Forgive me if I get a little over-excited here, but man, I love going to the movies in Austin. This is my tenth city, and honestly, in the last nine I’d reached a point where renting DVDs from Redbox was an excuse for a girl’s night in. Going to the movies had lost any sense of outing or adventure. Heck, the conditions at most theaters made moviegoing only marginally more fun than spending the day in airport security.
All seven of you who are actually from Austin don’t understand what the movies are like out there in the great beyond. Your only food options are prehistoric candy and popcorn with a heavy orange dusting of “butter flavor” powder that smells like incipient cancer. Instead of indie videos playing before the previews, you get painfully branded TV commercials and Coca-Cola ads. Worst of all, you can’t have a beer.
There are a few family friendly throwback theaters scattered around Austin, but as a newcomer, I am delightfully overwhelmed by having four genuinely good options where I can enjoy a sandwich and a Shiner while watching the movie.
I heard legends of the Alamo long before moving. People gushed reverentially about Master Pancake and classic movie nights, but somehow they completely failed to mention the full bar and dinner menu. Imagine not knowing about that the first time you’re seated in an Alamo. It was like expecting to have your picture taken with a homeless guy who hadn’t shaved in six years and instead getting to meet Santa Claus. I actually got up and walked to a random spot in a different aisle to make sure the Meetup I was with hadn’t slipped me a fake menu just to see if I’d fall for it.
In addition to feeding and boozing you up, the Alamo goes out of their way to entertain you before the movies. I have tremendous respect for the film festival shorts I get to see before each show. If there isn’t a film festival, they always pick a collection of well chosen, thematically relevant, funny videos for each movie. There’s no question someone who loves movies is paying serious attention. They’ve got your eyeballs. They want to pump them full of goodness.
On top of that, I really like the Alamo’s blog. It’s obvious this place is run by movie lovers for movie lovers. The Alamo has come out aggressively against letting people text during movies, and I love them for it. They sponsor Fantastic Fest and do a heck of a lot to encourage indie movie making. They break their own no-talking rules by letting Master Pancake turn every movie into a Rocky Horror style event. They do so much right it’s no wonder the Alamo is quite possibly the most beloved cultural institution in Austin. Not too shabby for a movie theater.
I am stupidly delighted that they’re spreading out of Texas. Soon, people from San Francisco to Kansas City will understand our mildly irrational love of a movie theater chain. Once they do, they’ll never be able to go back to the old ways.
They're so serious about keeping your movie screen sacred they'll turn your hate mail into a reminder that this is a movie theater, not a bus stop.
Settle down. You’re right. Flix is obviously a knockoff of the Alamo Drafthouse. The thing is, the people behind it paid a lot of attention to what did and didn’t work at the Alamo.
They don’t have their own Master Pancake or Fantastic Fest, which means they’ll never have the cult-like loyalty Alamo has earned. What they do have is better food, more user-friendly trays, and a nice local microbrewery on site. If you’re out for a night at the movies instead of a major event, it’s a noticeable trade up.
I know there are haters out there who can’t stand to see someone take a good idea and improve on it. Skip ahead to the section on iPic.
Right. Now that I’m only talking to people who moved here in the last year or so, Flix is doing a darn good job of creating an all inclusive night of entertainment for average moviegoers. It has zero hope of replacing Alamo, but it’s not trying to. This is an experimental pilot theater meant to see if people are interested in dinner and a beer at the movies if it doesn’t come with Master Pancake. The answer is yes.
Honestly, Alamo, you guys are awesome, and there’s no way Flix would exist without you, but could you please steal back a couple of Flix’s improvements? I’d love to see the two of you get into a sort of customer service war. Oh, you think you can make life easier by giving each seat a spacious tray that slides all the way to their lap, Flix? Well, let’s see how you handle our new secret innovation! I see you think buttons to summon waiters are a good idea. Well, let’s see you cope with our startling new wait-o-tron 2000! You think high quality entrees with in-house microbrews attract customers? Well wait until you see our new gourmet menu!
