Drive-In Movies Roar Into Alexandria With Jurassic Park

Hundreds of captivated Alexandrians watched a T-Rex scream on the big screen on Eisenhower Avenue on Saturday night, as a sold-out viewing of Jurassic Park kicked off the first show of the Alexandria Drive-In Theatre.

“We are over the moon,” Kelly Grant, Chief Operating Officer for ALX Community, told ALXnow on Saturday night. “The movie is playing, we’ve got over 215 cars all going and the food trucks are running.”

Sadly, all of the next five shows in the theatre’s first season are sold out. Next weekend is Back to the Future, followed a week after that by Trolls, then Field of Dreams, ET and Mamma Mia. The shows are held in the parking lot of the Victory Center at 5001 Eisenhower Avenue and food truck deliveries from Curbside Kitchen were made by couriers from Pedego Electric Bikes.

Grant said there is a waitlist of 600 people signed up for future shows. Proceeds (1,250 tickets sold at $30 apiece) will go to ACT for Alexandria and Athena Rapid Response.

“The funds are going to support everything from the racial equity work that we’re doing to COVID support work to the initiatives that we have right now to support arts organizations,” said ACT for Alexandria President and CEO Heather Peeler, who wants to see Black Panther next season in honor of its late star Chadwick Boseman.

Sally Tran watched the movie in the bed of her truck with her friends and family. The truck was outfitted with a mattress, cushions and blankets.

“I ordered tickets for every single weekend,” Tran said. “We got really lucky.”