The Mission District’s Alamo Drafthouse will reopen in July

After more than a year of a pandemic shutdown, the Alamo Drafthouse, an Austin-based chain of movie theaters, announced today that it will reopen its Mission Street location in July.

Located on Mission Street between 21st and 22nd Streets, Alamo’s “New Mission” location had been the go-to spot to watch movies while drinking cocktails and having a bite to eat. 

The theater will open at reduced capacity, per the theater’s safety guidelines, which also include masking except when eating food or drinking, temperature checks, and physical distancing.

“We’ve spent the last eight months refining what we think is the safest and most relaxing cinematic experience possible,” says Tim League, Alamo Drafthouse founder said in a news release. He did not specify when in July the theater will reopen.

“We are thrilled to finally be able to bring what we’ve learned to New York, Los Angeles, and many other theaters for what we hope is the home stretch, and a colossal season of big movies.”

The announcement comes as the chain moves to open 24 of its theaters across the country. Its location in Springfield, Mo., will be the first to open on April 28, followed in May by theaters in New York, Los Angeles, and Austin.

The company is opening the 24 locations despite filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in March.

The bankruptcy filing allowed the company to live on, the Los Angeles Times reported. The Drafthouse was able to sell its assets to a group of creditors, including private equity firms Altamont Capital Partners and Fortress Investment Group. League, the founder, was also among the investors.

The company subsequently closed three of its locations: one of its Austin locations, another in Kansas City, Mo., and one in New Braunfels, Texas. 

Alamo Drafthouse has been open in the Mission since 2015, when it renovated the historic New Mission Theatre originally built in 1907.