San Antonio-based Santikos Entertainment is renovating and revamping the Alamo Drafthouse Westlakes movie theater, which the cinema chain previously owned nearly 40 years ago. The local chain is expanding what used to be a 40,363-square-foot property into a place big enough for an arcade room and bar. With the added areas, the square footage has added an additional 3,904 square feet.
It’s been challenging updating systems installed into a building built back in the 80s, but the company is happy to be back at its old stomping grounds, Rob Lehman, COO for Santikos, tells MySA. The company opened the movie theater near Marbach Road on December 7, 1984. Austin-based Alamo Drafthouse bought the spot in 2004 and became the first location in San Antonio for the chain.
Austin-based Alamo Drafthouse bought the spot in 2004 and became the first location in San Antonio for the chain.
B. Kay RichterWhen Alamo Drafthouse ultimately closed its Westlakes establishment in April – one month after the chain filed for bankruptcy, Santikos Entertainment swooped in and acquired its second Alamo Drafthouse location. The first buy was the New Braunfels establishment, which opened in August.
Santikos bought what used to be comic books store Alien Worlds next door to convert it into a new 12-tap bar with at least seven TVs. Alien Worlds moved a few stores down in the same strip mall as the Westlakes location.
The company used the same method for the arcade space, talking to the landlord of the strip mall to let the company buy a former office space property next to the Westlakes location. Santikos plans to feature 27 to 30 modern games, according to Dan Fonseca, the director of gaming at Santikos.
The bar will be in what used to be the comic book store Alien World, which moved a few shops down in the same strip mall of the Westlakes location.
B. Kay Richter
A former office space will be turned into an arcade room with more than 27 games.
B. Kay Richter“We wanted to do it right,” Lehman says. “We are adding to just the standard theater to take it to a different level and make it more family-oriented. It’s coming full circle. It will be better than it ever was.”
The red walls will turn blue, the floors will be carpeted, and the famous Alamo Drafthouse graphics will be gone. Lehman says the theater will also have the updated recliner seats with a cooler for all nine theaters, two of the famous serve-your-own-popcorn stands (available at Mayan, Northwest, Galaxy, and soon to be at Embassy and Cibolo locations), and the express pick-up option.
Santikos Entertainment plans stripping down the red walls of what used to be the Alamo Drafthouse Westlakes.
B. Kay RichterAndrew Brooks, executive director of sales and marketing for Santikos, says the company understands Alamo Drafthouse has their true faithful cliente. But Brooks hopes those people check out the new theater with the “exciting” upgrades.
“Our mission is completely different than Drafthouse,” Brooks says. “When they buy a movie ticket here, when they buy that popcorn, when they buy the Legacy Lager (Santikos-created beer), those profits are going back into the community in which they live in, and not to someone living in Austin or Dallas or anyone else. It will truly be their experience.”
Santikos Entertainment will feature the updated recliner seats with a cooler for all nine theaters.
B. Kay RichterJulian Wagstaff, who launched a petition when Alamo Drafthouse Westlakes, says he’s disappointed the quirky Austin chain couldn’t save the Marbach location. He’s skeptical about Santikos bringing in its atmosphere, but he says he’ll for sure give it a chance.
Santikos hopes for an early spring 2022 opening, just in time for what looks to be two major releases of The Batman by Matt Reeves and Top Gun: Maverick by Joseph Kosinski.
