![\"Siblings](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/coyote_1.jpg\" "\\"Siblings")
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Siblings Everly, Mila, and Alta cozied up to watch the 20th anniversary release of \u2018Cars\u2019 on Sept. 7 at the closing night of the Coyote-Drive In theater in Fort Worth.<\/p>\n
Emily Holshouser<\/p>\n
After 14 years as a Fort Worth icon, the Coyote Drive-In movie theater screened its last films on Sept. 7 as it makes way for phase two of the Panther Island development.<\/a><\/p>\n As rows upon rows of jam-packed sedans, souped-up pickup trucks, and beater cars snaked into the parking lot of Fort Worth\u2019s Coyote-Drive In on Monday, just as the sun set behind hazy clouds, you\u2019d almost never know it was the beloved movie theater\u2019s last night in operation.<\/a><\/p>\n Chris Fortune, the Coyote\u2019s general manager, always knew this day would come.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have to make room for the second phase of the Panther Island project, unfortunately, that\u2019s where we\u2019re standing,\u201d Fortune told the Star-Telegram as movie-goers began to arrive for the first show of the evening. \u201cIt\u2019s sad. We don\u2019t want to go. We love our customers. We\u2019ve loved the last 14 years.\u201d<\/p>\n The Coyote\u2019s fate has always been a guarantee. The theater\u2019s landlord \u2014 the Tarrant Regional Water District \u2014 always planned to exercise its right to terminate the theater\u2019s lease when TRWD wanted to begin construction on two canals and a three-acre park, the next phase of the Panther Island development.<\/p>\n Even so, the Coyote became a Fort Worth institution after it opened in 2013. The theater has hosted a Jimmy Buffett concert<\/a>, high school graduations, weddings, and other gatherings. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the theater provided a refuge to families.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cIt was hard with all the changing regulations day-to-day\u201d Fortune said. \u201cBut we figured out a way to do it. We gave back to the community by hosting high school graduations for schools that would have canceled them because they had no safe way to put them on.\u201d<\/p>\n Caitlyn Truitt and her husband Chase got engaged at the Coyote years ago \u2014 and they came on Monday night to say goodbye.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve been here from the beginning,\u201d Chase said. \u201cMy brother was the original general manager \u2026 I proposed to [Caitlyn] here. We put it on the big screen for her.\u201d<\/p>\n Caitlyn said that the theater has given North Texans a place to relax, unwind, and find community.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve made friends over the years that we still talk and keep in communication with,\u201d Caitlyn said. \u201cIt\u2019s just been a great way to meet people, it\u2019s been a great way to keep up with what\u2019s going on in Fort Worth, and just to have a good time, and escape from all the stresses of daily living.\u201d<\/p>\n Movie theaters have been the family business for Coyote\u2019s president, Glenn Solomon, since the 1920s, he said. Drive-in theaters, once an American institution, are disappearing.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThe reason there aren\u2019t as many drive-ins as there once were is because cities grew up around them,\u201d Solomon said. \u201cThe land became more valuable to sell the land than to continue to run a drive-in, and as a result, the land was sold.\u201d<\/p>\n Fortune said that drive-ins like the Coyote can be a solace for families with special needs children who might struggle with the indoor movie theater experience \u2014 or any other families who need a something a little different at the movies.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have so many that we see on a weekly basis,\u201d Fortune said. \u201cThere were three or four of them here last night, and the parents were crying because they don\u2019t know what they\u2019re going to do with their children.\u201d<\/p>\n As bittersweet as the evening was, though, Solomon and Fortune made it clear that they want the Coyote to howl again.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve got a few locations on the horizon we\u2019re looking at,\u201d Solomon said.<\/p>\n The Coyote\u2019s signs, he said, will be saved until it could open again one day.<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/P2710057.JPG\" "\\"P2710057.JPG\\"")
The Coyote Drive-In Theater in Fort Worth showed its last films on Sept. 7 as the theater makes way for phase 2 of Panther Island. Emily Holshouser <\/p>\n![\"Caitlyn](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/P2700880.JPG\" "\\"P2700880.JPG\\"")
Caitlyn Truitt gets her face painted at the last night of operations at Fort Worth\u2019s Coyote Drive-In by Eric Malmsten, who has been face painting at the theater with his wife Kerri-Jean for over a decade. Emily Holshouser <\/p>\n