The Alamo Drafthouse Cinema is an American cinema chain founded in 1997 in Austin, Texas, which is famous for serving dinner and drinks during the movie, as well as its strict policy of requiring its audiences to maintain proper cinema-going etiquette.
The Alamo Drafthouse Cinema was founded by Rice University alums Tim and Karrie League at 409 Colorado St, in an Austin, Texas warehouse district building on Colorado St. (between 4th and 5th) that was being used as a parking garage.[10]
The company began as a second-run movie theater. It distinguished itself by the food and drink service offered inside the theater, including cold beers, which continues to set Alamo Drafthouse apart from many other cinemas.[citation needed] The seating is arranged with rows of cabaret-style tables in front of each row of seats, with an aisle between each row to accommodate waitstaff service. Customers write their orders on slips of paper, which black-clad servers pick up.
Soon after opening, the original downtown theater began offering occasional unique programming such as silent movies scored by local bands playing live accompaniment, food-themed films such as Like Water for Chocolate served with a dinner matching the meals shown on screen, and retrospectives of various directors and stars.[citation needed] This includes location-based food options depending on the film setting.
In 2001, the Leagues renovated a four-screen art-house theater at 2700 Anderson Lane in North Austin called Village Cinema, which had recently closed, and opened it as an Alamo Drafthouse which specialized in first-run movies. With this new Alamo Drafthouse Village, the downtown location ceased showing second-run movies and began to concentrate almost exclusively on unusual programming, including classics, cult classics, independents, documentaries, special guest appearances, and audience participation shows.[citation needed]
In 2003, the Alamo Drafthouse, under the direction of CEO Terrell Braly, opened on 13729 Research Boulevard in northwest Austin. The Alamo Drafthouse Lake Creek had seven screens, all dedicated to new movies. In May of that year, the Alamo granted their first franchise, which opened in the West Oaks Mall in Houston, Texas with six screens.
In July 2004, Tim and Karrie League sold the brand, including the brand name, intellectual property, and rights to all future Alamo Drafthouse expansion to the Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas CEO Terrell Braly, John Martin, and David Kennedy, but retained an irrevocable license for the Austin locations (Village, Lamar, Downtown), which includes their Rolling Roadshow.[11]
In August 2004, the second largest Alamo (Westlakes) opened in San Antonio, Texas, with eight screens.
In August 2005, Entertainment Weekly named the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema "The #1 movie theater in the country doing it right".[12]
Since February 2005, the new company has purchased the original franchise unit from Doss, opened a theater in the Katy Area and in Spring, Texas, and built a new-build multi-screen theater in the Rio Grande Valley; though it was announced in 2006 to open, the building has remained unfinished since the original owner was foreclosed upon.[13]
In 2006, due to rising rent in downtown Austin, theater owners took steps to hand the theater over to a non-profit group called the "Heroes of the Alamo" foundation, operating the theater as a cultural arts center. However, with the historic Ritz Theater on 6th Street offered as an alternative location, the original Alamo was closed. The final event at the original site consisted of a special triple-feature event on the evening of June 27, 2007. The final movie shown was Night Warning, with star Susan Tyrrell attending. After the movie, audience members were allowed to disassemble their seats and take them home as souvenirs of the theater.
A second San Antonio theater opened in 2009 (Park North), with six screens.[15]
In June 2010, founder Tim League was brought back as CEO of the franchise operations.[16]
A third San Antonio location (Stone Oak) opened on November 5, 2010, with six screens.
In 2013, the Lake Creek location was closed upon the opening of the brand new, larger Lakeline location. [citation needed]
In June 2017, the current largest Alamo opened in Springfield, Missouri with 14 screens seating 1,050 people.
In late 2017, Alamo purchased the historic Baker Center from Austin ISD. They had promised to convert the building into public housing for teachers, but have yet to do so. The Baker Center is now Alamo Drafthouse’s corporate headquarters and was added to the NRHP in 2023.[17][18]
In March 2019, Business Insider reported that Alamo Drafthouse's movie-ticket subscription service, Alamo Season Pass, will launch nationwide at all Drafthouse theaters by the end of the year with the unlimited plan costing $20 a month in most regions of the country.[19]
In March 2020, Alamo Drafthouse announced that all locations were closed temporarily due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[20]
In May 2020, Alamo announced that former Starbucks Exec Shelli Taylor would become the new CEO of Alamo Drafthouse and that founder Tim League would transfer from his current role as CEO to become the chairman of the board of directors.[21]
The company announced the launch of the "Alamo on Demand" video streaming service on May 7, 2020. With a video-on-demand platform provided by Shift72, the streaming service will have films from Drafthouse Films, its film distribution arm, as well as partner with name-brand studios like Sony Pictures Classics and Lionsgate.[22][23][24]
On March 3, 2021, Alamo Drafthouse filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. As part of its restructuring, cinemas across the southern U.S. were closed, and plans to open an Orlando, Florida location were canceled.[25][26] The debtors were represented by Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor as counsel and Houlihan Lokey as investment banker. With $100 million to $500 million in both assets and liabilities, Alamo entered into a restructuring support agreement to help guide them through their bankruptcy.[27] In June 2021, the company announced that they had emerged from bankruptcy.[28]
Locations
Italics indicate location has not officially opened yet.
