Ever since moving to the Bay Area in 2013 one of the most constant questions on my mind has been “when will the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema open?”
I’ve been following the renovation to the point of occasionally watching the construction cam (when it was available). I open every Victory newsletter hoping this will be the one to finally let me know when I can move into my future home take in my first Drafthouse experience. Suffice it to say, I’m really excited about the Alamo Drafthouse opening in San Francisco.
Something I haven’t been excited about until 9:30 a.m. this morning? Star Wars: The Force Awakens. It isn’t that I’m not looking forward to seeing new stories set in the Star Wars universe, but two things working against me is having been burned by the new trilogies and a natural reflex against unearned hype. I was a Star Wars Hype Monster before The Phantom Menace arrived in theaters, but by time Revenge of the Sith hit the screen I’d sufficiently adjusted my hype meter. Moving forward my devotion and willingness to spread gospel for a licensed property needed to be earned. J. J. Abrams didn’t impress me with his take on Star Trek, so he needs to win me over with SW:TFA before I’ll start singing praises for the next Star Wars.
That isn’t to say watching the first trailer didn’t make me feel giddy (which I acknowledge is a form of being excited). It made me giddy to the point where I moved from “I’ll go see it at some point opening week” to “I’ll likely go see it opening weekend.” Honestly, it was the shot with the crashed Star Destroyer and a sudden desire to want to see that image on a giant screen.
Back to 9:30 a.m. this morning. The meter moved from “I’ll likely go see it opening weekend” to “I will go see this movie opening night.” Why? Because, as long as I can get tickets, I’ll be able to see it at the Alamo Drafthouse in San Francisco. This morning the Victory newsletter revealed that although we don’t know the opening date for the new theater (I understand that information will be coming later this week) we do know it’ll be open in time for The Force Awakens. I’m all about the proper viewing experience and I trust the Drafthouse team to make this into one hell of a proper viewing experience.
Tickets for The Force Awakens go on sale tomorrow. As of this writing the exact time is TBD.
