A few days ago the Austin Business Journal had a story on Tim League, co-founder of the Alamo Drafthouse with wife, Karrie. In July 2004, the Leagues sold the brand, its intellectual property and rights to franchise operations to a partnership led by John Martin and a partner, David Kennedy, which formed Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas Ltd.
“When I decided to sell the company in 2004, I was more focused on the hands-on development of programming, preshow entertainment and the nuances of the Alamo experience,” League said. “I have since grown the infrastructure of my creative team, and I feel ready to share the results of our Austin incubator with the rest of the country.”
In late February 2009, the Leagues filed a lawsuit alleging that Martin and others mislead the couple, about franchise plans and how they were duped to sell their rights to the Alamo brand.
The lawsuit was put to rest when a merger and League’s return to the company’s flagship were agreed on last week. League will replace Martin as Alamo Drafthouse CEO, although Martin will remain with the company as the company’s area developer and will oversee the expansion of the concept outside Texas.
With the agreement, League will merge his Austin drafthouse operations with Martin’s side of brand and have one main headquarters in downtown Austin.
The Drafthouse chain already has eight locations in Texas, and will have two more by the end of 2011: a corporate-owned location in Austin and franchise location in San Antonio. There is also an Alamo Drafthouse in Virginia.
At this year’s SXSW in Austin, I was a newbie when it came to the Alamo Drafthouse experience. But after a week and a half in Austin, I was a convert to the Drafthouse brand. After that, watching movies at a mega-chain theater (i.e., AMC Theaters), just doesn’t cut it. From the preshow entertainment – none of that twenty minutes of commercials crap – to programming different genres of cinema (current hits, cult comedies and more), the theater is in a league of its own.
Take it from our own Robert Saucedo who has enjoyed many movies inside the darkened confines of the Alamo Drafthouses in Austin and Houston. He’s even been given the opportunity to be a guest programmer for one day a month. Hopefully others share his taste in movies.
