theverge--2020-12-01--The CEO of Alamo Drafthouse on going back to the movies

On this episode of Decoder with Nilay Patel , I ’ m joined by Shelli Taylor , the CEO of Alamo Drafthouse , and we ’ re talking about a big problem : how and when to reopen movie theaters during a pandemic .
Shelli ’ s in an interesting spot : she started her job as CEO on April 30th , after the pandemic ’ s first wave had caused Alamo Drafthouse to shut down 41 locations .
Shelli had been an executive for Planet Fitness and Starbucks , and Alamo ’ s founder , Tim League , recruited @ @ @ @ @ @ @ manage growth and expansion .
Instead , she found herself confronting a crisis .
We talked about that transition and what steps she had to take to get Alamo Drafthouse back on solid ground : where she could save money and where she thought cuts would damage the Alamo customer experience .
Shelli is not shy about saying the government has failed to manage the pandemic effectively for business owners .
We also talked about what it will take to safely reopen theaters and what the future looks like , especially in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the movie business toward blockbusters — mid-budget romantic comedies have long since turned into Netflix movies — and the pandemic means even blockbusters are shifting to streaming .
For example , Wonder Woman 1984 is headed to HBO Max on Christmas Day .
Turns out , there are more discussions between the big studios and theater chains than previously thought , and Shelli offered us a peek at those conversations .
Also , I completely love a business that has a high fixed cost for expensive lightbulbs .
You ’ ll see what @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lightly edited for clarity .
You became the CEO of Alamo Drafthouse on April 30th .
So you have stepped into chaos .
I think Alamo actually shut down 41 theaters in March .
What was this recruiting pitch like ?
Did they call you and say , “ Hey , are you interested ?
” Was it already in the works ?
It seems like a wild way to become the CEO of a movie theater chain .
Yeah , it does feel wild , but it was in the works at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Alamo Drafthouse ] and I met and started talking .
I was just drawn to this incredible brand and this opportunity to help take something iconic and grow it even larger .
And then all of a sudden , the pandemic hit , and here we are .
So we ’ ve got this little issue to get through .
Then we can go back to the original plans .
Just the first day , April 30th , you showed up .
You got to introduce yourself to everyone .
There ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ follows .
You say something like , “ First , I just want to listen.
” There ’ s the usual stuff .
Was it very different this time , or did you just come out running ?
A little of both , right ?
I mean , you do talk about just really wanting to listen and to get to know people .
You don ’ t have the advantage of the water cooler in the office and that proximity .
But at the same time , there ’ s nothing like @ @ @ @ @ @ @ connection and speed to trust .
Really fortunate that the company and the teammates have been so welcoming and willing to just assume good intent and want to move forward versus having to do some of that initial stuff .
So it was pretty fast .
No one ’ s kicked me out .
We ’ re seven months in and I ’ m still here .
Things are going pretty well , considering .
I always try to ask everybody about decision-making frameworks .
Before Alamo Drafthouse , you were the CEO @ @ @ @ @ @ @ locations .
You were at Disney before that .
Tell me about your general way of making decisions .
How do you think about evaluating your choices and then actually coming to a decision ?
I think it ’ s a couple of things .
One is just knowing who and what you are .
The beauty of everywhere I ’ ve worked [ has been ] a really clear sense of their purpose and values and the problems that they ’ re trying to solve in this world .
So always starting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
I think that one of the things that I took from Starbucks and have valued over the years is that you always put people into that equation .
So when you ’ re looking at a decision , it ’ s the stakeholders , it ’ s your customers , it ’ s the people on your team , having all those points of view , and then sometimes it ’ s the broader community , depending on what the product is .
If you start there and then you put in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ good dose of your gut , usually , that ’ s a great way to go .
I mean , it ’ s pretty simple .
Obviously , depending on the complexity of what you bring in or don ’ t bring in , but it really is values and people and direction .
The reason I asked that question is because , right now , you ’ re managing in a crisis where there is a flood of data .
You have a very physical-plant kind of business : people go to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ stay there for a while .
How are you managing the influx of COVID information ?
There ’ s a massively disjointed federal and state response .
There ’ s people who are refusing to wear masks .
Right before we came on , New York City closed its schools again .
It feels like there ’ s just a flow of information about the pandemic and how it ’ s going and how we ’ re handling it .
You ’ re saying : add a lot of data , but the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ view are messy .
How are you managing that ?
That ’ s a great question , and I appreciate it .
I really want to reemphasize ; the lack of coordinated government approach is crippling the nation .
I know lots of people are saying this , but if there is a message to our government right now , it is critical that they have a coordinated approach .
The way that we ’ re approaching it is one , just my own prior experience of living and working in China and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the past helps , watching businesses and countries that are making good decisions helps .
And then we ’ ve just been trying to take a very steady approach .
That is , with the information that we do know that is not constantly changing — and some of that is , but there are a few constants out there — how can we make our experience as safe as possible from purchasing your ticket to the minute you leave the theater ?
