When you think of Alamo Drafthouse, two things probably come to mind: It’s the much-loved cinema chain that pioneered serving food and alcohol in theaters, and has the industry’s strictest policy of no talking or texting during a movie.
Earlier this month, the company revealed a change that is being widely viewed as undermining the second part, and the chain’s loyal fans, critics and even some industry insiders are not pleased.
The company’s CEO, Michael Kustermann, announced a new policy where customers order food and drink on their phones, replacing a decades-old system whereby customers scribble orders on a piece of paper for a server to pick up. The program started in August, but mobile ordering was limited to before a film begins. But on Jan. 9, Kustermann announced that starting next month, mobile ordering will be required during a film too.
The executive billed the move as “a smoother, more responsive experience without added distraction.” While a press release touted the change as an “aim to improve efficiency while continuing to protect what makes the brand special: an elevated, immersive, and a more distraction-free way to enjoy movies.”
But as one fan responded on Reddit: “Encouraging people to pull out their phones during movies is the exact opposite of that statement.”
So far, moviegoers say the new system is anything but smooth and distraction free, and some Alamo supporters in the industry have blasted the change.
“A move completely antithetical to the ethos of the Alamo and to those who love the theatrical experience they provide,” wrote The Lord of the Rings star and Austin resident Elijah Wood. “This is a profound and upsetting mistake.”
The Austin Film Critics Association released a detailed statement slamming the new experience: “‘Don’t talk. Don’t text’ has been the Drafthouse’s mission statement since its earliest days as a single-screen cinema in Austin. Its growth into a national cinematic institution has been in no small part due to audiences knowing they can have a disturbance-free experience, and that staff will intervene to prevent the distraction of cellphone usage.”
The statement went on to point out the new process “puts staff in an impossible position of policing the right and wrong kind of phone usage, opening the system to abuse, and the potential of piracy,” and also noted “this is particularly worrying as Drafthouse locations are often used for festival and pre-release screenings.”
Indeed, Alamo has long been seen as perhaps the country’s most filmmaker-friendly cinema chain. Hundreds of actors and filmmakers have gamely shot playful “Don’t Talk. Don’t Text” PSAs for Alamo that play before their films begin.
Black Phone director Scott Derrickson wrote on X that he agreed with the Critics Association statement and added, “The Drafthouse in both Austin and Downtown L.A. are my home theaters — the best theaters anywhere. Hoping Alamo Drafthouse reconsiders this choice.”
While many theaters urge moviegoers to stay off their phones, Alamo has long proudly touted the industry’s most rigorous policing of anti-social behavior (hear an infamous example in the video below). Customers could discretely raise an order card to alert a server to an issue, and could remain anonymous to any offender since order cards are also used to order food and drink.
The policy was established and championed by Alamo founder Tim League, who stepped down as the company’s CEO in 2020. “When I talk to people, the number one reason why they don’t go to the cinema anymore is the distraction of cellphones and people chatting during the movie,” League said back in 2015. “You have to focus on your phone to text and therefore lose focus on the screen. It is a slap in the face to every single creative professional who poured their lives into creating the film.”
One Drafthouse fan launched a 5,000-signature petition urging the chain to change the policy.
Alamo had no comment on the backlash, but company insiders emphasize the “Don’t Talk. Don’t Text” policy will still be in place, that staff will be trained to spot proper versus improper cell phone use, and that a service request button is being added to the mobile app for moviegoers experiencing any issues. Also, no staff cuts are currently planned as a consequence of the new system. The company plans to convert its theaters in Los Angeles to mobile ordering next month.
The ordering platform uses a dark menu screen to try and minimize the amount of screen glow, but users say dark screen phones still emit a distracting light — and will presumably lead moviegoers to check their messages. Employees and customers say the implementation has nonetheless been chaotic. Multiple users say they can’t use the system due to poor cell reception in theaters, and claim the new system has a number of bugs (which insiders say are being addressed).
“I’m astounded at how poorly this has been rolled out,” one veteran Alamo server tells The Hollywood Reporter.
“I went to the Lakeline Drafthouse today and experienced their mobile ordering system for the first time,” wrote one moviegoer on the Austin subreddit. “I’ve been going there for 17 years. It was so awful, I don’t think I can go back.” The moviegoer admitted the system was “super easy and convenient — other than, you know, it being completely anathema to everything the Drafthouse embodies.” The person went on to note the system sent him a text message to pay his bill 20 minutes before the end of film, which horrified readers. “A text message during a movie? They’ve lost the plot,” one wrote.
Jordan Baruch, an Alamo United bargaining committee member, told HellGateNYC that his Drafthouse union members are “more fired up and angrier about this than they were about the layoffs last year.”
“It’s this very corporate way of running a theater, and bulldozing over the people that are affected, and over the customers who clearly don’t want this,” he said. “To me, it just seems like a company giving up on its brand and seeing how much they can extract profits-wise, before they can extract nothing anymore.”
Many of the above comments, however, pale in comparison to nuclear-level blasting that’s been occurring in the Alamo Drafthouse subreddit, where fans of the chain haven’t held back and have even posted screenshots of canceling their season pass subscriptions. One posted a photo of “F–k mobile ordering” scrawled on the bathroom wall of Alamo South Lamar.
“This has got to be among the dumbest company decisions I have ever heard of,” wrote another. “Do the new owners have no idea what they purchased? I can’t think of a faster way to alienate Alamo’s fanbase than by telling customers to use their phones in the theater. This one small choice makes Alamo go from the least intrusive movie watching experience to the most intrusive.”
Sony Pictures Entertainment purchased Alamo last year. Sources say this switch was in the works before the sale, but the parent company signed off on the new system.
Wrote one moviegoer: “Wow Sony, way to go. Take a great model and break it. Alamo was awesome because people don’t take out their phones.”
“It’s mind-shatteringly stupid,” wrote another. “The first thing Sony Entertainment does … is to cheapen its prestige as an exhibition venue. Brand value destroyed.”
And perhaps the cruelest jab of all…
“My last bastion of actually going to the theater has fallen. Guess those f—kers at Netflix were right all along, sadly. See ya Alamo. You’re just an overpriced AMC with beer now.”
That said, while online reactions are overwhelmingly against the new policy, there are a couple comments who think the backlash is overblown. “You’re having a full mental breakdown because you have to order your loaded fries on your phone instead of with a tiny little pencil like you’re taking the SATs at TGI Friday’s?” wrote one moviegoer. “You’re using your phone RIGHT NOW to complain about having to use your phone. You understand that, right?”
The most infamous, NSFW and viral of Alamo’s Don’t Talk PSAs:
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