Thursday afternoon update: So much for the rumors. Wilonsky, who has been all over this thing, says everyone tells him the theater will never show movies again.
Big news in Dallas cinema-plex circles – Robert Wilonsky at the Observer reports that Alamo Drafthouse, the legendary Austin movie and dining chain, is going to open six locations in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. This is a painful subject for Casa Linda Theater devotees, who have been advocating an Alamo-style theater for the center for at least 18 months.
It sounds, from the original story in the Fort Worth Business Press, that Alamo is looking for a deep pockets franchisee, the kind that will put a theater in a far north or far west suburban shopping center. These are the kind of people who are more familiar with locations at the intersection of Hwy. 121 and the tollway than they are with a more urban setting like Casa Linda. In fact, regardless of anything else, if SC Companies (which owns the theater) wants an Alamo, they will not only have to woo the theater chain, but whoever Alamo awards the franchise to. That will not be easy.
