Get out of the house and into your car to see family flicks at Shelton’s Skyline Drive-In

There’s big news for movie fans who are tired of the small screen: Shelton’s Skyline Drive-In is back, showing family-friendly favorites on its 20-foot-by-40-foot screen.

The films aren’t new — “The Goonies” and “Space Jam” open Friday — but the price is right: Reservations cost $5 per car and come with a $5 voucher good at the snack bar.

The theater has been allowed to open in Phase 2 of the state’s plan to reopen the economy because, well, people are staying in their own vehicles.

“Our model is social distancing,” said Dorothea Mayes of Lynnwood, who owns the theater. “That’s just who we are. … People are either in their cars or in the back of their trucks. It’s the great outdoors.”

Despite that natural separation, the drive-in is allowed to operate only at 50 percent capacity, so every other parking space must remain empty. Employees are wearing masks, and customers who leave their vehicles — to visit the snack bar, which has carryout food only, or use the restrooms — are required to do the same.

The reduced capacity, combined with the pent-up demand to go places and do things, has filled the drive-in for many of the shows since it reopened May 24.

“People want to go out, and they want to do something,” Mayes told The Olympian. “We’re quite family oriented, and they want to do something with their kids.”

That’s true of Stephanie Born of Lacey, who was at the theater on opening night to see “Shrek” (which was paired with “Jurassic Park”) and again last weekend for “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” (shown along with “Jaws”).

“We have been extremely careful in our house with the pandemic going on, so it was exciting to get out in a safe way,” she told The Olympian. “We never had to leave our car.”

The Skyline is showing tried-and-true films for virtually nothing right now because new titles are in short supply.

“Hollywood is working from home just like everybody else,” Mayes said. “With a lot of the new movies that were in production, there’s nobody there to do the post production work to get them on screen. We expect to have new movies again sometime in July.”

Until then, the theater won’t bring in much money — a tough situation considering it’s normally open just six months out of the year and this year was closed for the first two of those.

Mayes isn’t screening films on Thursdays right now, either, because she wants to make the drive-in available to host socially distant weddings, graduations or other occasions. She’s had a lot of requests, she said, but so far, no special events have been scheduled.

Until new films start flowing again, the drive-in will show classics that people remember — maybe ones they saw at a drive-in when they were first released — and ones they are likely to want to revisit and share with their children.

“It was my daughter’s first time seeing ‘E.T.,’ ” Born said. “Watching it out in the country with rolling hills around us, that’s about the best way to experience it.”

Skyline Drive-In Theater

• What: One of five drive-in theaters in the state, the Skyline in Shelton is now open. Steven Spielberg’s 1985 adventure “The Goonies” and the 1996 animated “Space Jam,” both rated PG, are screening June 5-11.
• When: Dusk daily except Thursdays, with gates opening at 7 p.m.
• Where: 182 SE Brewer Road, Shelton
• Tickets: $5 per car for classic movies, which includes a $5 voucher for the snack bar. Reservations are highly recommended.
• More information: 360-426-4707, http://www.skylinedrive-in.com

This story was originally published June 4, 2020 at 5:45 AM.