Hollywood blockbusters helped drive movie fan traffic for Alamo Drafthouse, which has 40 units open in the United States. Chief Development Officer Chris Drazba says themed events for movies such as “Barbie” proved popular.
Last summer, social media chatter revolved around “Barbenheimer.” For the uninitiated, “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer,” two of 2023’s most-talked about box office hits, debuted in theaters on the same day in July, causing a flurry of social media posts about double features and on-theme outfit options.
“Barbie” became the highest-grossing movie worldwide in 2023, topping $1.4 billion. Next was “Super Mario Bros.” with $1.36 billion and “Oppenheimer” with $950 million. At Alamo Drafthouse, the dine-in movie theater franchise with 40 units open nationwide, “Barbie” is the highest-earning movie for the brand since it started in 1997, said Chief Development Officer Chris Drazba. “We’re back,” he said. “It’s good.”
The SAG-AFTRA and Writers Guild strikes in 2023 pushed back many movies set for release, such as the sequel to 2021’s “Dune.” Along with a fairer labor contract, the strike resulted in creative movie-making, such as the release of the film version of Taylor Swift’s record-setting Eras Tour and Beyonce’s Reinassance Tour. “That was a pleasant surprise, in that it did also give us some alternative content, which is a really unique thing for movies,” Drazba said.
Alamo differentiates itself from bigger theater chains like AMC or Marcus Theaters, offering themed parties and drinks, plus its restaurant with in-theater servers. During the first two years an Alamo is open, “a lot more” is spent on marketing to promote the location and why it’s unique from other movie theaters. “We want the experience to be sticky enough to where whenever a movie is out that you want to see, you’re going to say it’s worthwhile for me to go see it” at Alamo, Drazba said.
Rachel Pletz is the senior director of development marketing at Alamo Drafthouse.
The franchise doesn’t shy away from going all out, either. Before the release of “Barbie,” Alamo pre-sold Barbie-themed lunchboxes and other merchandise. The company had a series of cocktails for the film, and it held themed parties, like a late-night “slumber party” event that had an overall seats-filled rate of 94 percent. “You’re talking about almost fully sold-out seats in every event-ized auditorium,” Drazba said.
Alamo has a team dedicated to visiting film festivals to find movies the company’s loyalty members will enjoy, and that’s how it decides which movies to host events and create cocktails for, he said. The cinema chain is also known for its Christmas celebrations, with limited showings of favorites including “Elf” and “Christmas Vacation,” said Rachel Pletz, senior director of development marketing. “We don’t enforce our no-talking policy. We do sing-alongs and stuff like that,” she said.
“We sell out those events pretty regularly,” Drazba said. That’s because of the half-hour pre-movie show, which, at least before family-friendly “Elf,” features “silly games,” Drazba said.
At a showing he attended, “They had kids volunteer three fathers from the audience. The dads didn’t know what was coming, and they got up there, the host from Alamo handed those three fathers each a two-liter bottle of Coke to drink up,” Drazba said, a nod to Will Ferrell’s impressive chugging scene from the movie. “Then they had a belching contest into a microphone. Kids ate it up.”
Chris Drazba is the chief development officer at Alamo Drafthouse.
Item 19 of Alamo’s franchise disclosure document is thorough, listing a variety of success measures, such as number of season tickets sold per theater or per-customer sales, but it doesn’t list average unit volume. The average fill rate across 35 units open for the entirety of 2022 was 26.6 percent, and the average per-person spending was $33.64. The initial investment required to open an Alamo cinema ranges from $13.3 million to $16.1 million, not including land costs, if a franchisee owns the venue. For renting, its $5.3- to $8.1 million, according to the FDD.
The company advertises lesser-known films to its loyalty members via email. The “Alamo recommends” newsletters share films like 2023’s “Bottoms” to get customers to come in for films other than the blockbusters, Drazba said.
Alamo is targeting expansion nationwide in areas with at least a few hundred thousand people within a 15-minute drive of the theater, he said. Most of the company’s franchisees have commercial development experience.
“We’re looking for, let’s call it hometown heroes and heroines that really want to do something special for their city,” Drazba said. “Oftentimes, what seems to be a common trait is that they’re already working on multi-use residential projects and they need some sort of energy or destination or call to their center.”