Movie-Theater Drinking Is Bigger, Better, and More Novel Than Ever

The anticipation has been palpable surrounding the Nov. 22 release of “Wicked,” the live-action adaptation of the wildly popular Broadway musical that’s been in the works for roughly a dozen years. One could say the same for staff working behind the bar at one of the now ubiquitous theaters across the U.S. that offer alcohol service. A projected $100 to $125 million domestic opening weekend could mean a very busy three days.

“For a weekend like that, it’s almost like we’re prepping for catering,” says Brad Sorenson, executive chef of Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, the Austin, Texas-born chain of dine-in movie theaters. At a given theater, some 150 to 330 people will be seated and served all in one go. Maybe 20 percent of them will order the Defying Gravi-Tea, an Elphaba-hued green tea cocktail with Irish whiskey, ginger syrup, lemon and mint; or Witch’s Brew, a Malibu rum-spiked soy milk horchata with orgeat and cinnamon served in a tulip glass. (Both cocktails are available nationally.) That will require staffing up to five from the usual three bartenders; batching enough cocktails to serve dozens at a time; and prepping enough garnishes so no one has to cut a lime wheel, “throwing a whole wrench in the situation,” Sorenson says. “When it first happens, when you’re new, it’s kinda terrifying, like seating an entire restaurant every 15 or 20 minutes.”

Credit: Alamo Drafthouse

Have I mentioned that “Wicked” clocks in at a plump two hours and 40 minutes? So those of us sipping said campy, novelty cocktails during our three-hour break from reality may find ourselves wrestling with the eventual question of whether — and when — to duck out for a pee. Owing to the long-ago phaseout of film reels and capitalist incentive to cram in more screenings per day, modern movies don’t come with intermissions. We’re thus left to our own strategies, or perhaps a certain RunPee app, to tell us when it’s safe to go without losing the plot. Such is the nature of drinking at the movies ever since this beloved pastime became a full-fledged spectacle.

Is the Theater Death Knell Tolling Wolf?

Long gone are the days when movie theater drinking meant washing down a vat of buttered popcorn with a half-gallon of Coke while taking in the latest release in a tight 90 minutes. The industry has bilged into full-on eatertainment, in the vein of Topgolf and Lucky Strike. Bombastic spectacles and star-studded Oscar bait seem to run longer than ever with upmarket, themed food and drink menus to match. After all, it’s wicked fun to drink an acid-yellow Apple Martini called The Substance while watching an outré feminist horror film of the same name about an aging actress injecting herself with neon-green plasma to temporarily occupy a younger body. But are boozy concessions and deep recliners enough to lure more of us out rather than wait for the streaming release from the comfort of our couches and proximity to pause buttons?

By now we’ve all grown accustomed to the regular tolling of the movie theater death knell across major news outlets. “Is the Death of Movie Theaters Upon Us?” asked Forbes in June. “Can a Neon Blue Gummy Worm Cocktail Save the Movies?” The New York Times wondered in October.

This refrain isn’t new. In 2017 TheStreet suggested that “Movie Theaters are Turning to Booze to Solve Their Problems.” The number of movie tickets sold in the U.S. has decreased by almost 50 percent over the past two decades. This includes the post-Covid year 2023, with the successful films “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer.” Theater chains including Regal, Metropolitan, and Cineworld have gone bankrupt.

Despite a pandemic-era bankruptcy filing in 2021, Alamo Drafthouse, which was bought by Sony Pictures earlier this year, remains a bright spot. It counts some 4 million loyalty members; last year it saw a 30 percent jump in box office revenue from the previous year, ahead of the industry at large.

Since debuting in 1997, the chain has evolved and learned from its then pioneering dine-in model, phasing out food that requires knives and forks and adapting black-matte plates. It pushes in-theater etiquette (no late arrivals!) and prides itself on “ninja-style” service that doesn’t disturb the onscreen escape. As wary people edged back into the movies post-pandemic, it almost inherently felt like an experience, Sorenson says. “It was a little scary, stepping into a new adventure again.” Fortunately, Alamo was already an experience, he adds.

Credit: Alamo Drafthouse

Its themed cocktails (usually $14 to $16) are dreamed up by national beverage director and two-decade industry vet Vince Favella. The parched post-apocalyptic desertscape of “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” gave way to a series of thirst-quenching boozy agua frescas like mango Tajín and pineapple hot honey. “Alien: Romulus” spawned a neon-green Acid Blood cocktail with Midori, Malibu, pineapple, and lime that tasted like the beach — and was popular enough to dethrone the Margarita in the top spot for opening weekend, which is no easy feat.

“We had a record-setting weekend for liquor, beer, and wine sales overall during the first weekend of ‘Deadpool.’ You can see the impact of how movie-featured drinks draw people in but then spread into different segments within the bar category.”

It’s easy to see why theater conglomerates have followed suit. Between 2009 and 2020 AMC opened 50 dine-in theaters, per The New York Times. Of the chain’s 550 theaters, AMC says that 384 of them now feature MacGuffins bars, some with elaborate lounge areas. Food and beverage revenue has been rising on average for the chain. “Deadpool & Wolverine,” which was the 12th highest-grossing movie of all time with $636.3 million domestically, broke food and beverage records for AMC, too. It featured two Aviation gin-based themed riffs on a Tequila Sunrise for the two main characters: Wolverine’s yellow with a blue syrup sinker and Deadpool’s brilliant red.

