Dear Friends and Family,
As we have mentioned in a series of previous newsletters titled "Uncertain Future", the Arlington Cinema & Drafthouse is experimenting with a new balance of entertainment options. Thank you all for your continued support while we have tried new forms of entertainment.
We are responding to 4 major challenges; (1) changing demographics in Arlington, (2) increased competition from Washington DC theaters, (3) the death of the second run movie industry, and (4) increased competition from digital video services disrupting both the movie and comedy industry.
We are excited to announce after 18 months of experiments we have settled in on our entertainment model going forward. The experiments were successful in determining the most promising balance of entertainment for the Drafthouse. We hope you enjoy the new model and continue to support us.
First we will address what didn't work...
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"Second run" movies no longer work with early release to streaming services.
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Art House films did not do well. We couldn't get a following. This was our area of biggest disappointment, as we had high hopes.
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Columbia Pike is struggling. We lost an alarming number of nightlife restaurants on Columbia Pike in the last 2 years. We hope this trend turns around in the coming year.
Now for the fun topic of what worked this year...
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Mainstream top box office "first run" movies did great. Thanks in large part to Disney and letting us have Star Wars opening weekend in December.
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The DC Drafthouse Theater has continued to find a following and is growing rapidly. Live comedy is doing well on the weekend. Sketch Comedy classes have filled up and are expanding. Rentals are increasing in DC as well. We are looking forward to DC growing even faster in the next year.
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Oscar Watch season (winter) is currently strong, as it has been in the past.
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Increasing the profile of live comics we book in Arlington, increased comedy audiences this last Fall and current Winter.
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Changing our menu and kitchen operations has brought down costs.
In Arlington, there are still upgrades to our food and drink ordering process to come in the next year and a final group of new chairs to be delivered. The DC area theaters and new "hot" communities in DC continue to be a challenge for the Arlington location. However, we have seen strength in national comics and top box office first run films.
With our entertainment experiment over, we now can settle in on the following exciting entertainment schedule...
Comedy Season at Arlington - September through April (8 months) - we are going to continue with nationally famous comics with 4 live shows per weekend. Matinees during the weekend and weeknights will feature family friendly films and top box office films. Jan - March will feature Oscar Watch films.
Movie Season at Arlington - May through August (4 months) - we are going to feature first release (opening weekend) top box office movies. This will mean one film for 2 to 3 weeks at a time. No live comedy in Arlington during this stretch - however DC will feature live stand-up all summer. Starting this May 2018 we will feature Avengers: Infinity War (April 26th) and Solo: A Star Wars Story (Memorial Day Weekend) - both on opening weekends. Tickets are on sale now for
Avengers: Infinity War.
Drafthouse Comedy Theater in DC - Year round - Live national stand-up comedy every weekend.
Thank you everyone for your input and continued support. We hope to see you at the Arlington Drafthouse and Drafthouse Comedy Theater in DC soon!