We haven ’ t wavered from that .
We ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , fast innovation for online ordering , both of tickets and food ; how you come into the theater ; doing the spacing of people , so that 6-foot distance .
Before it was popular , we said that we were going to enforce masks for everybody .
We thought about our kitchens , creating a smaller menu , so that we could socially distance within our kitchens .
How do we not breathe on food , touch food ?
How do we help people exit the theaters ?
I mean , you @ @ @ @ @ @ @ taken every single precaution that we can .
We ’ ve gone as far as we could .
We ’ ve just said , “ What is the safest stringent possibility ?
” Yes , there ’ s going to be this constant influx of information , but until there ’ s something that comes in that says differently , we ’ re not going to waver .
That ’ s just been our approach .
I don ’ t know , with all the variables out there , how anyone can do @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of advisers and team members you needed to build ?
I feel like most movie theater chains didn ’ t have a lot of epidemiologists on staff before COVID , but now we ’ re all looking for that expertise .
We ’ re all looking for those guidelines .
How have you built that muscle and that skill to evaluate those decisions ?
A lot of people who are willing to help us , whether it ’ s our PE firm , Ultimate Capital , gives us a ton of information and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ insurance and brokers on that side bring in a ton of advice .
And then we ’ ve got strong relationships with the University of Texas , and the information that you can get publicly .
We ’ ve probably done what a lot of people do .
We don ’ t have a ton of money right now , our resources are very skinny .
So we ’ ve had to do-it-yourself as best as possible .
We ’ ll continue to probably operate in that method , but it comes back @ @ @ @ @ @ @ approach to this .
The government really could be doing a better job at providing clear guidance that does not consistently change to businesses , and quite frankly , is equitable to businesses .
What do you mean by equitable ?
Just small examples .
In some cities , we ’ re not allowed to open , or we can open but we can ’ t serve food , yet the restaurant next door can serve food .
That just doesn ’ t make sense .
What ’ s the logic ?
Set @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that everyone operates off of , because part of the problem is the noise and the confusion that goes out to our customers and our guests .
It ’ s safe here , but it ’ s not safe with you .
People can ’ t discern that .
It really should be agnostic to the business , what is safe and what ’ s not , to the best that we know today , right ?
Yeah , asking for a lot probably .
Well , there ’ s a new administration @ @ @ @ @ @ @ goes .
One of the things about the pandemic that I ’ ve heard from many CEOs , executives , is that this has accelerated trends that we already saw coming .
In some cases , those trends are positive .
We ’ ve seen a massive acceleration in e-commerce .
Everyone already saw that coming .
We just turned the knob up .
There ’ s been a pretty loud conversation for years about the future of movie theaters .
Some of that has played out in different ways .
Rom-coms don @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , but every other Netflix show is basically a rom-com .
So we ’ ve just seen the dynamics of the industry change .
I ’ ve always thought of Alamo Drafthouse as being slightly different than your average gigantic chain movie theater .
You have food .
It is an experience .
You ’ re running old movies .
People come there as a social event .
Do you see it as , “ This is accelerating the trend that was already coming , ” or , [ as ] you started @ @ @ @ @ @ @ just get back to work when it ’ s over ” ?
Do you see this as an aberration on the plan that you already had for your company ?
Yes , the world is accelerating in many ways .
What won ’ t go out of style is community and social experiences .
So I think while the industry was ripe for disruption , and we ’ re seeing that , Alamo ’ s secret sauce really is creating these communal experiences for people , bringing the community together to laugh , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have fun together .
That won ’ t go out of style .
So , for us , it will be going back to the secret sauce of what makes us special .
We show over 2,000 films a year .
It ’ s more than double what other chains show because we bring in a really thoughtful slate to our audiences and that ’ s what they want .
They want more than just the big blockbusters .
And then we do create great food .
Sometimes that food ties to the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and all the different experiences that we do create .
So that won ’ t go out of style .
I do think what ’ s accelerating , and things that were on our list , is we wanted to do the mobile food ordering in advance , where if people want to figure out what they want to eat and order that with their tickets and not have to do that in the theater , we wanted to do that .
So we brought it forward .
Alamo On Demand , that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of a great idea of , “ How do we curate really different streaming opportunities for our audiences that the big streamers aren ’ t and probably will never do ?
” So we have brought things forward .
I think as we move into the future , there ’ ll be some other things that we think about , but the core won ’ t change .
That community , that experience , and creating something that you can ’ t get at home , that won ’ t change .
It @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Alamo Drafthouse has billed itself as more than just a movie theater — it ’ s an experience .
So I wanted to ask Shelli about how she thinks about the basic parts of operating a movie theater and where it goes from there .
I spend a lot of time talking to tech CEOs .
They ship me a phone , and they ’ re like , “ It ’ s great.
” That ’ s the end of it .
Certainly , they have lots of people working in offices @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , but your product is a physical experience for people .
I ’ m curious , how do you think about seats ?
