Feel Good Cinema

East Dallas drive-in goes all holiday movies all the time for Christmas season

Rooftop Cinema Club: The Drive-In at The Central will show all holiday movies in December.

Photo courtesy of Rooftop Cinema Club

The Rooftop Cinema Club, which came to Dallas with The Drive-In at The Central in August, is getting into the spirit of the season by offering nothing but holiday movies throughout the month of December.

The schedule will include family-friendly options like multiple screenings of the now-classic Elf, along with Home Alone, A Christmas Story, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and more. Adults and teenagers won't be left out in the cold, though, as there will also be screenings of Friday After Next, Love Actually, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, Die Hard, and others.

A full schedule can be found at rooftopcinemaclub.com/central.

“Our traditional holiday events and travel to see family and friends will be different this year,” said Rooftop Cinema Club owner and founder, Gerry Cottle, in a statement. “The drive-in has a unique way to fill that void this season, and we’re doing everything we can to bring some holiday cheer to our guests with a safe outing they can share with loved ones.”

Located in a field just off 75/Central Expressway at 2999 N. Carroll Avenue, the drive-in will be decked out in holiday décor and staff in holiday sweaters. Guests can enjoy hot cocoa, gingerbread cookies, and other festive treats from the concession stand, and Santa Claus will make nightly appearances to take holiday wish lists.

Additionally, guests are encouraged to decorate their vehicles to participate in the “Deck the Cars” decorating challenge. Rooftop Cinema Club will give out prizes on surprise nights to the best decorators. Holiday Car Kits will be available for purchase for anyone who wants to get in on the decorating fun.

As a way to give back to the community, all proceeds from $5 Community Screenings in December (which take place every Sunday during the 8:15-8:45 pm time slot) will go to the North Texas Food Bank. There will also be a food-drive box at every screening to gather donations for the food bank.

Guests are asked to donate grains such as rice, oats or quinoa, breakfast cereals, oatmeal, canned vegetables, peanut butter (10-12 oz., 16-18 oz.), any kind of canned meat (tuna, chicken, etc.), nutrition or breakfast bars (individually wrapped, low sugar count), and any kind of canned fruit (in-juice, normal serving sized, pop-top lid preferred).

Doors open one hour prior to the first screening each night and 30 minutes prior to the second or third screenings. Guests are encouraged to arrive early as parking spaces will be assigned for each section on a first-come-first-serve basis. Ticket prices start at $22 per vehicle regardless of occupancy, depending on seating preference, and show times.

holidays movies

MOVING ON UP

Texas rises through the ranks of most innovative states, says new report

Photo via Getty Images

Texas has seen year-over-year improvement on an annual list that ranks states based on their innovation economies.

The Lone Star State has again taken a step up on an annual report that ranks the most and least innovative states in the country — this time cracking the top 15.

Texas ranked No. 15 in personal finance site WalletHub's 2023’s Most and Least Innovative States ranking. It's a steady improvement for the state, which ranked No. 16 in 2022 and No. 17 in 2021.

The report analyzed the 50 states and the District of Columbia and how each performed across 22 key metrics, including population of STEM professionals, venture capital investment activity, number of technology companies, patents per capita, and more. The data was pulled from the U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, National Science Foundation, National Center for Education Statistics, United States Patent and Trademark Office, and other records.

Here's how Texas performed at a glance:

No. 18 – for share of STEM professionals
No. 16 – for projected STEM job demand by 2030
No. 25 – for eighth grade math and science performance
No. 21 – for share of science and engineering graduates aged 25 or older
No. 13 – for share of technology companies
No. 31 – for R&D spending per capita
No. 18 – venture capital funding per capita

For the 11th year, Texas won Site Selection Magazine's Governor's Cup, the governor's office announced earlier this year. The award, which Texas has won 19 times since its inception in 1978, recognizes the nation’s top-performing state for job-creating business relocations and expansions.

"Texas truly is America’s economic engine, and we stand apart as a model for the nation. When choosing where to relocate or expand their businesses, more and more innovative industry leaders find themselves at home in our state," Governor Greg Abbott says in a news release about the award.

"I congratulate the exceptional economic development teams at the local, regional, and state level who have worked so diligently to attract and retain these growing businesses and the jobs they create in diverse communities across this great state," he continues.

The most innovative states included the District of Columbia, which ranked at No. 1, followed by Massachusetts, Washington, Maryland, and California, respectively. The least innovative state was identified as Mississippi, followed by Louisiana, North Dakota, West Virginia, and Arkansas, respectively.

Source: WalletHub

Access to quality education is a significant contributor to each state's innovation economy, the experts say in the report.

"Investing in education, particularly K-12 but also at the University level, it is no accident that innovative ecosystems develop in states with strong education systems and research universities," says David L. Deeds, professor at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis. "These institutions build strong capable modern workforces that attract capital, and jobs and create innovations. The benefits do not happen overnight, in fact, they take years if not decades, but consider what The UC’s or the University of Texas at Austin have meant for the development of premier innovative ecosystems."

Texas WalletHub innovation