Austin, Texas-based Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, a chain of movie theater/restaurant hybrids, has announced plans to open its largest space yet in northwest Austin this coming November. It will open another new location in New York City in 2013.
Alamo first launched in 1997 and currently operates nearly a dozen locations in Texas, as well as one in Winchester, Virginia.
This begs the question: Where have all the drafthouse cinemas gone? They’re out there. Just Google your city and “movie theaters serving alcohol.” There doesn’t seem to be a definitive list. But the South appears to have more of them.
“…While there are only about 400 theaters across the country that serve liquor, the numbers have been slowly but steadily increasing,” Terrell Braly, CEO of Cinebarre tells SmartMoney.
“But that doesn’t mean your local multiplex will be adding a bar anytime soon. There are inherent problems with serving drinks at the movies. For one thing, it precludes teenage audiences, a key demographic for many theaters.”
Such barriers, however, seem to be disappearing — like in New York, where a law was passed last year to open up serving alcohol in movie theaters.
What do you think? Would you go to the movies more if drinks were on the menu? Or is drinking at the movies an “idiot magnet”? Share your comments below.