“ We ’ re going to have to install some seats.
” What is the decision-making process to choose the seats in the theater and maintain them over time ?
Do you go to competing theaters and sit in their seats and think , “ Well , these are better than mine .
We ’ re going to have to improve them ?
” That ’ s a set of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , but it seems clear that you have to think about them all of the time .
Yeah , so Tim League , our founder , I don ’ t think he went to competitors and said , “ What are they doing ?
” He ’ s created the cinema eatery experience .
What he does is he ’ s such a huge superfan , right ?
He ’ s like , “ How do I want to experience this ?
” One simple detail that you wouldn ’ t necessarily notice @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the first row .
I think we have eight to 10 feet on any other theater , meaning [ how far ] we go back .
So we could have squeezed in another row or two , but we said , “ No , we want to make sure that even if you ’ re in the front row , that is a seat worth having.
” Again , it ’ s just all these details .
But when we look at beer on tap , we go to the local market .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ is important for this community ?
” We buy local beers .
We still have some of the traditional beers that you would expect .
We think about all those things because we ’ re like , “ If you ’ re going to spend the money , if you ’ re going to go out of your house , come to the theater , and spend money , what do you want ?
You want something where someone who loves movies has curated it and thought about all that.
” It ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and no talking .
Hey , you spent a lot of money .
We know you don ’ t want to hear all your neighbors next to you .
It ’ s all those little details that the company , and Tim as the visionary , have put into creating this experience .
Even in COVID , we ’ ve thought a lot about that .
We ’ re still making our pizza from scratch , quite frankly .
We haven ’ t changed what makes our great quality great .
How do @ @ @ @ @ @ @ just showing a movie , right ?
That ’ s changed a lot over the past decade .
You ’ re talking about sound and screen .
There are audio formats and speakers .
How much of a tech operation are you actually running just to hit play and make sure it all sounds good and looks good ?
Well , this is not my area of expertise yet , but I ’ ll tell you our projectors are amazing .
I mean , they ’ ve come a long way .
They @ @ @ @ @ @ @ equipment .
What we do differently than most of our competitors is that we ’ re changing our bulbs out regularly .
We don ’ t wait for them to get to the end of life .
It ’ s very expensive .
They ’ re thousands of dollars for one of the bulbs , but it makes a huge difference in the quality of the screen and that film that you see .
We do a lot of things like that .
It is technical .
We have some of the best @ @ @ @ @ @ @ us that guide us in that and stay on top of it .
Definitely not where I can speak fluently yet .
Just to be clear , you ’ re the CEO .
It ’ s April 30th .
You start .
You ’ re like , “ Okay , show me the P & Ls.
” Someone ’ s like , “ Well , we got this COVID problem .
Also , here ’ s our lightbulb cost.
” You ’ re like , “ This is higher than industry , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Well , yeah , I mean , I ’ m super curious , right ?
Even if we ’ re not showing films , take me up and show me the projectors .
I want to geek out and say , “ Show me all this stuff.
” So I ’ ve spent time in theaters — I ’ ve worked a few shifts , not enough , but I ’ ll get out and do more — and trying to learn it rapidly .
But our focus really is on survival .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
It ’ s working with our landlords , all of that .
And then quite frankly , trying to take care of our people .
In this situation , that ’ s a lot to do .
I ’ m so focused on the lightbulb thing because it ’ s such a good stat , right ?
“ We spend more money on lightbulbs because we care.
” But there ’ s never been an instinct to say , “ Hey , we ’ re in a crisis .
We could save @ @ @ @ @ @ @ run our projector bulbs longer.
” Yeah , no , that ’ s not our goal .
I think there are places where we can improve our P & L .
We are finding those and making improvements across the board , but it won ’ t be in the experience .
It won ’ t be how we treat people .
Whether it ’ s our teammates or our guests , that ’ s not where you save money .
You save money on how you negotiate contracts and all the costs @ @ @ @ @ @ @ touch people .
That ’ s where we need to be more disciplined and where we haven ’ t had to focus .
Quite frankly , now we are , like the spotlights there , but it will not ever be on quality .
Tell me about negotiating those contracts .
Reading before the interview , it sounds like your landlords are working with you .
They ’ re developing new cost structures .
Tell me what some of those are .
And then do you think that that will last through the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ theaters because we know these are important to the community ?
Or do you think it will shift back to your standard lease agreements ?
First of all , it is a huge range .
We have some landlords who are amazing and get the fact that there ’ s burden-sharing throughout the supply chain for any business .
I mean , these are different times than normal .
And then we have some landlords , quite frankly , they just don ’ t care .
They just want the terms as they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ We ’ ve got the gamut , and everyone does , but the conversation that we ’ re having , whether it ’ s with landlords , whether it ’ s with banks , vendors , this isn ’ t like a poorly run business .
I speak for thousands of businesses across the United States right now , not just Alamo , but there are many businesses like us that were super healthy until March .
