Drive-In Movies Coming To Morris County And Beyond

CHATHAM, NJ - First, the Boxcar company reinvented themselves by alleviating the pressure of getting essential groceries and now the commuting service is helping alleviate boredom by bringing back drive-in movies in North Jersey.

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Boxcar Drive-in Movies will be bringing the big screen back to Madison and other places in the Garden State in a socially distant way. And to make the night complete, they've also partnered with local restaurants to provide car side delivery of dinner specials and snacks.

The first show in Madison is set for May 29 and the show will be "The Princess Bride" being shown at the Madison Community Pool, 105 Rosedale Ave.

According to officials, Boxcar's platform will turn dinner and a movie into one-stop shopping. Movie goers will reserve their space through the app – one ticket for the whole car. And the food and sacks can also be purchased through the app.

The Chatham-based company noted that they are working with towns around the state to bring these pop-up drive-ins to unused parking lots, providing a night out for residents.

Drive-in movies are a departure from Boxcar’s traditional parking business, they still fulfill the company mission: simplifying life for our customers while partnering with municipalities to provide innovative options they didn’t have before, officials said.

Indeed, last month Boxcar pivoted and opened a food delivery and drive-thru pickup service.

"The idea came from me talking with my friend who is in the restaurant supply business, at Gargiulo Produce. A lot of his clients shut down and weren't receiving their produce deliveries. At the same time my wife and I couldn't get a spot on Peapod/Amazon Fresh, so I thought why not find a way to get the produce that isn't being delivered to restaurants directly into the hands of consumers?" Boxcar CEO Joe Colangelo told Patch. "We've since begun picking up 30-100 boxes of produce every day from Gargiulo Produce and have delivered to Cranford, Westfield, Scotch Plains, Clark, Summit, Chatham, and Madison with a focus on different towns each day."

But they also opened up a drive-thru contactless pickup in Madison.

"We've determined we will be doing it once a week until the crisis has passed," Colangelo said.

To utilize that service, customers place their orders in advance through the website and enter their license plate at checkout so that when they pull up, employees verify their license plate and place the order directly in their trunk. Colangelo said they did 100 cars and nobody even had to get out of their vehicle.

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