Alamo Drafthouse New Movie Policy: Arrive Late and You Won’t Get In

Don't you hate it when people show up late to the movie theater? The folks at the famed Alamo Drafthouse do, too, which is why the theater chain's latest policy forbids late arrivals, so you better get your butt into that theater in a timely fashion.

Badass Digest pointed out the latest update to the official Drafthouse blog, which introduces the theater's latest policy: no late arrivals. This comes on the heels of the Drafthouse introducing a reserved seating system, which has been pretty divisive so far in the theater's hometown of Austin. But this new "no late arrivals" policy seems to enhance the reserved seating system while also relieving patrons of those folks who stumble in late and search for an empty seat, disrupting everyone with their foolishness.

With the reserved seating system, you choose the seat numbers, which is great for more crowded showings because you can show up whenever you want -- prior to showtime -- and find your seat that you selected in advance. No worries about asking people to scooch down and make room for you when they've already ordered their beers. This new policy seemingly works in conjunction with reserved seating, making sure that everyone shows up before the film starts to claim their seat, so you don't get those late stragglers coming and searching for their seat numbers in the dark and interrupting the opening scenes.

The blog does note that patrons will be required to show up prior to showtime, so if your movie is scheduled to start at 6:00 pm, you need to be in the theater by 5:59.

From the blog:

We are very excited to announce the rollout of a new solution designed to minimize distractions and make the moviegoing experience as pleasant as possible. It is an old idea, and one we have given a lot of thought to over the years, but we agree with many of our customers that its time has come.

Quite simply, no one will be seated once the film has begun. If you show up after the feature starts, you have missed it. The plane has left the terminal. If you bought in advance we can apply your ticket to another show or refund your money but you will not be admitted into the theater.

If a film starts at, say, 7:30 PM, you're welcome to arrive anytime up to then, head comfortably to your waiting seat and enjoy the show, content in the knowledge that the only people you'll see drifting past you in the darkness are our stealthy, ninja-like waitstaff. No more clumsy latecomers stepping on your Reeboks and fumbling up your elbows as they squint at their menus in the dark and chat with their server about the beer specials during the movie's crucial opening scenes.

It's a pretty major change, but a necessary one. We hope you like the new procedure and as always we'd love to hear your ideas on how to make it better.

So what do you think? Do you like this policy? Do you wish more theater would be this strict?