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Arlington, VA: Alamo Drafthouse Cinema - Crystal City Now Open

Posted on Thursday, November 3, 2022 4:25 PM

Theater rendering by Alamo Drafthouse Cinema

The Alamo Drafthouse Cinema - Crystal City in Arlington, Virginia is now open.

Located on Crystal Drive at the National Landing development that includes Pentagon City, Crystal City, and Potomac Yard. It is accessible via the Crystal City Metro stop, on US-1 just south of I-395 (parking is available), and is walking distance to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

The movie theater was first announced in June 2017. In the meantime, we've had a worldwide pandemic that shut down all theaters across the country in 2020 and caused Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas to file for bankruptcy. The project got back on track, and in October 2021, the company announced that they were planning for a summer 2022 opening. While it's no longer summer, I would say that they did pretty well getting the theater open, and it's more important to get it done right than to get it done on a schedule.

Theater Amenities

That said, what are they bringing to the table in regards to watching movies? The venue overlooks the airport, so the theme of the theater is aviation-inspired with an Art Deco facade. An oval second-floor bar called "Departures" offers an outdoor patio for enjoying the view with drinks. One of the nine auditoriums is what Alamo calls "The Big Show," which is a premium large-format experience with a 66-foot wide screen and a 52-speaker Dolby Atmos immersive sound system.

Alamo's signature dining service is available from every seat, which is equipped with swivel tables and call buttons in order to summon a server for food and drink selections.

“After more than five plus years of looking for the right location and another five plus years of development, we are happy be opening the doors to our part of the transformation of Crystal City and National Landing as a whole,” said Anthony Coco and Joseph Edwards, co-owners of Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, Crystal City. “The theater’s theme, lobby bar Departures, and The Big Show spaces have come together to create something special and unique to this location. Add on the Alamo Drafthouse’s top-of-the-line audio/visual presentation, unique programming, and unparalleled food and beverage service, and the Crystal City theater will provide an unrivaled out-of-home experience that we can’t wait to deliver to our guests.”

The theater will be showing a mix of mainstream releases as well as past favorites during movie series presentations, special screenings, and other special events. For example, they are currently showing the superhero action movie, Black Adam, as well as the animated One Piece Film: Red. On Sunday, they'll be showing the classic Casablanca, the anime cyberpunk action movie Akira, and the unique favorite, Drive, which kicks off its film-noir "Noir-vember" retrospective. Holiday favorites are coming as well, such as Elf, It's a Wonderful Life, White Christmas, and more.

Showtimes and Tickets

To see what's playing and when, and to buy tickets online, please visit the Showtimes page for the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema - Crystal City.

Until now, moviegoers in the area needed to visit one of the other nearby theaters, including the Arlington Cinema 'N' Drafthouse and the AMC Shirlington 7.

Related News Articles

Theater rendering by Alamo Drafthouse Cinema. Thanks to reader Ron H. for passing along some of this news!



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