Outdoor Movies in Ohio: Family Watches Flicks on Big Screen Without Leaving Home

As fuel prices topped $3 a gallon in the summer of 2008, Jeffrey Harrison of Jackson Township, Ohio decided family movie nights out were too expensive at $75 or more per visit. So he spent $1,400 building an outdoor theater in his backyard: a 9-foot projection screen, projector, and sound system. “In 26 movie nights, this is paid for,” he calculated. His daughters and son host friends almost every night; sometimes 30 or more neighbors and guests show up with lawn chairs and popcorn.

“You can't put enough value in that everyone is together,” Harrison said. His neighbor Mike Schoen described it simply: “It's like a drive-in movie, but it's more comfortable.” The outdoor setup works equally well for Monday Night Football.

Randy Fisk, who operates BackyardTheater.com, noted that the hobby had seen significant growth in the preceding two years, driven largely by falling projector prices -- from around $7,000 in 1995 to about $700 by 2008.