Credit: Alamo Drafthouse

“It was a huge success for us,” says Jon Augustin, AMC’s director of food and beverage product strategy, noting that the cocktails ranked first and second among so-called movie-featured drinks (a.k.a. drinks tied to film releases) for all of 2024. “In addition, we had a record-setting weekend for liquor, beer, and wine sales overall during the first weekend of ‘Deadpool.’ You can see the impact of how movie-featured drinks draw people in but then spread into different segments within the bar category.”

Augustin says the chain is also seeing more people showing up early or hanging around after the film for one more round.

“You might see a group coming out of the theater stop at the bar and have one more drink while they converse about what they saw before getting on with their night,” he says. “And you’ll see a new round of guests coming in to grab a pre-movie drink sharing in that excitement, but saying, ‘Don’t share any spoilers!’”

A Return to Movie Salons

In some ways, theaters facilitating the social aspect of moviegoing are simply reviving an ethos long cultivated by independent arthouse and repertory theaters, like Chicago’s 95-year-old Music Box Theatre (the auteurs behind the aforementioned The Substance cocktail). Sure, this historic theater is the elegant stuff of cinephiles’ imaginations — where the theatrical experience and crackle of 70-mm film may speak louder than comfy recliners or over-the-top cocktails. But it’s also home to extensive programming — like film series and festivals, director panels, double features, and sing-a-longs — that fosters community among movie lovers.

Credit: Music Box Theatre

“It’s something we’ve always done — making the movies a shared experience and more an evening as opposed to just come and get your popcorn and watch a film,” says bar and lounge manager Matt Kasin. He evokes the cult classic “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” — a film that has always inspired people to dress up and interact with it — as a spiritual model for the theater.

In 2015 after purchasing the adjacent building, Music Box opened a lounge, made over its concessions, and started serving liquor, including movie-themed cocktails in the $12 to $15 range — in part to give its up to 700 viewers a little more room to congregate.

Credit: Music Box Theatre

“Myself and the bar staff are just a bunch of creative people who love films,” Kasin says. “We try to pull inspiration from, like, if there’s a drink they’re drinking and we know fans will come out and know the reference. The more gimmicky, the better.”

That means a Dark ‘n Stormy called Twister for “Twisters,” Midnight Margaritas for “Practical Magic,” and a Bees Knees riff called The Bee Sting for “The Sound of Music” — all made to order.

But When Do We Pee?

Because the Music Box shows plenty of classic 70-mm films, audiences occasionally get a taste of the built-in intermissions that used to allow projectionists time to change out film reels (and give the rest of us time to stretch our legs).

“I miss intermissions,” says Kasin wistfully. “All movies should have this!”

The last official movie to have an intermission in the U.S. was “Gandhi” in 1982 — and good thing it did, as its run time clocked in at a cool three hours, 11 minutes. The movie intermission was already fading from American cinemas as digital film became the standard. Plus, no intermissions meant theaters could cram in more screenings per day.

“They get that first cocktail in the theater almost 30 minutes before the movie starts so they have a chance to settle in. When they’re ordering their refill just before the movie starts, they’ve already had a chance for their first pee break, so they can coast through the rest of the film.”

Former Microsoft developer and CEO of the free RunPee app, Dan Gardner, was struck by the no-intermissions quandary back in 2005, while leaving the auditorium in agony after watching Peter Jackson’s three-hour, 21-minute “King Kong” adaptation. He and his then-wife wondered aloud whether they should suggest to incoming viewers that they take a pee break during the prolonged, if irrelevant, giant bug scene (IYKYK). It would take Gardner until early 2009 to roll out RunPee, whose user base of roughly a quarter-million depends on Gardner and his small team to suggest the best Peetimes (a.k.a. when to duck out and for how long without missing meaningful plot points).

Interestingly, Gardner tells me movie run times overall have only increased by a few minutes on average; what has swelled more over time is the number of movies that run longer than two and a half hours. App usage has increased steadily over time, though RunPee is still clawing back users who’ve trickled back since the pandemic. The biggest download spikes happen “when a popular movie is coming out in theaters that people go see in groups,” Gardner says.

Sorenson hadn’t heard of the app, but for his part, he has noticed a certain ritualistic approach among seasoned moviegoers at Alamo to avoid the mid-movie pee break.

“They get that first cocktail in the theater almost 30 minutes before the movie starts so they have a chance to settle in,” he says. “When they’re ordering their refill just before the movie starts, they’ve already had a chance for their first pee break, so they can coast through the rest of the film.”

Kasin finds that viewers on the whole are resigned to “stock up with what they need from the bar” and rough it through the whole way or step out mid-film.

“I’m so happy this app exists so people can know, ‘This is my moment,’” he says. “The thing is, soda lovers want their big soda.”

Indeed and on that note, “bigger is better” still has legs where movie theater boozing is concerned. After a successful trial run of three 24-ounce movie-themed cocktails at a few theaters, AMC will roll out the larger-size option across its entire cocktail menu by 2026 (purportedly priced between $15.99 and $21, on average).

“At the end of the day, people come to see what’s on the screen,” Augustin says. “We wanna make sure they’re staying in the auditorium, unless they have to run to pee.”

Until intermissions return — if ever — at least there’s an app for that.

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