Now all of a sudden , we ’ re in a crisis situation and bankruptcy is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ solution for needing to shed off a bunch of your real estate assets , or assets .
That ’ s not necessarily the case .
The way that we ’ re going to change our economy or jumpstart it again when we come out of this — aspects of the economy ; tech is thriving , or some tech — but for the service industry and those that are impacted by people physically walking in the door , it has to be burden-sharing from everyone , from the banks , your debtors , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to your vendors , but you as the business have to burden-share , too .
Right now , we do have people that think it should be all about the business .
It ’ s an impossible scenario .
Again , this isn ’ t about win-lose , because if it ’ s a win-lose , the nation loses .
It needs to be a win-win for everybody right now .
It ’ s just not going to be a great win-win for a while .
But if we can survive 18 to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ back .
We know that .
We are resilient as a nation , but we do have to find that path .
In addition to doing the corporate work that you ’ re talking about with contracts , with vendors , have you engaged on the political side ?
Are you out to the states you ’ re in ?
I would say , “ Are you out to the federal government ?
” but that seems quite messy .
Is that work that you ’ re doing as well on the policy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they ’ re doing a lot of that heavy lifting .
We ’ re thankful for their leadership in that lobbying .
Not the defense organization , just to be clear .
It ’ s a good thing you said that .
My first week on the job , I ’ m like , “ You ’ re calling NATO ?
Give me a break !
” Now it ’ s part of my lingo .
Yeah , so they ’ ve taken a huge leadership role , but we too have been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with Nancy Pelosi ’ s office .
I ’ ll be on the phone with the city council in San Francisco .
I ’ ve talked to local lawmakers here in Texas .
We are having those conversations .
When we have these conversations , it ’ s not just about Alamo and “ we matter , ” and “ we care about Alamo.
” It ’ s really trying to help everyone think about the broader business community , and “ How do we move forward together ?
” That is critical @ @ @ @ @ @ @ one of the biggest controversies in Hollywood was whether to release Christopher Nolan ’ s Tenet into theaters during the pandemic .
The movie eventually came out , but no one went .
Tenant was supposed to be a huge hit , but as of right now , it ’ s only generated $ 57.4 million in box office sales in the US and Canada and $ 300.4 million globally .
And it ’ s going to come out digitally on December 15th .
So I wanted to ask Shelli what that data @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reopening and really about the future of movie theaters .
Well , first of all , just a huge thank you to Jeff Goldstein and to Warner Bros. for a studio that took a chance , right ?
I think there ’ s a couple things that were happening .
One is there ’ s a lot of noise in the marketplace , even today , where people do not know if movie theaters are open or not .
Not even if they ’ re safe , they just don ’ t even @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trying to cut through that noise has been really difficult .
When I look at it , I don ’ t see it as there was a message in it .
I see it as the industry works in a certain way .
We just didn ’ t have some of those key elements .
One is — not because of Warner Bros. , but because there ’ s just so much noise — but a clear message out there to people that theaters were open and that they ’ re open in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fun way .
The messaging that we did come out with as an industry was a little dry .
“ We ’ re safe , because of a professor telling you , ” versus “ Come back to the theater .
We ’ ve been super smart , but you ’ re going to have fun.
” So we ’ ve got to get better at that .
And then , no movie is going to stand on its own .
It ’ s like you don ’ t want to be the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ want several .
It ’ s the same with the movie slate .
You ’ ve got to have a number of movies out at one time to draw in audiences .
Again , Warner Bros. was huge in taking that first step , and shame on everybody else who pulled their movies out at the last minute and didn ’ t follow through .
For the studios , we ’ ve got to have a coordinated movie slate again and a coordinated message of , “ We ’ re open , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ theaters .
It ’ s really hard on the industry when you hear that certain chains are shutting down and not open .
It sounds like we ’ re all closed .
Well , we ’ re not .
What kind of audiences are you seeing come in now ?
I know you ’ ve been doing some private rentals to families and groups and so on .
I know that ’ s been a success .
Are you seeing just the day-to-day traffic to the movie theater that you were expecting ?
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ first of all , super proud , right ?
Again , stood that up really quickly with no budget and small resources .
Huge kudos to my team and all the people that did it .
The private theater is super fun .
It ’ s turning out to be about 55 percent of our revenue .
Yeah , I mean , you think about it : You pick the movie .
You create your own community .
You come together and get to have this great event for shockingly , a pretty @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Alamo , I would have never thought it was possible I could rent a theater out .
That just felt beyond anyone ’ s means .
So we ’ ve proven we can do that and create this great experience .
We still have a lot of just general showings and people coming .
I ’ ve been asked this a lot and we haven ’ t put a ton of energy around it , but anecdotally , I can see a wide variety of people .
You ’ ve got the Alamo @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wide age ranges .
It ’ s not just millennials or whatever .
It ’ s just movie lovers , and people who are wearing masks , have found a way to be safe and are picking a few things they want to do .
Movies are one of them .
