Hundreds of cars lined up for more than an hour before the official 7 p.m. opening time for the Warwick Drive-In on Friday. It was the theater’s first night showing movies since the coronavirus forced a statewide shutdown.

Governor Andrew Cuomo allowed all drive-in theaters to reopen in the state on Friday.

"It's really exciting to see people again," said Isabel Rodriguez from Westwood, N.J.

Families from around the Hudson Valley and Tri-State area lined up, some having bought their tickets online, others hoping to snag a ticket in line after the website sold out of tickets for the entire weekend. Lulanda Bryant and her kids drove two hours from South New Jersey to get there.

"I saw that you guys were opening and I said ‘well, maybe I'll go and check out a movie,’" Bryant said. "Plus, I felt more safe, because it's a drive-in and not a closed-in building."

 The drive-in reopened with new social distancing protocols in effect.

"Each pole is 18 feet; each car has to park to the right of the pole, so you get a whole spot right here," said Warwick Drive-In owner Beth Wilson.

There's a new app so customers can order their movie snacks virtually and have them delivered to their cars, and customers were kept six feet apart at the snack bar, with new clear plastic in the windows. Patrons were also asked to wear their masks when outside of their cars.

Despite the guidelines, the excitement was palpable; families were just ready for a night out at the movies.

"It feels good to be out in the fresh air [and] get to watch the movie as a family," said Alex Gioe.

It's great just seeing the peoples' faces out here, the smiles on the kids' faces, even the adults," said Wilson. "It's amazing; they're having such a good time. We were just discussing everybody's social distancing by themselves, and it's a new normal."

The theater is now open 7 days a week until Labor Day.