Drive-in cinema for Fujairah delayed

The opening of the country's first Arabian-style drive-in cinema has been postponed to "increase its capacity", owners said today. 

The Fujairah drive-in, announced in June with a projected budget of Dh35 million, will, when finished, allow guests to attach shisha to the side of their car while they watch the latest Hollywood, Bollywood and Arabic movies on four screens, each spanning 30 by 15 metres.

Details of the expansion remain a closely guarded secret, but the company behind them said the mountainside drive-in, just 15 minutes from Fujairah city, will open within a year. "We have expanded the project more and we're trying to secure a new date for the opening," said Talaat Captan, the chief executive of Arabian Drive-In Cinema. "We have some very great ideas and we want to give it the advantage of a grand opening."

The 800-vehicle capacity will remain unchanged but Mr Captan hopes to increase the number of seats for movie buffs. "We are going to increase the budget but we don't know by how much yet," he said. "We will still have four screens and we didn't expand the area but we will expand the structure for a larger capacity. It will have same number of cars, but more people." There are no plans to change the drive-in's menu, which will offer Middle East and American fare in addition to a wide range of shisha flavours.

Mr Captan said construction has already begun on the 70,000sq metre outdoor cineplex, despite a few "logistical delays". The cineplex is also to include a theatre that seats up to 4,000 people. azacharias@thenational.ae