By the way , when I was in high school , one of my friends , her dad was the manager of a local theater , she had a birthday party [ there ] , and it was the coolest thing .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ mean , it ’ s one of those things that everybody dreams about .
It ’ s cool that you can do it , but you ’ re not getting first-run movies , such as they are , anymore .
That ’ s Jurassic Park and The Goonies and older movies and that experience .
What does that tell you about the value of the experience of going to the movies versus the novelty of the blockbuster movie coming out ?
Well , it goes back [ to ] , I think we @ @ @ @ @ @ @ think it ’ s an either-or , but I do think that it speaks to the fact that people are looking for experiences , and that we truly have been for a while ... an experiential economy .
So the fact that people can come and find their favorite movies , they can create their own parties and dress up , or do something fun around it , is critical .
First-run movies and blockbusters are still going to be important .
People want new content .
They want to come and see @ @ @ @ @ @ @ film .
Think about the filmmakers , they ’ re putting their life into telling these amazing stories and spending a ton of money .
They want that to be on a big screen , big sound , with a large audience .
People want to see that , too , because it ’ s great at home , but it is not the same at home as it is in the big theater .
So I think it ’ s both .
I think the private theater will easily carry into the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ something there .
We ’ re going to continue to work with that product and see how it evolves and grows , but we need both .
That will be probably one of the changes for the industry as it evolves .
It won ’ t be “ either , ” it won ’ t be “ or.
” It ’ s both .
I ’ m looking at the big film studios — Disney , Warner — they all have their own streaming services now .
They ’ re very excited about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ They try a new pricing model on top of their existing subscription , it went okay , maybe they ’ ll do it again .
Obviously , Warner has HBO Max .
Their whole company is pointed at that product .
Do you think there will be a shift to releasing stuff on the streaming services , maybe at a high price , and in theaters at the same time ?
We take a lot of hope in watching the fact that more and more blockbusters are being held and waiting for theatrical @ @ @ @ @ @ @ there ’ s a whole bunch of movies that could have easily been put on streaming immediately .
I ’ d like to think that the studios understand , the filmmakers understand , there ’ s a lot of lost revenue if you skip theatrical .
There ’ s a way to probably do both , have incredible theatrical and then go on to streaming .
To shortchange that process probably doesn ’ t make sense .
I realize Alamo is a very different kind of theater chain than the big ones that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ studio side , but do you think the theaters have held back some of that consumer innovation ?
I ’ ve always thought to myself , “ I would just pay $ 100 to watch this movie at home and rent it just for a night.
” There ’ s no way I ’ m going to go to a theater to watch this mid-market movie .
Just let me watch it here now and I ’ ll be done with it .
That has never happened .
The theaters have always been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ been opposed to Netflix going out to awards because they stream this stuff .
There ’ s just been a lot of that noise here that seems like maybe we ’ ll come out of the pandemic and those questions will get resolved .
But what is that relationship between theater owners and the studios as the studios try to innovate and , quite honestly , use this moment as leverage to get some things they ’ ve always wanted ?
I think there ’ s a couple of things .
First of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that the battle is between us , then we ’ ve lost , all of us .
The battle is with COVID .
The battle , ultimately , is how to best serve your guest .
So , first , coming together to fight COVID and then get into this new world , I think , is going to be important .
When we get into it , to me , it ’ s silly to think that there ’ s streaming or theater , there ’ s this or that .
Content @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
No one knew that YouTube would be huge .
I mean , just take whatever innovation over the last 10 years with content , and people are consuming more content than they ’ ve ever consumed .
I think the question is , “ How do studios and theaters continue to say , ‘ What are the best ways that we can serve our guests and create incredible experiences for storytelling ?
’ ” So yes , we may be different , but we also do not want our fellow theaters going @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
We need theaters .
We don ’ t want to be the lone survivor .
That doesn ’ t make sense .
But I think it really is unifying around , “ How do we serve our guests ?
” For us , the secret sauce is an incredible experience .
We sweat every little detail .
We think about the napkin .
We think about how clean our theaters are .
We think about the popcorn .
I mean , we think about the quality of the sound .
We do @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sound so that experience is always perfect .
And then we ’ re going to continue to innovate , whether it ’ s in the theater or whether it ’ s at home , but it ’ s going to be both .
People are still going to come to the theater .
I mean , I can ’ t imagine a world without a theater , I really can ’ t .
You say we need theaters .
You said it a few times .
In the post-pandemic landscape , it feels @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s theaters like Alamo , which are curated , which are more cultural events .
There ’ s big chains that show Marvel movies , and little else , on 45 screens .
Does that seem like the most likely outcome , or do you think the big chains will have to change even more ?
Yeah , I mean , everybody wants that crystal ball , right ?
I think that everyone will have to evolve and change to some degree .
I think as much as this sucks , the pandemic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ if any , silver linings because the damage is done to people .
I don ’ t want to undervalue that in any way .
