- Susan Haaheim's family has owned and operated Parma Motor Vu in Parma, Idaho for three generations.
- She says she never thought she'd come home to run her family's drive-in theater.
My grandfather built the drive-in, Parma Motor Vu, in 1953, and in 1976 my parents took over operations and ownership. That makes me the third generation owner-operator as of 2019 — so I'm new to the scene.
I grew up 20 miles from Parma in Caldwell, Idaho. I was involved in our indoor theater businesses quite a bit as a kid. My parents owned two indoor theaters and the drive-in. Of course when you're young, you don't realize how special something like our drive-in really is.
By the time I was 10 years old, I was in the cleanup crew, picking up trash and doing the recycling. As a teenager I worked at one of our indoor theaters, so I didn't spend much time at the drive-in at that point. Soon after that, I went off to college and moved out of state for about 22 years. I worked in restaurant management and then I switched to working sales at trade shows, so that I could work for myself.
When I was younger I never imagined I'd run my family's drive-in theater one day — but I couldn't let my mom sell it
My parents had sold their indoor theaters over the years, so the drive-in was the last one my mom was still operating. I didn't ever think that I would come back and be the one running it.
I was home visiting one day in the early 2000s, when my mom told me she was thinking of selling the drive-in. My response was, "You can't sell this place, it's our legacy!" And she said, "Well, are you going to come back and run it?" I said yes without hesitation. I just couldn't imagine the theater not being part of our family.
Another 10 plus years went by before we actually transitioned — but I think once she got my commitment, she realized I was serious about taking over.
The property is about two and a half acres, maybe three. The lot can hold about 320 cars, and during the first weekend of a new movie release, we often hit around 300 on a Friday and Saturday night.
When the film industry changed to digital only, we had to make drastic changes to the business
Around 2012, the major film studios told us they were going to quit making 35 millimeter film, and that every theater that wanted to play new movies would have to switch to digital.
The studios gave my mom a couple years' deadline, but she initially that the change would be too expensive — around $200,000 at the time. We would have to pay for a digital projector and computer server, and the projection booth, which is in an older building, would need to stay at a certain temperature to protect the equipment, meaning a heat pump for winter — even though we're closed during that time — and an air conditioner for summertime.
Thankfully, after a year, theaters all over the country were making the change and so more companies started selling digital equipment, which drove prices down.
My mom got a bank loan, made the switch, and raised the admission price by a dollar that next season to recoup. Within a few years, she was able to pay off the loan.
What's great about the digital switch nationwide is that we get the new movies right when they're released
In the earlier days, there were only so many film prints to go around, so a little drive-in in Parma, Idaho wasn't going to get a film until it was older. Now there's no limit to the new movies we can play. We pay a higher percentage to the film studio for a first-run movie, but it's worth it — people want to see a movie when it's new, so we get a crowd.
Bringing new films to the screen is definitely not as simple as people might think. Some people assume we just pop in a videotape or a DVD, but we have play-date agreements and contacts at each of the major studios: Universal, Warner Brothers, Paramount, Sony, and Disney. We only have one 60-foot screen, so I have to be really selective about what we play and choose the ones I think will bring the biggest crowd, which can be really difficult.
I communicate with the studios every week and lay out our calendar. I watch previews and look at reviews to see what people are anticipating — I use IMDb, Screendollars, and Box Office Mojo — and also ask friends and family which films they think will attract the most people. If it comes down to more of a family-friendly film versus a more adult one, I always go with the family-friendly one.
We're allowed to pre-screen if there's a big movie coming out. When "Top Gun: Maverick'' was released, Paramount unlocked the digital print for us to pre-screen the night before opening, which was a lot of fun. I don't often get to see a lot of movies in their entirety; when you're working at a theater, you end up seeing the same scene night after night.
The challenges aren't that different from other businesses
For our specific drive-in, there are always repairs. We have to plan on something malfunctioning or breaking down, and just roll with it — whether it's the projection equipment, the 70-year-old popcorn machine, or the freezers.
Each week, we come in after being away for four days because we only run Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights. That's when we'll see that the freezer went down, or the Coke machines sprung a leak. That comes with any business — but we're only open in the nighttime hours, so scheduling repairs can be a pain.
My biggest thing is keeping the grounds looking nice. We're out in rural Idaho, so we're situated near cornfields, there are a lot of weeds to maintain, and the wind takes a toll on the fence. It's a different kind of upkeep.
With any drive-in theater, weather is the biggest determinant of turnout. A lot of people like to sit in the back of their pickups to watch the film. We once had customers tow a flatbed trailer into the drive-in with a huge sofa, so they could sit on the sofa and watch the movie. That was the funniest thing I've seen so far.
The drive-in really brings the community together. People love to dress up for their favorites
In the last three years, I've played the original "Grease" and "Footloose" films as a combo. People come out in Pink Lady costumes or Poodle skirts. When we have a Marvel movie, there's a local group that dresses up as the Avengers — for "Black Widow," 10 or 12 of them dressed up as the different characters.
A couple of years ago, on Halloween we played the original "Halloween" movie, and someone dressed up as Michael Myers showed up and scared a few customers and my girls working the snack bar. We have great customers who like to have a good time.
During COVID when everyone had to shut down, we let about 13 different high schools use our lot for their graduations. They'd play videos of the kids walking across the stage, and the families would honk for their students. It was really sweet.
We don't know what the future holds, but we plan to stay in business for decades to come
There were over 4,000 drive-ins in the United States at one point, and now I think the number is below 400. A lot of that is because those theaters were located in areas where the property values had gone up, and the space just needed to be something else — an apartment complex, a big business building.
We're in a rural area that's growing, but I think that growth isn't going to hit us for a few decades. Our local customers are supportive, but we're a small community of only 2,000 people. When people know we're playing a new film, they'll come from all over — we draw customers from a 45-mile radius.
We plan on staying open and doing what we're doing for years to come. People love the drive-in experience — it's family-friendly, you can bring your dog, and people just love to pile in and watch movies under the stars. There's also the nostalgia thing — people who went to a drive-in back in the 50s and 60s now want to bring their grandkids.
For me, there's a feeling I get on a warm, busy night after everyone's settled in. Kids wave at me, I can hear their laughter and the movie playing out of everyone's radios — and I see a big beautiful picture on the screen. It's really just an amazing atmosphere.