SONY'S BOLD MOVE: THE GAME-CHANGING ACQUISITION OF ALAMO DRAFTHOUSE CINEMA

It’s a bold move in an industry as fast-moving as the plots of the mainstream blockbusters. By buying Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, the American exhibition chain, Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) has acquired not only a substantial slice of a vast entertainment empire, but also dipped its toe into a brave new integrated world where going to the movies is about to be like nothing you have ever seen. On its own, Alamo is a popular chain of movie theatres across the United States known as a kind of cinephile Disneyland. Its cinemas include food and drink services, and feature a screening programme that includes a mix of art house and mainstream films with a specifically playful sensibility. So, besides an acknowledgement of the hard times faced by the mainstream business, Sony’s move is more than just an attempt at vertical integration. It’s also a sign that, in the coming years, Sony might have a hand in changing the way we watch, discuss and play with films.

SONY'S STRATEGIC PLAY IN CINEMA

Buying Columbia Pictures is a watershed moment for Sony. It allows them to join the exclusive club of studio ownership – a realm never entered by Sony because of the old Paramount Consent Decrees. It signals a revolution in the entertainment industry, as Sony steps out from underneath the Hollywood big-ten that has dominated the industry for so long.

A SEAMLESS TRANSITION UNDER SONY'S WING

Alamo Drafthouse Cinema – which serves its food and drink at your seat during the show – has been turned into Sony Pictures Experiences, a newly-built Sony Pictures division. Its US CEO Michael Kustermann will stay on and his company will run the cinema under the Sony Pictures Experiences brand – without the Alamo moniker. ‘Today’s announcement is about honouring the legacy of the Alamo brand while bringing fresh energy, financial support, and the hungry eye of Sony Pictures Entertainment to their story,’ the Star’s owner said in a statement.

UPHOLDING CINEMA DIVERSITY AND INNOVATION

And in message-sending reassurance to movie lovers and movie-makers alike, SPE’s president and COO Ravi Ahuja affirmed that Sony is committed to an open-ended ecosystem for content: ‘We … are – and want to remain – a place for everyone’s voices to be heard; and Alamo Drafthouse will continue to welcome content from all studios and distributors.’ This makes for richer movies for audiences – but also a truly creative ecosystem that enables diverse stories to emerge.

NAVIGATING THE HISTORICAL SHIFT IN CINEMA OWNERSHIP

The arrival of Sony’s bid comes after a 2020 court decision that overturned the Paramount Consent Decrees, and that is redrawing the lines between production and distribution. Sony’s purchase of Alamo Drafthouse is the first post-decree move towards assembling the crafting and exhibition of stories back into an integrated whole, unrivalled since the days before 1948.

THE FUTURE OF ALAMO DRAFTHOUSE UNDER SONY

Even for those of us who’ve relinquished the dream of our own theatres, Alamo Drafthouse is an oasis. The chain, now spanning 35 theatres in 25 cities, has become the world’s most influential purveyor of next-level, screen-facing immersion. To outsiders, Sony’s acquisition of Alamo may seem like a mere bail-out of a troubled company (with a rash of franchisee bankruptcies in the past three months, it’s fair to wonder what other Alamos are at risk). However, if Sony is willing to stick with the Alamo Drafthouse brand as it promises to do, this acquisition portends a resurgence of the Alamo brand. In new, unprecedented ways, Sony’s vast catalogue of content may come barrelling directly into theatres.

UNCHARTED TERRITORIES: SONY'S VISION FOR A NEW CINEMA PARADIGM

And yet, the implications of the sale go far beyond such immediate logistical shifts. By bringing its technological armoury to bear on Alamo Drafthouse’s rich content library, Sony could effectively use the Austin theatre chain to further trial new concepts, from movie marketing via augmented reality to crowd engagement via apps, ushering in a new era of cinematic innovation where the virtual and the physical overlap to offer experiences as memorable as the movies themselves.

ABOUT SONY

Sony is a global entertainment and technology giant, with a heritage in film, music and games. It’s a user of creativity, but now it wants to diversify into providing it, too. Sony’s mission statement declares that it wants to ‘cultivate a society’ of people who love film, music, games and high-end digital content. The Alamo Drafthouse acquisition is just the latest step in global tech’s interweaving with the arts. Sony aims to establish a future in which its tentacles are involved in every aspect of a movie audience’s experience: from the explosive look-at-me visuals of its PlayStation productions, to the narratives hurtled at us by Sony Pictures.