But at the same time , as much as this sucks , it is a microscope on our business , for each of us to look back and say ... “ How do I select real estate ?
How do I build out ?
What are those costs involved ?
Are there ways to be more effective and efficient ?
Can I think about the size and type @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” Think about how big an auditorium should be , in some places , we ’ re probably overscreened .
In other parts of the nation , we ’ re probably underscreened .
So thinking about all of those to the unit economics and again , without hurting your quality , there ’ s a lot of lessons to be learned in that .
We certainly are learning them .
We ’ ll move forward with those lessons .
Probably everybody has to , but I can ’ t speak to the big @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to do or not do .
I feel like one of the things about the internet and streaming services is that we have one national cultural moment all the time .
Everyone ’ s just , “ Here ’ s the thing that ’ s on Netflix , we ’ re all going to talk about it.
” It seems like theaters have the big opportunity to create regional experiences and regional moments in a way that has really gone under examined , right ?
We just don ’ t do that a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ re thinking about leaning into ?
Do you have regional curators , or does that happen at the top of the Drafthouse ?
It ’ s a mix , right ?
I mean , you have people in the region who know that audience best and are creating experiences .
Our roadshows are a great example .
We ’ ve done things like Jaws on the Water , where you do an outside screening of Jaws .
Everybody ’ s sitting in a lake on the water .
I ’ m personally @ @ @ @ @ @ @ watching Jaws .
I don ’ t know how people do it , but we ’ ve done all sorts of things like that .
So that is something that we ’ ve always leaned into .
Again , it really goes back to the origins and the vision of Tim , of creating experiences and really being the best damn cinematic experience possible .
So we ’ ve always leaned into it , we always will .
It will continue to evolve as our guests ’ desires and needs evolve .
So @ @ @ @ @ @ @ drive-in movie theaters popping up .
I went to a drive-in movie the other day .
Actually , they held Jaws , and people came in their pickup trucks with inflatable pools in the back , which is pretty good .
Is that something you ’ re thinking about ?
We ’ ll just stand up a bunch of drive-ins and that ’ ll be it .
Yeah , that ’ s a good question .
There ’ s a lot about creating a really good screen and sound experience at a drive-in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fantastic .
We really did .
We thought a lot about , “ Do we go do this for the temporary , or do we stick to our traditional model of our theater and focus there ?
” We ’ ve chosen to stick with the traditional model , versus run after what we believe are short-term fixes .
Yeah , my local drive-in was definitely being run off of a MacBook .
We saw the desktop .
We saw the mouse go over and double click on the movie .
I was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ know about your licensing situation .
That doesn ’ t seem right.
” But everyone was happy .
So it was a thing .
So we only have a few minutes left .
I basically asked questions about the crisis , but you were recruited before the pandemic hit .
You came in .
You had a plan .
What was the vision before the pandemic ?
Before you entered crisis mode , what was it that you wanted to accomplish in your role as CEO of Alamo Drafthouse ?
Our goal was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to do it in a way that we never lose our soul .
Because a lot of times , size and scale mean that you have to give up that specialness or make it a commodity .
So the goal was to really scale snowflakes and to continue to provide the most incredible cinematic experience possible and continue to evolve it and really give voice to as many films and filmmakers as we possibly can .
I don ’ t think that goes away .
I think it ’ s just going to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bit longer before we get solely back to that , but that ’ s still the goal .
When you say scaling snowflakes , you mean each individual theater is a unique experience that needs to be managed independently ?
Yeah , I mean , right now , when you go to an Alamo ...
In fact , it cracks me up , people have no idea that we have more than a couple .
They ’ re like , “ What do you mean there ’ s 41 Alamos ?
That ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s where I go and I see my friends , and everybody knows me.
” So that experience and finding the economy of scale , it ’ s hard to scale and keep that soul where everyone thinks there ’ s only one Alamo .
That ’ s what we want to do .
And I believe that you can do that .
What do you think are the most critical elements of getting scale right , but still making it feel small ?
Just very personally , I always think of The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ small .
I think our audience , they know who we are , but we have bigger ambitions .
So what do you think are the key elements to making it feel small , even as you get bigger ?
It ’ s always a cost issue .
How do you do that ?
So I think the way you do it is you know what your secret sauce is .
You stay focused on that .
And then you scale the hell out of your back of the house , your accounting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of that stuff .
You bring technology in and make it as effective and efficient as possible .
So that you have the money , the time , the mindshare , the resources to create those individual experiences .
So that when you do go to Alamo in LA versus Alamo in Dallas , or Winchester , Virginia , you have that local feeling .
That is our goal and will continue to be .
Great .
Well , last question .
It ’ s a hard one , I apologize .
I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the answer .
I ’ m curious , so I ask everybody .
What ’ s the next sign you ’ re looking for , for your business , that we will be on the right track ?
Is it the vaccine news today ?
Is it a more coordinated federal and state policy ?
What ’ s the indicator that you ’ re waiting for that says , “ Okay , we can get back to the plan ” ?