Alamo Drafthouse Staten Island (9 screens, opened July 22, 2022) [44]
Other New York cities
Alamo Drafthouse Yonkers (6 screens; opened August 5, 2013 includes Video Vortex video store) [45]
North Carolina
Alamo Drafthouse Raleigh (11 screens, opened early 2018, includes Video Vortex video rental store) [3]
Texas
Austin
Alamo Drafthouse Village (4 screens; opened July 2001)
Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar (6 screens; opened March 7, 2005, closed January 3, 2013, as the 1950s Lamar Plaza shopping center is demolished and rebuilt. Reopened in the third quarter of 2014 in a new building with nine screens on the same site.)[46]
Alamo Drafthouse Slaughter Lane (8 screens; opened on March 8, 2012)
Alamo Drafthouse Lakeline (10 screens; opened July 2013)
Alamo Drafthouse at Mueller (6 screens; opened March 2017)
Alamo Drafthouse Cedar Park (10 screens; opening TBA)[47]
Houston
Alamo Drafthouse LaCenterra-Katy (8 screens, replacing previous Mason Park location, July 2018)[48]
Alamo Drafthouse Rolling Roadshow – Mobile unit operates worldwide
Former locations
Arizona
As of September 2021, all three locations were rebranded as Majestic Theaters.[55]
Alamo Drafthouse Phoenix – Chandler (Planned eight-screen location in downtown Chandler, AZ, abandoned due to construction issues, development taken over by Harkins Theatres. Alamo Holdings LLC later inked a $14.6 million lease on a location in south Chandler which opened on December 2, 2016)[56]
Alamo Drafthouse Gilbert (8 screens, opened November 2019)[57]
Missouri
Alamo Drafthouse Mainstreet – Kansas City (6 screens; took over operations from AMC Theatres June 21, 2012; closure announced as part of bankruptcy restructuring in March 2021)
Alamo Drafthouse Midtown – Omaha (5 screens; opened Winter 2018; closed October 2022[60])
Texas
Alamo Drafthouse Downtown – Austin (single screen; opened 1997, closed 2007 to move to Ritz location)
Alamo Drafthouse Lake Creek – Austin (7 screens; opened May 2003; closed July 2013)
Alamo Drafthouse West Oaks Mall – Houston (6 screens; opened May 2003 as first Houston area location, closed June 25, 2012)
Alamo Drafthouse Vintage Park – Spring (7 screens; opened February 2013; sold December 6, 2016)
Alamo Drafthouse Mason Park – Katy Area (7 screens; opened February 2006, closed June 2018, replaced by LaCenterra location)
Alamo Drafthouse at the Ritz – Austin (2 screens; opened November 2007; closure announced as part of bankruptcy restructuring in March 2021)
Alamo Drafthouse Marketplace – New Braunfels (11 screens; opened December 20, 2013; closure announced as part of bankruptcy restructuring in March 2021)
Alamo Drafthouse Westlakes – San Antonio (9 screens; opened August 2004 as first San Antonio area location; closed mid 2021)
Alamo Drafthouse is famous for enforcing a strict policy on behavior while in the theater. Children under the age of two are not allowed, except for showings on specific days designated "Alamo For All", where parents are encouraged to bring young children, and rules around talking are relaxed.[66] Unaccompanied minors are not allowed in showings, except for members of the Alamo Drafthouse's Victory Vanguard rewards program, which allows 15–17 year-olds to attend showings unattended after their application to the rewards program has been submitted and reviewed. The application involves demonstrating an understanding of the theater's policies around talking, texting, arriving late, and basic tipping etiquette.[67]
The cinema also prohibits talking and texting during the film. Anyone who violates this policy is subject to warning and potential removal from the premises.[68] Alamo made national headlines in 2011 when the rantings of one angry customer who was ejected for texting were included in its "Don't Talk or Text" PSA shown before films. "When we adopted our strict no-talking policy back in 1997, we knew we were going to alienate some of our patrons," Tim League posted on the cinema's website. "That was the plan. If you can't change your behavior and be quiet (or unilluminated) during a movie, then we don't want you at our venue."[69]
In 2010, after the return of former co-founder Tim League as CEO, the company launched Drafthouse Films, a film distribution company named after, and inspired by, the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema chain.
