Alamo Drafthouse Unveils “Season Pass” Subscription Service in All U.S. Locations

After completing their initial round of testing, Texas-based movie theater chain Alamo Drafthouse has finally unveiled a service many fans were expecting: A full-on subscription plan for movie tickets, entitled “Season Pass.” The popular theater chain, which styles itself as an upscale movie-viewing experience complete with food and alcohol, will again attempt to take on industry giants AMC, Regal and Cinemark, which have all unveiled their own subscription services following the much-heralded demise of the service MoviePass, which finally shut down in 2020 after popularizing the “all the movies you can watch for a monthly fee” structure.

Season Pass is a monthly program that will go into effect in all 41 Alamo Drafthouse locations in the U.S. At its core, the program will provide “one regularly priced ticket per day,” with reservations for tickets that are available up to a week in advance. The price of the service will depend on location of the theaters and customers, ranging from a floor of $14.99 per month, up to $29.99 in the biggest markets, such as L.A. or NYC. If you ask us, the first figure sounds a lot more attractive than the latter. Season Pass members will also have to pay additional, small surcharges of $1.99 per ticket for certain premium formats such as 3D or 70 MM, but they’ll also have access to additional privileges, such as reserving extra seats for friends and family at discounted prices.

“This is a huge win for movie lovers,” said Alamo Drafthouse CEO Tim League in a statement. “The entire reason we opened the Alamo in the first place was to share the movies we love with as many people as possible, and Season Pass is the perfect means for folks to explore more and more films.”

Each theater chain has handled its own subscription service a bit differently. AMC Theatres Stubs A-List program sets a maximum of three movies weekly for between $19.95 and $23.95 per month, while Regal’s Unlimited Plan has no limit, costing only $18. Alamo Drafthouse, meanwhile, has always styled itself as the more premium and audience-friendly experience when compared to those major chains, so it will be interesting to see how they integrate Season Pass into what has been a very successful model. Major locations, including NYC, San Francisco, L.A. and Austin (the company’s original home) will all be able to begin signing up for Season Pass memberships as of today, and the program will be rolled out in all the other Drafthouse locations in the near future.