Alamo Drafthouse has long prided itself on being the movie theater for movie lovers. The dine-in cinema chain, which operates five locations in Dallas-Fort Worth, offers curated pre-shows before screenings, food and drink service during the show, and the guarantee of a phone-free viewing experience.
Regulars can recite the pre-recorded spiel that plays before a film at Alamo Drafthouse by heart: no talking, no texting, and keep your devices dark, silent, and out of sight.
That last point currently has customers up in arms, as Alamo Drafthouse has announced a plan to kill its classic paper-and-pen ordering model and replace it with a QR code-based platform, effectively ending its longstanding “no phones” policy. While Alamo has assured guests that this new ordering system has been custom-built to provide a “dark screen” experience that will limit disruptions, the response has been overwhelmingly negative…