About Us

Friends Family Theater/Friends Family Drive-In

Friends. Family. Friday. Fun. Food. Fine Films. FREE!

Always a MOVING Picture

Our first Screen

About Us

Friends Family Drive-In was begun in the summer of 2002 as a ministry of the Ypsilanti Evangelical Friends Church (Church history link from contact page) with a big white 24’ tarpaulin, an excellent super-bright projector, a very expensive lens, and a FM stereo transmitter on a baseball diamond. Our schedule consisted of one dry-run film and two public films. Our first public film had an attendance of only about 60 people. Our second film was ‘rained out’ and moved into the white frame building which later became Friends Family Theater. Both films were licensed directly by World-Wide Pictures. Our original leadership team consisted of Matthew Lamkin, Edland Malick and Larry Elie.

In 2003 we got a much better reinforced 25’ tarpaulin, installing it on two large aluminum irrigation pipes and ran for 5 weeks. We finally cracked 100 attendance. We were able to show our first premiere: the Billy Graham/World-Wide Pictures feature Last Flight Out, the first showing of the film in Michigan, and only the second showing in the US! In 2003 we started showing some films inside at Friends Family Theater on selected weeks using the same big screen. We began using CVLI licensing for most of our films, greatly expanding what we could show. Rob Herman joined our leadership team.

In 2004 we got a real 24’ x 12’ seamless theater screen and ran for 9 weeks, showing another Michigan premiere. We passed out several thousand flyers at the Ypsilanti Independence Day Parade, pushing attendance over 150. We also began to feature live music before some films. We also greatly expanded our indoor schedule.

In 2005 we added a bigger 27’ x 13’ theater screen modified to be used outside. We added a better digital FM stereo transmitter and better outdoor speakers and electric winches for the screen. We also featured flashlight and black light glow stick routines set to music during some film intermissions. We ran for 12 weeks of the summer. We showed 5 separate Michigan premiers, including the first screening of one film in the entire US! We also showed two separate old time film serials, including the first serial showing of The Sugar Creek Gang. The older 24’ x 12’ theater screen was permanently installed inside of Friends Family Theater on an electric winch. The Friends Family Theater schedule was expanded for films every second week, with several months running on a weekly basis. We were also featured in a full color article in the Ann Arbor News

In 2006 we finally added our own theater style popcorn popper instead of borrowing or renting one. We ran 9 weeks outside, and 8 of the 9 weeks featured brand-new 2006 features, 4 were state premieres, and one was a world premiere. We also added this web page.

In 2007 Greg Compton joined our leadership team. We added flavored popcorn on occasion. We had 7 weeks outside (although two were moved in for weather reasons). We had one premiere.