Alamo Drafthouse Cinema has launched Alamo Exclusives to bring unreleased festival premieres directly to the company’s US circuit as exhibitors c
Alamo Drafthouse Cinema has launched Alamo Exclusives to bring unreleased festival premieres directly to the company’s US circuit as exhibitors continue to seek ways to boost audience engagement.
The distribution programme will offer limited-run theatrical engagements to popular titles from festivals including Sundance, SXSW, Tribeca, TIFF, Cannes, Berlin, and Alamo’s Fantastic Fest.
Alamo Drafthouse Cinema’s content team is not acquiring the films; rather it is making direct deals for one-off restricted releases. It is hoped that by bringing additional exposure the programme will spur a life for the features through separate theatrical or non-theatrical deals with third parties.
Screen understands Alamo Drafthouse Cinema CEO Michael Kustermann and his team hatched the idea around three years ago as the industry considered how to mitigate the pandemic’s negative impact on theatrical film-going.
The first Alamo Exclusives release will be Tom Sterns’s 2025 SXSW documentary Butthole Surfers: The Hole Truth And Nothing Butt later this summer, with tickets going on sale on July 21. The film chronicles the story of the legendary punk band that has its roots in Austin, Texas, where the Alamo chain was born and Fantastic Fest takes place.
Alamo Drafthouse is understood to be close to finalising several other deals that will be announced in the coming months. The scale of the release footprint across the circuit’s 40 US locations and the length of the theatrical run will be determined on a case-by-case basis.
Kustermann said audiences have “shown they’ll come out to support bold, original films when given the opportunity”, adding: “Alamo Exclusives is a natural extension of that. It gives us another way to champion filmmaker-driven films that deserve to be discovered and connect them with the wider Alamo Drafthouse audience.”
Lisa Dreyer, director of Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Fantastic Fest and Film Innovation, said: “We are actively searching for films across all genres, from horror to comedy, to everything in-between, to champion in this new, exciting way.”
Interested filmmakers and sales agents are advised to submit titles via Film Freeway. This year’s Fantastic Fest runs September 17-24.
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