Layoffs are underway at Alamo Drafthouse.
Alamo Drafthouse has laid off 9 % of its company workers, which for the dine-in theater chain quantities to fifteen workers (of 165 whole), an individual with data of the layoffs tells IndieWire. Positions impacted embrace help heart roles and technical engineers. The layoffs are a part of an Alamo Drafthouse company restructuring, the individual mentioned, and are unrelated to the corporate’s latest acquisition by Sony.
Staff had been additionally let go on the venue degree, the individual mentioned. Our supply mentioned these impacted had been hourly workers, largely part-time workers. Some had been full-time hourly (not salaried workers), and the workers discount was carried out on a last-in, first-out foundation. The workers discount is a part of the seasonal slowdown that follows the vacation season annually, the individual mentioned. The variety of impacted workers is on par with prior years, the individual mentioned; all impacted staff have been invited to reapply for positions within the spring when the discharge schedule picks again up.
In a Reddit thread devoted to Alamo Drafthouse discourse, a number of Redditors acknowledged these layoffs are usually not typical of seasonal turnover.
Alamo Drafthouse the corporate just lately opened areas in Indianapolis, Boston, and Naples, Florida, and purchased again six theaters (one in Minnesota and the opposite 5 within the Dallas-Fort Value space) from franchisees; it’s opening two new areas in San Francisco. These plans will proceed, our supply mentioned.
Alamo Drafthouse, primarily based in Austin, Texas, counts 35 theaters throughout 25 cities. Sony’s acquisition of Alamo Drafthouse marks the primary time a significant studio may have owned a significant theater chain in a very long time. Within the mid-Nineteen Eighties, Paramount, Warner Bros., Columbia/Sony, and Common every partially owned a significant exhibitor at one time or one other. Sony beforehand owned Loews within the ’90s. At current, solely Netflix and Disney personal theaters, however these are one-offs — historic areas used primarily for occasions.
Alamo Drafthouse was based in 1997 by Tim and Karrie League as a single-screen mom-and-pop repertory theater in Austin, Texas. At the moment it’s North America’s seventh-largest theater chain by way of box-office income, with 10 million company per yr and 4 million members in its loyalty program.
Sony Photos Leisure bought Alamo Drafthouse from Altamont Capital Companions, Fortress Funding Group, and founder Tim League.