This coming Friday, July 22, the Austin, Texas based cinema-eatery Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas will open its newest theatre in the New York borough of Staten Island. During a soft opening period running through July 27, guests will receive discounts on food and soft drinks while the staff trains and gets up to speed.
The Alamo Drafthouse Staten Island, located in the Boulevard Shopping Center, occupies 44,726 square feet, has nine screens and 893 seats. It is the company’s fourth New York-area location after Yonkers, Downtown Brooklyn, and Lower Manhattan. The theatre is easily accessible by car with ample free parking and is convenient via multiple means of public transport. The new location will also house Flying Guillotine, a kung fu-themed collaboration with legendary Wu-Tang Clan founder RZA that’s part bar and part martial arts museum.
It opens ahead of a string of new Alamo Drafthouse locations due late this year or 2023 in Arlington, Virginia; St. Louis, Missouri; Boston, Massachusetts; and Chicago, Illinois.
“Our Staten Island theatre has been a long time coming, and I think we’ve got something that’s really going to wow our New York guests,” says Alamo Drafthouse CEO Shelli Taylor. “We’re committed to providing an elevated moviegoing experience that serves the great Staten Island community, and this new theater is a perfect expression of that commitment.”
“Bringing the coolest movie experience to Shaolin,” says RZA, “with a bar designed with the aesthetics of the Wu-Tang vibe – like Flying Guillotine – and an extensive collection of memorabilia, this location will surely be a place of many fun memories for Staten Islanders.”
“The modern action genre was undeniably born out of the kung fu movie explosion of the early 1970s,” says Tim League, founder, and executive chairman of Alamo Drafthouse. “After Enter the Dragon, audiences craved more of this new visceral excitement, and the movie studios responded and were forever changed in its wake. Without this influence, there is no Matrix, there is no Mission: Impossible, and there is no action genre as we know it today. We love this legacy and want to celebrate and share its rich history throughout the walls of the Flying Guillotine bar and the theatre itself."
Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas https://drafthouse.com/nyc