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Alamo Drafthouse has become the latest media company to endure a round of layoffs.
The popular theater chain had company-wide downsizing on Tuesday.
The move comes seven months after Alamo was acquired by Sony Pictures Entertainment. The Austin-based company operates 35 cinemas across 25 metro areas.
Sources say the layoffs were in two areas. On the corporate side, nine percent of employees (15 in total) were let go as a part of restructuring “to ensure a more effective business.” On the store side, an unspecified number of employees were laid off ahead of what Alamo expects to be a slow few months at the box office. One insider described most of these layoffs as seasonal part-timers, part of an annual culling of staff following a busy holiday season and ahead of a traditionally sluggish first quarter. But some employees on Reddit claim this time is rather different, with up to 30 people being let go per location.
“Alamo Drafthouse Cinema just laid off a bunch of employees across the whole company with zero notice or precedent in the name of the upcoming season being slow and, in some cases, ‘corporate restructuring,’” wrote one employee on Reddit. “Apparently over 30 people at my location will lose their jobs.”
While the next few months are expected to have a dearth of high-grossing titles (with the notable exception of next month’s Marvel entry, Captain America: Brave New World), the summer is widely expected to have plenty of hits (such as Superman, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, The Fantastic Four: First Steps, Jurassic World Rebirth, and the live action version of How To Train Your Dragon). Some laid-off Alamo employees say they were told to try re-applying for their jobs in the spring.
The layoffs are described as an Alamo decision, not a mandate from Sony. Alamo has recently pointed out that the company had a strong 2024 compared to other exhibitors and is expanding at a time of industry contraction. It recently announced two new cinema locations in San Francisco.
Sony’s purchase of Alamo in July marked the first time a Hollywood studio has owned a theater chain in more than 75 years. The move followed Alamo filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2021, when it was still reeling amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Altamont Capital, Fortress Investment Group and Tim League emerged as its owners post-bankruptcy, who in turn sold the chain to Sony.
Alamo was founded in 1997 by Tim and Karrie League as a single-screen mom-and-pop repertory theater in Austin, Texas, and has grown into a thriving and dynamic dine-in cinema chain that is rather beloved by its fans and the industry alike. Even though Alamo ranks as North America’s seventh-largest theater chain, Alamo screens a very diverse slate, with more movies per year than any other theater chain. Alamo welcomes over 10 million guests annually.
Alamo and Sony had no comment.