Movie Theater News

All 5 Alamo Drafthouse Cinema locations in Dallas-Fort Worth close

RIP Alamo in DFW

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It's a sad sad day for Dallas moviegoers: All five Dallas-area locations of the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema chain have closed.

According to a release, Two is One, One is None, LLC has closed the six franchised Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas that it (and its affiliates) operated, and have filed voluntary petitions for relief under Chapter 7 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.

The five Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas in North Texas closing include Richardson, Las Colinas, Lake Highlands, Dallas, and Denton. They are also closing a location in Woodbury, Minnesota.

UPDATE 6-6-2024: A spokesman for Alamo Drafthouse issued a statement, saying, “We are very disappointed to learn today that our franchisee, which operates five locations in Dallas-Fort Worth, TX and one in Woodbury, MN has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy and is closing their business effective immediately. We are heartbroken for the franchisee’s teammates and the local film communities, however, we are working as quickly as possible to get Alamo Drafthouse Cinema back up and running in these cities. All other Alamo Drafthouse locations are operating as normal, with continued expansion plans across the country.”
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UPDATE 6-27-2024: Alamo Drafthouse Cinema will re-open all five locations in Dallas-Fort Worth. All six locations that recently closed as part of the franchisee's Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing — including DFW’s Cedars, Denton, Lake Highlands, Las Colinas, and Richardson locations and the Woodbury location in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota — will now be owned and operated by Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, and are set to reopen in summer 2024.
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The Alamo provided a truly unique moviegoing experience with restaurant in-theater servers and themed parties, menu items, and merchandise corresponding with movies, as well as offering holiday and other special movies.

The closure of the Richardson location is especially poignant, since the theater only just received a round of improvements, in partnership with the city of Richardon, to its audiovisual equipment, seating arrangements, and theater ambiance.

Two is One, One is None and its affiliates attributed the decision to seek bankruptcy protection and close the cinemas to the following factors:

Industry-wide guest counts have not rebounded even to pre-COVID levels and coupled with the 100-plus days of the Writers’ and Actors’ strikes, industry-wide economic performance was severely down in the fourth quarter of 2023 and in the first quarter of 2024. The first quarter of 2024 has been the worst performing quarter in movie-going history.
As a franchisee, they paid franchise fees not required of other competitors; payment of these fees to our franchisor in a prolonged environment of significantly decreased revenues were not sustainable. Franchise Fees alone were nearly 10 percent of their sales ($3.7 million) in 2023.
Due to contractual obligations, they were forced to keep even the most unprofitable locations open to the detriment of our overall businesses.
To offset operating losses and try to survive, the owners infused more than $3.5 million dollars in new capital, into payroll and operations in 2023 and year-to-date 2024, while attempting to reduce costs, including repeatedly seeking relief from the franchisor to reduce the non-competitive fee structure and to permit closure of the most non-profitable locations, neither of which were obtained.

The company said it was "deeply saddened" to take this step, and expressed gratitude to its employees "who put in the work, day in and day out to produce a special movie-going experience," as well as to their many loyal customers for whom it was a pleasure to provide such a special experience. The release says that an attempt was made to contact all 600-plus employees prior to the closing of all theaters.

The closures come the same week as the closing of the Angelika Film Center in Plano, which shut down on June 3.

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Movie Review

New film The Plague turns tween bullying into chilling drama

Photo courtesy of IFC

Everett Blunck in The Plague.

Anybody who’s attended elementary school in the last 100 years knows the concept of “cooties,” a fictional affliction that is typically caught when touched by a member of the opposite sex. A more updated version of the same idea is featured in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, this time called the “Cheese Touch,” making anyone who touches a moldy piece of cheese on the school’s basketball court an outcast.

A much more menacing version of this “disease” is on display in The Plague, which takes place at a summer water polo camp for tweens. The film focuses on Ben (Everett Blunck), a slightly awkward boy who struggles to fit in with the “cool” crowd led by Jake (Kayo Martin). That group has no problems making fun of others that they deem to be different, especially Eli (Kenny Rasmussen), who has been ostracized because of a rash he has that the kids call “the plague.”

Ben wants to be part of the main group, but his natural empathy leads him to reach out to Eli on more than one occasion despite Eli engaging in some uncomfortable behavior. With the camp’s coach (Joel Edgerton) not much help when it comes to the bullying tactics by Jake and others, especially those that take place at night, Ben is left to fend for himself. His vacillations between wanting to be accepted and wanting to do what’s right continue until his hand is forced.

Written and directed by first-time feature filmmaker Charlie Polinger, the film has all the feel of a horror movie without actually being a horror. The staging used by Polinger gives the film a claustrophobic feel as Ben can’t seem to escape the psychological torture inflicted by Jake and others no matter where he goes. He also employs a jarring score by Johan Lenox to great effect, one that’s designed to keep viewers on edge even when nothing bad is happening.

No matter how far removed you are from middle school, the film will likely bring up feelings you thought you had left behind. Much like with Bo Burnham’s Eighth Grade, Polinger finds a way to tap into something universal in his depiction of tweens, an age when everyone is still discovering who they really are. Some go along to get along, others don’t even attempt to fit in, but no one truly feels settled.

Whether the plague is real or not in the world of the film is up for debate. While most of the time it comes off as something made up to underscore the feeling of otherness felt by Ben, Polinger does literalize it to a degree. He even tiptoes up to the line of body horror before wisely retreating, although what he does show will still make some viewers squeamish. However, because he seems to be leaning one way before pulling back, there’s the possibility that some will be disappointed by the tease of something more intense.

The film’s biggest success is in its casting. Finding good child actors is notoriously tough, and yet Polinger and casting director Rebecca Dealy found a bunch who sell the story for all it’s worth. Blunck, Martin, and Rasmussen get the most play, but everyone else complements them well. Edgerton is the lone star in the film, but he’s used sparingly and isn’t asked to do much, leaving the kids to carry the story on their shoulders.

Fitting in as a tween is hard enough without others actively trying to find ways to cast someone out. The Plague is an effective demonstration of the dynamics that can play out in a competitive environment that also includes a group that has yet to develop into fully-rounded people. It features discomfort on multiple levels, marking an auspicious debut for Polinger.

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The Plague is now playing in theaters.

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