a day ago
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Wes Anderson created a ‘Phoenician Scheme' immersive experience at S.F.'s Alamo Drafthouse
If you ever wondered what it's like to be inside a Wes Anderson movie, well, you likely will still be wondering after exploring 'The Phoenician Scheme Immersive Experience.'
The new installation at the Alamo Drafthouse New Mission unveiled Wednesday, June 4, as part of a promotion for the new film ' The Phoenician Scheme ' is more of a vibe than an immersion. But it's admittedly ambitious and kinda fun.
The display at the San Francisco movie house comes just two days before Anderson's latest star-studded project opens in theaters on Friday, June 6, and will be up through June 20. Developed by Alamo and Focus Features, the distributor of the film, the installation was created with input from the director himself along with the film's production designer, Adam Stockhausen, and set decorator, Anna Pinnock.
The movie, which stars Benicio del Toro, Mia Threapleton, Michael Cera, Tom Hanks, Scarlett Johansson and many others, is set in the 1950s and is among Anderson and co-writer Roman Coppola's sweetest films.
Mike Sampson, Alamo Drafthouse's director of field marketing, noted that an installation based on Anderson's last movie, ' Asteroid City ' (2023), was created for the Alamo Drafthouse in New York, but the production design of 'The Phoenician Scheme' demanded an older theater. The New Mission at 2550 Mission St. was built in 1916 and was renovated into an Alamo Drafthouse cinema in 2015.
'We realized that the aesthetics of the film really matched the ornate architecture here in New Mission, and we knew it might be a tougher ask to say that we wanted it to be exclusive here,' Sampson said. 'But once we showed (Focus) the space and did a video walk-through with them, they immediately bought into the vision, and they were on board with having it here and having an exclusive.'
Spanning two floors, 'The Phoenician Scheme Immersive Experience' includes recreations of a train used by characters played by Hanks and Bryan Cranston, and part of the plane used by the billionaire played by del Toro.
The New Mission also is featuring a cocktail menu inspired by the film, with concoctions such as Espresso Human Rights (Casamigos Reposado Tequila, Mr Black Cold Brew Coffee Liqueur, almond orgeat, Averna Amaro and cold brew coffee) and the Hemingway Daiquiri (Don Q Cristal rum, Luxardo Maraschino liqueur, pressed lime and grapefruit juices, and a cherry).
