Domed drive-in envisioned for Pigeon Forge

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A development in Pigeon Forge may soon be the site of a 21st century drive-in movie theater where patrons sit in classic cars and watch movies under a domed roof. 

The Mountain Mile development, near the Teaster Lane and Wears Valley Road intersection, is the site of the proposed August Moon Drive-In Movie Theater, according to WBIR-TV.

In an interview with WBIR, Pigeon Forge Assistant City Manager Eric Brackins said city leaders are “very excited about this attraction.”

In a You Tube video posted earlier this year, New York designer Michael Counts talked about how plans for construction of a domed drive-in located in Nashville had been delayed because other developers had stepped up to possibly relocate the Nashville facility or to also build one in Pigeon Forge.

As of July, his company was addressing the “idea of potentially opening in both locations - essentially simultaneously,” Counts said in the online video.

He said developers were figuring out, “is it Pigeon Forge first, is it Nashville first, is it both, simultaneously…?”

The plans for either theater present a facility that looks like a traditional drive-in, only it’s under a dome and customers walk in to sit either in stadium seating at the back or in one of dozens of classic cars to watch first-run movies on the large screen. 

Apparently the inner area of the dome would project a beautiful evening at the drive-in, without the threat of rain or snow, with patrons sitting in the classic cars and children on swings located near the screen.

“Imagine a perfect summer night at a classic American drive-in movie theater in 1965 - the beautiful sunset, a low full moon over the tree line in a country field, fire flies, a summer breeze, the smell of fresh cut grass, stars overhead, sitting in a convertible surrounded by some of the best examples of the golden era of American auto manufacturing, and, of course, dinner and a movie," Counts told WBIR.

"It captures the American pop culture experience," Brackins told the television station.

Announced in 2017, the Nashville theater was slated to be a 40,000-square-foot facility, budget at $6.5 million.

The Pigeon Forge site is part of a multi-million dollar development on the site of the former Belz Mall.