Next-Gen Alamo Drafthouse Goes the Fancy Private Theater Route

Eater

5 days ago

is an editor and reporter for the Northeast region at Eater, focusing primarily on New York City, where she was born and raised. She covers restaurants, bars, pop-ups, and the people powering them.
The founder of Alamo Drafthouse is opening a new movie theater in New York — one built entirely for private groups, with multi-course meals themed with whatever's playing on screen.
Alamo Drafthouse has been a leader in the rise of dine-in movie theaters over the last decade. Now the Austin-born company is investing in Metro Private Cinema, opening in September at 131 Eighth Avenue, at West 16th Street, in Chelsea. Owner Tim League hopes to expand to other locations soon.
At Metro Private Cinema, rather than purchasing an individual seat ticket, a host books a whole private screening room. Choose the movie (there's a range of titles), time, and food/drinks. Rooms — it's a 'twenty-plex' — generally seat between four and 12. The base is $50 per person with unlimited popcorn. It may be about double the price of a regular movie ticket, but it's easy to see it being popular for birthday parties or work events.
Much like Alamo Drafthouse is known for, there are culinary add-ons. For example, for a showing of Garlic Is as Good as Ten Mothers, it would thematically make sense to pair the Les Blank documentary with their garlicky dinner experience that includes a chilled almond soup, charcuterie, roasted rabbit, and succotash. 'Every dish in this menu, from the cocktails to the dessert and everything in between, is kissed or clobbered by God's gift to cuisine: garlic,' the website writes. But you can mix-and-match: There's a Wicked-themed menu; a Goodfellas dinner; and A Christmas Story Chinese roast duck experience, among others. Multi-course meals are about $100 per person. After the movie ends, the group gets about 30 minutes extra time to keep hanging out.
The menu was developed by Joshua Guarneri, who previously was the executive chef at the short-lived Bar Avalon in Los Angeles and worked at the Breslin in New York.
'We're going to have a lot of fun,' League said, who, as we spoke for the interview, mentioned pickling projects were happening downstairs at the venue in anticipation of opening.
Financially, Alamo Drafthouse invested in the venture and has equity shares, though it is being positioned as an offshoot (League stepped down as Alamo CEO in 2020, but is still very involved in the company he founded).
It's his first big move following much drama that has shrouded Alamo Drafthouse. In 2022, the Texas Observer chronicled challenges the chain faced during the pandemic, which included employee layoffs and bankruptcy as theaters struggled during COVID. The publication also called the portrait of working there 'far from fantastic' (a reference to the company's Fantastic Fest), a nationwide chain that 'remains popular despite accusations of union busting and allegations of sexual assault,' referring to issues regarding business associates and customers who had been accused of misconduct over the years. In 2018, Splinter reported that League and his wife, Karrie, had been accused of 'minimizing' workplace issues during the #MeToo era. League said in a statement around that time: 'I've let so many of you down. Over the past few days, I've realized that decisions I have made over these past months have been problematic. I am concerned about what these choices may say about me and the values of this company to employees, customers and the community at large. I'm humbled and deeply sorry.'
In 2024, Alamo Drafthouse was acquired by Sony. Earlier this year, Variety reported that Alamo Drafthouse's unionizing workers at the Lower Manhattan and Downtown Brooklyn locations ended a 58-day strike after reaching an agreement with management, also bringing back about 70 employees who were previously let go.
Despite in-person attendance at theaters shifting, Alamo has continued to open new locations. League says part of what led him to launch Metro Private Cinema in Chelsea was that there was a theater nearby that had closed and he wanted to fill the gap: 'New York is an old city. In order to build a traditional movie theater, you need high ceilings and forty-foot spans; most New York buildings aren't set up for that,' he adds of the business's flexibility, 'We can slide into a former Duane Reade pharmacy, which pushes the idea forward.'
It's apace with the numerous members-only clubs in New York, some with their own theaters. Over at Fouquet's New York, a hotel in Tribeca, it was reported by the New York Post that its Cannes Cinema started selling tickets to the public, at $110 for two drinks and a movie, $165 for the movie plus a prix fixe dinner at the property's French brasserie. Dine-in theaters like Syndicated in Bushwick and both Brooklyn Nitehawk locations also offer private event booking.
'There's a certain number of people who would prefer to be in a private place than a huge room with strangers […] it's an alternative that works alongside traditional cinemagoing,' League says. 'And, hopefully, this can grow a new market for people who aren't going to the cinema as much.'
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