Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas was a unique concept where the mixing of food, drink, and movies spelled magic. I remember newly hired Alamo staff making the trip to Buffalo to attend Cinema Training Central. Taking courses on cinema management, as well as technical training - this was circa 2001.
Alamo had a novel idea - a dine-in movie theater that served alcoholic beverages and ran first-run features. This concept has been replicated over and over since Alamo's inception in 1997.
It appears that Alamo, which currently has 35 locations throughout the U.S., had been soliciting offers for some time through Goldman Sachs as broker. Under its Sony ownership, Alamo will continue to operate as the Alamo Drafthouse brand. Sony also purchased as of the rights to Alamo's Fantastic Fest film festival.
To its credit, Alamo differentiated the movie experience and in doing so gained a very loyal fan base of movie goers.
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| Moviegoers enjoying a movie at Alamo |
The Sony/Alamo transaction is rare, in that the purchase of a movie exhibitor by a studio doesn't happen very often. Several years ago, Netflix purchased two theaters - the Egyptian in LA and the Paris in NYC. Amazon bought the Arclight in Culver City at about the same time.
Sony must believe that theatrical exhibition is worth the investment long term. I believe they're right.
By: Jim Lavorato, Entertainment Equipment Corp.
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