Every Summer We Can Document

The Southington Drive-In Season Archive

182 Saturday nights across 14 seasons, reconstructed from the drive-in's own schedules. What played, what night, and which Southington nonprofit ran the gate.

  1. 2025Season 16 · 15 nightsGrease · Shrek · Trolls Band Together and more
  2. 2024Season 15 · 15 nightsJaws · Minions: The Rise of Gru · Paddington 2 and more
  3. 2023Season 14 · 15 nightsJaws · Inside Out · Aladdin and more
  4. 2022Season 13 · 15 nightsJaws · Monsters, Inc. · Frozen and more
  5. 2021Season 12 · 14 nightsJaws 2 · Frozen II · Sing and more
  6. 2019Season 10 · 14 nightsJaws · The Little Mermaid · Back to the Future and more
  7. 2018Season 9 · 14 nightsJaws · Penguins of Madagascar · Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and more
  8. 2017Season 8 · 14 nightsRogue One: A Star Wars Story · Beauty and the Beast · Jaws and more
  9. 2016Season 7 · 14 nightsGrease · Frozen · Jaws and more
  10. 2015Season 6 · 14 nightsFrozen · Jaws · Despicable Me and more
  11. 2014Season 5 · 14 nightsJaws · Ice Age · Tangled and more
  12. 201310 nights · partialJaws · Flipper · The Love Bug and more
  13. 20122 nights · partialCars · The Wizard of Oz
  14. 201112 nightsBack to the Future Part II · The Karate Kid · Close Encounters of the Third Kind and more

The one that never leaves

Jaws has opened or appeared in ten of the 14 seasons on this page, more than any other film. It is the lot's signature, usually the first Saturday of the summer.

  • Jaws11 seasons: 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025
  • Grease6 seasons: 2011, 2016, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025
  • Frozen4 seasons: 2014, 2015, 2016, 2022
  • The Sandlot4 seasons: 2011, 2015, 2018, 2024
  • Dirty Dancing3 seasons: 2017, 2023, 2025
  • Finding Nemo3 seasons: 2011, 2015, 2021

Halloween at the lot

The lot has closed out its year with a Halloween night since 2011, when it was billed simply as Halloween Movies and Fun. The name Halloween Festival arrives in 2012, which the drive-in counts as the first. It lands on the last Saturday of October every year, unless Halloween itself falls on a Saturday, in which case it moves a week earlier rather than compete with trick-or-treating.

  1. 2026Hotel Transylvania 2October 24
  2. 2024BeetlejuiceOctober 26
  3. 2023The Nightmare Before ChristmasOctober 28
  4. 2022Hocus Pocus
  5. 2021Hocus Pocus
  6. 2019Films not sourcedOctober 26
  7. 2018Coco, then CarrieOctober 27
  8. 2017Hocus Pocus, then HalloweenOctober 28
  9. 2016ParaNorman, then Young FrankensteinOctober 29
  10. 2015Hocus Pocus, then The Shining
  11. 2014Monsters University, then A Nightmare on Elm StreetOctober 25
  12. 2013Monsters, Inc., then The Amityville HorrorOctober 26
  13. 2012Monster House, then HalloweenOctober 27
  14. 2011Hocus Pocus, then HalloweenOctober 29

Who ran these nights

Every one of these Saturdays was run by a local nonprofit, not by the drive-in. 18 different Southington organizations have taken a night, and each one has its own page here with what it does, where to find it, and every night it ran.

Still missing

This archive is built from the schedules the drive-in printed, so it is only as complete as what survives. Nothing at all has been sourced for 2010 or 2020. For 2012 and 2013 we have titles but no dates or hosts, so those seasons are listed as far as they go and no further. The Halloween films for 2020 and 2025 are still open too. If you have a flyer, a photo of the marquee, or just a clear memory, the community page is the place to send it.