Yeah , I agree , this is a hard one , but @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
First of all , I do think the announcement of the vaccine gives me incredible hope .
What ’ s not being talked about a lot are the therapeuticals .
I think that is huge .
So a combination of vaccine , therapeuticals , and then a coordinated government approach , that from a macro perspective is what we need .
And then from an industry perspective , we need to have the slate come back in totality .
Meaning , we need a coordinated slate again .
It ’ s not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , but rather the whole thing moves .
If it needs to move out to April , it all moves out to April , but one studio doesn ’ t leave another studio hanging or whatever .
That can ’ t continue .
So when those two things happen , we will have a ton more confidence of moving forward .
I ’ m pretty hopeful that that is [ an ] April-ish timeframe .
Yeah , I do too .
Well , Shelli , thank you so much for joining us .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ you , and it was a pleasure to be here .

On this episode of Decoder with Nilay Patel, I’m joined by Shelli Taylor, the CEO of Alamo Drafthouse, and we’re talking about a big problem: how and when to reopen movie theaters during a pandemic.
Shelli’s in an interesting spot: she started her job as CEO on April 30th, after the pandemic’s first wave had caused Alamo Drafthouse to shut down 41 locations. Shelli had been an executive for Planet Fitness and Starbucks, and Alamo’s founder, Tim League, recruited and hired her before the pandemic to manage growth and expansion.
Instead, she found herself confronting a crisis.
We talked about that transition and what steps she had to take to get Alamo Drafthouse back on solid ground: where she could save money and where she thought cuts would damage the Alamo customer experience. Shelli is not shy about saying the government has failed to manage the pandemic effectively for business owners.
We also talked about what it will take to safely reopen theaters and what the future looks like, especially in the streaming era. Streaming had already shifted the movie business toward blockbusters — mid-budget romantic comedies have long since turned into Netflix movies — and the pandemic means even blockbusters are shifting to streaming. For example, Wonder Woman 1984 is headed to HBO Max on Christmas Day. Turns out, there are more discussions between the big studios and theater chains than previously thought, and Shelli offered us a peek at those conversations.
Also, I completely love a business that has a high fixed cost for expensive lightbulbs. You’ll see what I mean.
This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.
You became the CEO of Alamo Drafthouse on April 30th. So you have stepped into chaos. I think Alamo actually shut down 41 theaters in March. What was this recruiting pitch like? Did they call you and say, “Hey, are you interested?” Was it already in the works? It seems like a wild way to become the CEO of a movie theater chain.
Yeah, it does feel wild, but it was in the works at Christmas when Tim [League, founder of Alamo Drafthouse] and I met and started talking. I was just drawn to this incredible brand and this opportunity to help take something iconic and grow it even larger. And then all of a sudden, the pandemic hit, and here we are. So we’ve got this little issue to get through. Then we can go back to the original plans.
Just the first day, April 30th, you showed up. You got to introduce yourself to everyone. There’s usually a script the new CEO follows. You say something like, “First, I just want to listen.” There’s the usual stuff. Was it very different this time, or did you just come out running?
A little of both, right? I mean, you do talk about just really wanting to listen and to get to know people. You don’t have the advantage of the water cooler in the office and that proximity. But at the same time, there’s nothing like a crisis to create a need for connection and speed to trust. Really fortunate that the company and the teammates have been so welcoming and willing to just assume good intent and want to move forward versus having to do some of that initial stuff. So it was pretty fast. No one’s kicked me out. We’re seven months in and I’m still here. Things are going pretty well, considering.
I always try to ask everybody about decision-making frameworks. Before Alamo Drafthouse, you were the CEO of a large group of Planet Fitness locations. You were at Disney before that. Tell me about your general way of making decisions. How do you think about evaluating your choices and then actually coming to a decision?
I think it’s a couple of things. One is just knowing who and what you are. The beauty of everywhere I’ve worked [has been] a really clear sense of their purpose and values and the problems that they’re trying to solve in this world. So always starting with that framework and driving from there. I think that one of the things that I took from Starbucks and have valued over the years is that you always put people into that equation.
So when you’re looking at a decision, it’s the stakeholders, it’s your customers, it’s the people on your team, having all those points of view, and then sometimes it’s the broader community, depending on what the product is. If you start there and then you put in a good dose of data and a good dose of your gut, usually, that’s a great way to go. I mean, it’s pretty simple. Obviously, depending on the complexity of what you bring in or don’t bring in, but it really is values and people and direction.
The reason I asked that question is because, right now, you’re managing in a crisis where there is a flood of data. You have a very physical-plant kind of business: people go to a movie theater and sit down and stay there for a while. How are you managing the influx of COVID information? There’s a massively disjointed federal and state response. There’s people who are refusing to wear masks. Right before we came on, New York City closed its schools again. It feels like there’s just a flow of information about the pandemic and how it’s going and how we’re handling it. You’re saying: add a lot of data, but the data is messy. The points of view are messy. How are you managing that?
