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HUNLOCK CREEK — A local drive-in movie theater has joined kindred business owners throughout the country in refusing to run Disney’s latest blockbuster.
The Garden Drive-In announced Thursday via its Facebook page that it would not be showing highly anticipated sci-fi, action film “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” as a show of solidarity with other drive-ins against what they consider to be unreasonable terms to show the movie.
Drive-in owner Doug Barbacci issued the public statement in reaction to his patrons’ inquiries as to why the heavily hyped movie wasn’t on the Garden’s schedule.
Although he would not discuss specific figures to honor confidentiality agreements, Barbacci said Disney has asked for a cut of box-office sales that surpasses previous industry standards.
“They’ve increased that percentage beyond what was traditionally considered the ceiling,” Barbacci said.
In a report yesterday by WKYC, a drive-in owner in Ravenna, Ohio, estimated the asking price to be approximately 15 percent higher than that of a typical film.
In addition, Barbacci said, Disney has extended the minimum length of time it is requiring movie houses to run the film. For example, if the company had previously mandated a drive-in run its movie for two weeks, it is now requiring a three-week tenure.
While it is common, Barbacci said, for Disney to offer a double-feature package at discounted prices, in another change of practice, it has necessitated drive-ins purchase and run another Disney film with “Guardians.”
Barbacci said the entertainment giant has made similar adjustments in previous years, including last year, and that drive-ins have grown increasingly frustrated with the process.
“They’ve leveraged their size and power to force us to terms that have become even more unmanageable,” Barbacci said.
Disney did not return a request for comment by press time Thursday.
The drive-in owner knows that refusing to show “Guardians” will disappoint his patrons and hurt his bottom line. And it is a decision he did not take lightly.
“It’s become untenable for us from a financial perspective,” Barbacci said, “but it could set the benchmark for other studios and producers to do the same. They up the ante and make it harder for us to survive.”
Barbacci said Disney is the Garden’s primary supplier and that typically small businesses like his, which focus on family entertainment, are not enthusiastic about refusing to show a film.
But they are taking a stand regardless of the potential consequences.
“We are not Cinemark or a large chain that has leverage back at Disney,” Barbacci said. “The only way we can have a voice is to band together.”
Barbacci, whose family has been in the drive-in business for 28 years, said if Disney returns to its traditional terms of business, he’d gladly return to screening its films.
