The saga of Alamo Drafthouse trying to break into the NYC market is almost at an end: after years of false starts, broken promises, and more delays, the NY Times reported today that Alamo Drafthouse will open for realsies in Downtown Brooklyn on October 28th. Barring any unforeseen incidents, of course.
The Drafthouse will be located at the City Point center, at 445 Albee Square West in the Fulton Mall area, near where Dekalb meets Fulton. Tim League, the founder and chief executive officer of Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, told the Times that the location has been ready to launch for several months (indeed, it was supposed to have opened this past summer) but construction delays and a "fire department signoff" held up the plans. "It’s a lot more expensive and takes a lot longer than you think to do a construction project in New York," he noted.
Here's the Times' preview of what you'll find there initially:
The Drafthouse space is divided between two floors and includes seven theaters, all with dine-in service and reserved seating. Every theater has 4K digital projectors and one has 35-millimeter projection capabilities. A stand-alone bar, called the House of Wax, is also part of the multiplex.
The programming will include new releases and repertory showings. Its first series, timed to the Halloween weekend, will be “In the Mood for Gore,” 35-millimeter prints of Asian horror films from the 1980s and ’90s. A “Monster Squad” Halloween party will be held on Oct. 31 with an actor from that film, Andre Gower, in attendance.
Other planned series include “New in Town,” with films about moving in (like “The Muppets Take Manhattan” and “The Coca-Cola Kid”), and “Shouting at the Screen,” with the hosts Wyatt Cenac and Donwill offering live commentary on blaxploitation films.
Alamo Drafthouse originally announced in 2012 that it would open its doors at the former Metro Theater on the Upper West Side. Despite releasing an official menu for the location, that plan was cancelled by late 2013. Then after several years in development, they announced a Brooklyn location that was supposed to open this summer—after the official menu was released, that plan was delayed as well until today's announcement.
If you're sensing a pattern about presumptive announcement, so has League: "I’ve also learned, never put an opening date on a subway advertisement." Tickets for the theater will go on sale tomorrow morning at 8 a.m. here.