Horsham Mota-Vu

Opened: 1950's
Location: Horsham, Victoria
Capacity: 660
Screens: One
Operator: Mota-Vu Drive-in Theatre Pty Ltd
Closed: mid 1980's

Brief history:
Cinema has survived more than a century because it has constantly reinvented itself through sound, colour, cinemascope, stereo, 70mm, digital sound etc. Whilst these changes are obvious to most students of cinema, the venues used to present these changes have evolved as much if not more. Travelling picture show men visited towns and hamlets in the early part of last century showing the "flicks"; silent films in tents and mechanics institutes. By the late teens towns with a population to support regular films had a resident operator in the local hall. By the 1920's and 1930's one or two purpose built cinemas were running. When television entered the picture in the late 1950's many of these cinemas closed only to be replaced by drive-ins. The drive-in had its glory run for about 25 years only to close due to the impact of the VCR. Today multiscreen cinemas have inherited the mantle. Horsham is a classic example of this tag team event of cinema venues.

Horsham was a large drive-in and traded successfully for decades. Today the sharp eyed will notice that the snack bar has been claimed as a residence. Although a giveaway to the trained drive-in achaeologist and those with memories of what once was, most people drive past with no idea the house with the big yard was a picture paddock.

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