Franklin Milky Way Theater To Go Silent After Noise Complaints

FRANKLIN, WI — The Milky Way Theater in Franklin may be going silent, for the most part, after city officials ordered the outdoor theater broadcast its movie audio only by FM transmitter, instead of through an outdoor loudspeaker.

Franklin officials on the city plan commission said as much, granting movie theater owners a modified special use permit that would eliminate the outdoor speakers, yet would maintain an FM radio sound delivery system that moviegoers could play in their cars.

According to Franklin city plan commission documents, the city officials received several complaints about the noise level this summer. During opening weekend, Franklin officials fielded seven complaints. A week later, they received two more.

In a JSOnline report from Friday, Franklin Mayor Steve Olson said his phone "blew up" one summer night after residents heard profanities from the playing of an R-Rated movie. Olson said he gave movie theater owner Mike Zimmerman an earful after that happened. “Mike apologized to me profusely,” Olson said in the report.

The Drive-in Theater opened Memorial Day weekend to a coronavirus-era audience deprived of many creature comforts such as going out to a movie theater.

The outdoor venue consists of a 22-foot wide LED screen mounted to the back of the video board at the Ball Park Commons stadium, and the use of 244 parking spaces north of the Stadium to accommodate about 150 cars in a spaced-out configuration.

Onward, Fast and Furious, Frozen 2, Toy Story 4 and Sonic The Hedgehog were a few of the movies that appeared on the big screen in what was the Milwaukee area's first COVID-19 pop-up outdoor theater.

The theater screens two shows daily when the Milwaukee Milkmen are playing out of town, with family-oriented films slated for the early shows and more mature fare in the evening.