Well, clear your schedule. Alamo Season Pass, the Drafthouse’s ticket-per-day subscription program, has now officially launched in Austin.
The service has been a long time coming to the original home base for the Drafthouse, as the local chain started a pilot of the program back in 2018 at the Yonkers location in New York. The service has rolled out at other locations, and has been in beta testing locally since last June with a limited subscriber base. However, now Austin residents will be able to sign up.
Subscribers will get one ticket per day for a regular screening (add $1.99 for 3D, 70mm, Dolby Atmos, and Big Show events); tickets can be booked up to seven days in advance. Membership costs $19.99 a month, with add-on seats for only $18.99 a month (so you can guarantee that you can get seats together with your friends). Membership also comes with a $10 ticket discount at all other Season Pass locations (Ashburn, Charlottesville, Denver Area locations, Kansas City, Phoenix, Raleigh, New Braunfels, San Antonio, Springfield, Woodbridge. and Yonkers).
The idea of ticket subscription services like this took a hit after the collapse of MoviePass last September. The “unlimited tickets” model seemed to be economically unviable, but since then chain-specific services like AMC Stubs A-List and Regal Unlimited have taken off, as has Alamo Season Pass. (In part, it’s an indicator of the dirty little secret of the modern cinema industry, that the real money for theaters is in concessions and refreshments, not their cut of the ticket price.)
Pass packages are now available at www.drafthouse.com.
This article appears in January 24 • 2020.