You can do it, Alamo! I want to see this turn into a full-on movie arms race. C’mon, guys, show each other up!
Once the Alamo penetrates enough national markets, there will be a lot more Flix-style clones waiting in the wings. You can start learning how to compete with them now, on your own home turf, or you can fight a much harder battle in cities where you and your competitors are both new innovations. It’s up to you, Alamo.
Situated right downtown, the Violet Crown isn't as funky as the Alamo, and isn't as pricey as iPic (described below). The Crown is sort of like flying business class. The theaters are small and intimate, with big comfy seats, which makes for an intimate movie-watching experience.
Buying tickets is no-muss-no-fuss and you're always guaranteed the seat you want. The way it works is you buy your tickets online and pick seats. That way, once you get to the theater you can have a drink or some food in the pleasant lobby bar and you don't have to stress about getting a good view of the screen. The downside of having a bunch of small theaters is that they sell out pretty quickly. (You can buy tickets in person, but you're apt to be out of luck if you take that tack.)
The theaters may be small, but each has excellent sound and good views of the screen from every seat. The food and drink is what you would expect now that the bar has been set by the Alamo -- in fact, it's a little bit fancy, ranging from homemade pizza to tapas to spring rolls.
Since the movie house is broken up into smaller theaters, there are five movies to choose from at any given time, which also means that showtimes occur throughout the day.
iPic Theaters
In parts of the country bereft of the Alamo’s awesomeness, iPic is the only dine-in movie alternative. I’ll be honest. I haven’t actually sat through a movie at an iPic theater. That’s because tickets start at $28 per person (yes, really) plus the cost of your food and alcohol. It’s almost impossible to get out of there for anything less than $50 per person, and that’s only if you skip dessert.
However, I have been to multiple networking events at the iPic in the Domain (and other iPic theaters in other cities). Each time, they had great appetizers for the event, tasty drink specials, a swanky lobby, and totally empty theaters they were eager to show off.
For $28+ per person, you get your own individual recliner with a comfy footrest and your own blankie. For those of us who consider movie dates a good excuse for a little discrete cuddle, these are horrible. If you’re anti-social and need your space, they’re a godsend.
The menu is predictably pricey, but the food itself is actually top notch. I was pleasantly surprised. A few of us at one networking event essentially ordered the entire appetizer menu as a big shared plate and every single thing they brought out was shockingly excellent. In this case, you really are paying for quality. It’s possible they were showing off for the networkers in the hopes of luring us back for a movie. I hope not, though, because if I came back and the food was anything less than great, I’d feel robbed.
If the other four theaters didn’t exist, this would be a good excuse for a pricey romantic night out. The place is never crowded, which lends itself to a nice, exclusive air. You can enjoy fine food, well mixed cocktails, excellent dessert, a couple games of pool in the lobby … actually, since you do have the Alamo and Flix and Violet Crown here, why not treat iPic like a wine bar with good cocktails, great food, and a semi-private pool table? Enjoy all the features of the lobby, but save the $60 you would’ve spent on the movie, rent something from Redbox, then go home and make out while the DVD plays on your home TV.
I love movies again
With Alamo, Flix, Violet Crown and iPic to choose from, I’ve fallen in love with movies again. This time last year I saw one movie a month. Now, I’m averaging one or two a week. These four genuinely good options reintroduced me to the excitement and thrill of going out to the movies. If you’re from here, you can’t understand why the Alamo is so revolutionary. If you’re a N00b like me, the first thing you want to do whenever someone visits is take them to the movies. Sure, they can see whatever film you pick when they get home or just rent the DVD in a couple of months, but here, a movie is only a fraction of the experience. The point is that we have real, honest-to-goodness reasons to enjoy the cinema just as much as our great-grandparents (who were in it for the revolutionary free air conditioning and ice cream).