Alamo Drafthouse might be buying closed franchise locations in Texas and Minnesota
There's hope for Alamo Drafthouse franchise spots in Dallas-Fort Worth and Woodbury, if new court documents are any indication.
Not my usual programming; this is a special post. Not sure if this will count as my weekly newsletter yet or not. Stay tuned for more (either this week or next!) and thanks for reading
Alamo Drafthouse Cinema could be buying franchise assets in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas and Woodbury, Minnesota that recently shuttered after the franchise owner filed for bankruptcy.
Documents provided to me indicate Alamo is looking to acquire the assets, and a hearing regarding the sale is scheduled for Thursday out of the Bankruptcy Court of Northern Texas. The closed locations include five in the Dallas-Forth Worth (DFW) area and one in Woodbury.
An Alamo staffer impacted by the closures told me it was an “absolute gut punch”: “I went through all of the emotions. Sadness, anger ... you name it, I felt it in my soul.”
I reached out to one of the franchise trustees listed, as well as an Alamo spokesperson, for comment/confirmation, but did not hear back. So, I have no further intel on Alamo’s plans for these locations if a sale is approved. But I would guess it intends to re-open them, especially considering the company’s recent comments.
After the franchise operator announced the six locations were shuttered — which impacted around 600 employees — Alamo released a statement saying that it was “working as quickly as possible to get Alamo Drafthouse Cinema back up and running in these cities.”
Sony Pictures recently bought Alamo Drafthouse; for those unfamiliar, it’s a specialty theater chain that serves food and drinks to your seat and prides itself on its strict no-talking policy (Disclosure: I’m a Season Pass holder!).
Sony’s purchase was considered a capital B, capital D Big Deal, since it was the first sale of an exhibition chain to a movie studio since the Paramount Decrees ended in 2020, which discouraged such things from happening.
I’m quite familiar with Alamo; not only am I a loyal customer, but when I was an entertainment reporter at Business Insider, I wrote about how employees at the the DFW venues were displeased with how ownership handled returning to work during the pandemic. I also heard of other issues with how these venues were operated. So I’m happy to see that these spots could be saved, and potentially have a home in the Alamo (and Sony) corporate family.
But employees effected might feel more uncertain.
“I’m honestly not sure if I would go back,” the former staffer told me. “Part of me does [want to return] because I still believe in what Alamo stands for, but now all of that is up in the air … There’s a lot that needs to be worked out between now and then if it comes. I’m hopeful, but also cautious.”
One of the Dallas theaters was my go to. They had just spent some money on a much needed refreshing of the theater before Dune 2 came out. The biggest thing was they replaced the seats, which had been getting pretty worn done. It did seem like they never really bounced back from covid, and like virtually every restaurant these days, the prices have gone up while the quality has gone down.
The Woodbury location was poorly run. Many of the employees seemed to no longer like their job after returning and took their anger out on customers.