The outbreak of COVID-19 has been devastating to the movie business. That’s no secret; we’ve seen the entire theatrical model undergo severe changes that could have long-running impact, while many theaters have closed down for good. Here in DC a number of well-established venues are gone. And now one of the best, if not the best, boutique theaters in the country, Alamo Drafthouse, is filing for bankruptcy.
Variety reports Alamo Drafthouse has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and will have its assets acquired by Altamont Capital Partners, as well as affiliates of Fortress Investment Group. This means some Alamo locations will be shut down as part of the restructuring, while in other ways business will run as normal.
Founder Tim League remains involved as part of the lender group.
The hope for Alamo is this bankruptcy process “will give it the capital it needs to continue operating”. Alamo, like every theater around the country, has been impacted by shutdowns at its locations, and the lack of big new releases as theaters began to slowly reopen. With so many films moving to the back end of 2021, the struggle continues on.
Sadly, the iconic Alamo location The Ritz in downtown Austin has already had to shut its door permanently. The spot was basically Alamo homebase for the last 13 years, so to see it go is pretty heartbreaking. You can read Alamo’s statement on the closure here.
A complete list of closure is unavailable at this time, but here in the DMV we have two locations. One is in Ashburn, the other in Woodbridge. If either of those is due to close, we’ll post it on our social media.
