Hixson
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Recent comments (view all 13 comments)
Great history info, Tine263! Thanks for sharing that and the photos! You all should go read the post, which includes info from David Renn, who “is the current owner and has been for the past 27 years” as of September 2015. Which would put his start at 1988 or 1989, which is just a little off from an article I found.
From the Winter 2005-2006 issue of Spectrum magazine, hosted at Archive.org:
The Point Drive-In, on Route 11 near Danville, was one theater to screen adult films.
“There was very low overhead,” says Dave Renn, manager (sic) of the Point. “They needed only one person to run the projector and one for the concession stand – people rarely got out of their cars.”
After about 15 years of screening adult films, the theater abandoned the practice following the 1987 season. “Figures were really good for it [pornographic films],” says Mike Danchak, who managed the Point when the change was made. “The problem was video was taking over,” he says.
… After the “X”-rated era ended, Danchak and owner Joe Farruggio transformed the Point from single to triple screen and added FM stereophonic sound. Danchak says (garbled) to return to a family-friendly environment, something Renn has maintained since taking over in 1990.
… “We tried a flea market a couple of years ago,” Renn says, “but it didn’t work out because the summers were so hot and dry.”
As NYozoner implied, the June 21, 1952 issue of Billboard wrote “Harold E. Bell opened his new 250-car Arrow Drive-In near Danville, Pa.” So the true opening date was probably at least a week or two earlier. On Sept. 13, 1952, Billboard noted “New high-intensity lamps were installed at the Arrow Drive-In, Danville, Pa.” so maybe they were needed to expand the viewing field?
The first appearance in the Motion Picture Almanac was the 1955 edition as the Arrow in Danville, capacity 400, owner “Bell & Kipp Bros.” It stayed that way through 1957. The 1959 edition listed it as the Point. For 1961-66, the capacity was 600 and the owner was Harold Bell.
In the 1980-88 MPAs, the Point was listed in Northumberland, owned by Sports Serv, apparently Farruggio’s company.
An October 1, 1957 ad (Hazleton Standard-Sentinel) for the cinematic masterpiece Walk Into Hell mentioned the Point Drive-In in Danville.
An April 2000 article in that paper said Renn was opening a Sunday flea market at the Motor-Vu Drive-In at Nescopeck. “Renn also operates the Point Drive-In, Danville, and features a flea market every Sunday.”
This opened as the Arrow Drive-In on June 26th, 1952 and closed in 1956 It reopened as the Point Drive-In by Comerford Theatres on April 27th, 1957. Both grand opening ads in the photo section.
Opened on 26/6/1952 with 2 colour cartoons(not named), and “Flying Leathernecks”.
NorthCentralPA.com reported yesterday that, although the Point owner David Renn had previously said 2022 was its last year, the drive-in will be reopening for the 2023 season. The landowner’s plan to build a solar farm on the site has been delayed, at least, though Renn said he won’t sell 2023 season passes. Visit while you can, I guess!
I wonder if it’s the same solar farm that wanted to locate themselves where the Mahoning Drive in theater is in the Lehigh Valley Pennsylvania. I wonder if they just moved their site to this drive-in movie theater. Or it’s a different solar Company
Reopened as the Point Drive-in Theatre on 27th April 1957 with"The Big T" and “Spoilers of the forest”.
In the past, The Point, Mahoning, Pike, & ‘Port aka: Moon, Gem. Had the same landlord.
While the main or 1st screen was present in a September 2019 Google Street View, it had been demolished by July 2022.
It appears that the main screen was demolished right after the 2019 season. The main screen was shown standing but was missing a few parts of the screen in the September 2019 Google Maps view, but a September 2020 Google Earth view shows the main screen demolished.