The Starlite Drive-In Theatre in Mitchell, South Dakota will not be reopening for the 2023 season.

Operated by Logan Luxury Theatres Corp., the theater reopened in 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic after being closed since 2013. The fact that the Starlite will not reopen is bad news for moviegoers looking for a movie under the stars, since there aren't any drive-ins within 50 miles of Mitchell.

Located north of Mitchell along Highway 37, the theater was known as the Lake Vue Drive-in Theatre from 1949-1975. It was purchased in 1976 by Jeff Logan, who changed the name to Starlite Drive-In Theatre. It closed in 1986, reopened in 1993, and closed again in September 2013.

The theater posted the following message on its Facebook page recently:

It’s been a great run but all good things must come to an end. Three years ago, during the depths of the pandemic when almost everything was closed, we re-opened the Starlite. It provided a safe way for people to get out of the house and enjoy entertainment. Attendance that year came close to attendance levels in the 1970’s when drive-ins were at their peak. But attendance fell back in 2021 and 2022. We had some good weekends on some of the big movies, but there were also many slow weekends. Despite our best efforts, for each of the last two years, the Starlite didn’t meet expenses.

Although some wonderful movies are being released this coming summer, studio requirements prevent us from being able to work many of them into the drive-in schedule. For all these reasons, we are saddened to announce that the Starlite will not open for the 2023 season.

We thank everyone who attended the Starlite the past three years. We appreciate your support. We look forward to serving you at the Luxury 5 Cinemas downtown.

If there is good news for moviegoers in the area, it's that the Luxury 5 Cinema in Mitchell is open and playing movies! While it's not under the stars, you won't have to worry about rolling up the windows when it starts raining and you won't have to run your engine in order to get air conditioning...

To see what's playing and when at the theater, please visit the Showtimes page for the Luxury 5 Cinema.