Alamo Drafthouse is the latest movie theater struck by layoffs.
On January 14, 2025, Alamo Drafthouse reportedly let go of 15 corporate employees, the equivalent of 9% of its corporate workforce. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and strikes in Hollywood, Alamo Drafthouse filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2021 and recorded $8.75 billion in revenue in 2024, a 23.5% drop from 2019.
On February 4, 2025, Alamo Drafthouse let go of an additional 70 employees at its theaters in Manhattan and Brooklyn. In the same week, the theater chain also reportedly let go of 47 employees across three locations in Colorado.
In response to the most recent layoffs, employees at the aforementioned Sloans Lake location have voted unanimously to authorize a strike. However, the vote to authorize a strike does not automatically lead to a strike, as the workers at the Sloans Lake location have not identified a date to begin the strike.
Moving forward, the Denver-based union Communications Workers of America Local 7777 is also attempting to unionize workers at Alamo Drathouse locations in Littleton, Colorado, and Westminster, Colorado, which may also trigger strikes at those locations. Communications Workers of America Local 7777 also pushed back against the most recent round of layoffs, calling them illegal. The union’s president, Anthony Scorzo, argues that the theater chain didn’t conduct the layoffs lawfully while negotiating its first labor contract.
“We’ve been unionizing the three locations. We’re currently bargaining a contract, hopefully for all three locations, but right now, it’s at Sloans Lake,” Scorzo said. “That’s why it was illegal, because it was a change in working conditions and it violated past practice. These workers have never faced layoffs except under COVID, [Alamo Drafthouse has] only reduced hours.”
At this time, Alamo Drafthouse has elected not to issue a statement.
