When COVID shut everything down last year, a lot of businesses were sent scrambling, trying to figure out any kind of way to continue their operation while maintaining social distancing. And for movie theaters, that meant the surprising return of something that had been dying out across the country for decades: drive-in movies!

Last summer, the Pharaohplex Theater in Hamilton unveiled a new drive-in behind the theater, which they used for new releases, older classics, and the occasional drive-in concert like Garth Brooks and Metallica. I was there a few times over the summer, and it was so nice to be able to go out and see a movie again, even if I had to do it from the car.

The future was a little uncertain, though - the drive-in closed in October due to the increasing cold weather, and last month, the Pharaohplex Theater itself closed down. With very few new movies coming in, it had been tougher and tougher for them to keep their doors open, though their hope was to be able to reopen in the spring.

It's still not clear if the actual theater is reopening yet, but they did make the announcement on Facebook that the drive-in will be coming back for the season, and they're planning on playing new releases like Black Widow and F9 (if those movies still stick to their release dates).

That's some pretty exciting news! Even if those movies don't come out, I"m sure they'll be ready to play older favorites again, and they say that the drive-in concerts will be making a comeback, too. You can check out their website to get updates on what's going on - and hopefully, we'll find out about the actual theater pretty soon, too.

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