The No-Phone Resistance is gaining steam and media citations. It's near-unanimous: nobody supports this boneheaded move. It is a total 180-degree turn for Alamo; a complete betrayal of the brand promise.
There is currently a full-on revolt on Alamo Drafthouse's LinkedIn, including statements from respected critics and filmmakers. Turns out, you cannot flip a switch to go from "No Talking, No Texting: This Theater is a No-Phone Zone" to "Use Your Smartphone To Get a Soda Refill" without a massive upheaval to your culture and customer base.
Intel Report: Inside the Fortress
We have it on good authority from an anonymous source in corporate that Alamo executives are watching and concerned. Mostly, though? They are not concerned about the cinema viewing experience. They are concerned about their bottom line—specifically, their Season Pass subscriptions are falling. It's happening.
Do not hesitate to Cancel Your Season Passes, people! As much as we love Alamo Drafthouse, this may be the only message that registers with CEO Michael Kustermann. Should he and the corporate overlords at Sony destroy the wholly-unique cinephile culture that Alamo built over 27 years, you won't be needing season-long passes anyway.
The Human Cost
Your home theater may soon be a better viewing experience than a cinema full of phone screens. It's a damn shame. Sony put good money into upgrading sound and laser projection in several locations—the upgrades were appreciated—and now they are willing to throw it all away just to lay off a few servers?
Servers who, by the way, make Alamo Drafthouse the best. Where else do you plop down for a flick and chat about the pre-show with a server who knows you by name and actually loves movies? It’s not "just a job" to them. You can't find that anywhere else.
There is time for Alamo to change course, but I fear that should the switch-over happen they'll never go back. Let’s hope for the best and brace for the worst—the end of an era. You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.
Signed,
Brint Davy Crockett
Son of the Wild Frontier, Defender of the Cinema