In 2017, then CEO Tim League founded another film distribution company with Tom Quinn in New York City called Neon, which has earned a total of 12 Academy Award nominations. As of 2019, Tim League was reportedly not involved in the daily operations of Neon.[70]
Birth.Movies.Death.
Birth.Movies.Death. is a magazine and website formerly published by Alamo Drafthouse.[71] The magazine and website provide news and commentary about films and the entertainment industry.
The sale of Birth.Movies.Death to Dallas Sonnier's Cinestate film studio was announced in May 2020 concurrently with the stepping down of founder Tim League as CEO of Alamo Drafthouse.[72]
Hostile workplace allegations
In October 2016, Devin Faraci resigned from Birth.Movies.Death. after allegations of sexual assault surfaced.[73] Less than a year later, Tim League re-hired Faraci to write film blurbs for the 2017 Fantastic Fest.[74] Upon discovery of Faraci's re-hiring, Todd Brown resigned as Fantastic Fest's director of international programming in early September 2017.[75] Faraci resigned from writing for Fantastic Fest, and League made several public apologies regarding the matter.[76]
Later in September 2017, several women accused Harry Knowles of sexual harassment and sexual assault at events sponsored by Alamo Drafthouse or in professional workplace settings.[77][78] Subsequent to these revelations, Alamo Drafthouse and Fantastic Fest severed business ties with Knowles. League did not attend Fantastic Fest, opting instead to visit Alamo Drafthouse locations around the country to discuss workplace environment issues with employees.[79] Despite these events, Alamo Drafthouse proceeded with plans to show a previously unreleased pornographic film by Ed Wood.[80]
AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. is an American movie theater chain founded in Kansas City, Missouri, and now headquartered in Leawood, Kansas. It is the largest movie theater chain in the world. Founded in 1920, AMC has the largest share of the U.S. theater market ahead of Regal and Cinemark Theatres.
Regal Cinemas is an American movie theater chain headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee. A division of Cineworld, Regal operates the second-largest theater circuit in the United States, with 6,853 screens in 511 theaters as of December 31, 2021. The three main theatre brands operated by Regal Entertainment Group are Regal Cinemas, Edwards Theatres, and United Artists Theatres.
Harry Jay Knowles is an American former film critic and writer known for his website Ain't It Cool News (AICN). Knowles was a member of the Austin Film Critics Association until he was removed in September 2017 "by a substantial majority vote" of the organization following allegations of sexual assault.
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The Butt-Numb-A-Thon was a film marathon held in Austin, Texas every December from 1999 to 2016. It was hosted by Harry Knowles of Ain't It Cool News in celebration of his birthday. The festival showed 24 hours of vintage films, as well as premieres.
The Ritz is a historic theater in the 6th Street district in Austin, Texas. The building's history includes use as a movie theater, music hall, club, and comedy house. It reopened after renovations in fall 2007 as the new downtown location for the Alamo Drafthouse. The venue temporarily closed in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and was permanently closed in 2021 when the Alamo Drafthouse filed for bankruptcy. It now currently serves as Joe Rogan’s comedy club, Comedy Mothership.
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Terrell Alfred Braly is an American businessman.
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Drafthouse Films is an independent film distribution company based in Austin, Texas which releases "provocative, visionary and artfully unusual films new and old from around the world". It was founded in 2010 by Tim League, who had previously founded the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema chain. Drafthouse Films has released a variety of films since its inception.
Neil Breen is an American filmmaker and actor. Since 2005, he has written, directed, independently produced, and starred in six theatrical feature films. Breen's films have garnered a cult following for their low-budget production values, acting, writing, and editing.
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The Baker Center, previously the Baker School, Baker Junior High School, and W. R. Robbins High School, is a historic building in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Austin, Texas. It has been, in sequential order, an elementary school, a middle school, an alternative high school, and an administrative building for Austin ISD. In 2018, the Baker Center was bought by Alamo Drafthouse, and now serves as their corporate headquarters.
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