That’s a great question, and I appreciate it. I really want to reemphasize: the lack of coordinated government approach is crippling the nation. I know lots of people are saying this, but if there is a message to our government right now, it is critical that they have a coordinated approach. The way that we’re approaching it is one, just my own prior experience of living and working in China and seeing how this has been approached in the past helps, watching businesses and countries that are making good decisions helps.
And then we’ve just been trying to take a very steady approach. That is, with the information that we do know that is not constantly changing — and some of that is, but there are a few constants out there — how can we make our experience as safe as possible from purchasing your ticket to the minute you leave the theater? We haven’t wavered from that. We’ve done a lot of pretty scrappy, fast innovation for online ordering, both of tickets and food; how you come into the theater; doing the spacing of people, so that 6-foot distance. Before it was popular, we said that we were going to enforce masks for everybody. We thought about our kitchens, creating a smaller menu, so that we could socially distance within our kitchens. How do we not breathe on food, touch food? How do we help people exit the theaters? I mean, you just name it, we’ve taken every single precaution that we can. We’ve gone as far as we could. We’ve just said, “What is the safest stringent possibility?” Yes, there’s going to be this constant influx of information, but until there’s something that comes in that says differently, we’re not going to waver. That’s just been our approach. I don’t know, with all the variables out there, how anyone can do it differently.
Is that a set of advisers and team members you needed to build? I feel like most movie theater chains didn’t have a lot of epidemiologists on staff before COVID, but now we’re all looking for that expertise. We’re all looking for those guidelines. How have you built that muscle and that skill to evaluate those decisions?
A lot of people who are willing to help us, whether it’s our PE firm, Altamont Capital, gives us a ton of information and advice, whether it’s our insurance and brokers on that side bring in a ton of advice. And then we’ve got strong relationships with the University of Texas, and the information that you can get publicly. We’ve probably done what a lot of people do. We don’t have a ton of money right now, our resources are very skinny. So we’ve had to do-it-yourself as best as possible. We’ll continue to probably operate in that method, but it comes back to that need for a coordinated government approach to this. The government really could be doing a better job at providing clear guidance that does not consistently change to businesses, and quite frankly, is equitable to businesses.
What do you mean by equitable?
Just small examples. In some cities, we’re not allowed to open, or we can open but we can’t serve food, yet the restaurant next door can serve food. That just doesn’t make sense. What’s the logic? Set a simple, clear set of criteria that everyone operates off of, because part of the problem is the noise and the confusion that goes out to our customers and our guests. It’s safe here, but it’s not safe with you. People can’t discern that. It really should be agnostic to the business, what is safe and what’s not, to the best that we know today, right? Yeah, asking for a lot probably.
Well, there’s a new administration. We’ll see how it goes.
One of the things about the pandemic that I’ve heard from many CEOs, executives, is that this has accelerated trends that we already saw coming. In some cases, those trends are positive. We’ve seen a massive acceleration in e-commerce. Everyone already saw that coming. We just turned the knob up. There’s been a pretty loud conversation for years about the future of movie theaters. Some of that has played out in different ways. Rom-coms don’t really get made by Hollywood, but every other Netflix show is basically a rom-com. So we’ve just seen the dynamics of the industry change.
I’ve always thought of Alamo Drafthouse as being slightly different than your average gigantic chain movie theater. You have food. It is an experience. You’re running old movies. People come there as a social event. Do you see it as, “This is accelerating the trend that was already coming,” or, [as] you started by saying, “We’ll just get back to work when it’s over”? Do you see this as an aberration on the plan that you already had for your company?
Yes, the world is accelerating in many ways. What won’t go out of style is community and social experiences. So I think while the industry was ripe for disruption, and we’re seeing that, Alamo’s secret sauce really is creating these communal experiences for people, bringing the community together to laugh, cry, gasp, whatever, but have fun together. That won’t go out of style. So, for us, it will be going back to the secret sauce of what makes us special. We show over 2,000 films a year. It’s more than double what other chains show because we bring in a really thoughtful slate to our audiences and that’s what they want. They want more than just the big blockbusters.
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And then we do create great food. Sometimes that food ties to the film, which is really fun, and all the different experiences that we do create. So that won’t go out of style. I do think what’s accelerating, and things that were on our list, is we wanted to do the mobile food ordering in advance, where if people want to figure out what they want to eat and order that with their tickets and not have to do that in the theater, we wanted to do that. So we brought it forward.
Alamo On Demand, that was something that was in our hopper of a great idea of, “How do we curate really different streaming opportunities for our audiences that the big streamers aren’t and probably will never do?” So we have brought things forward. I think as we move into the future, there’ll be some other things that we think about, but the core won’t change. That community, that experience, and creating something that you can’t get at home, that won’t change. It won’t go out of style.
Alamo Drafthouse has billed itself as more than just a movie theater — it’s an experience. So I wanted to ask Shelli about how she thinks about the basic parts of operating a movie theater and where it goes from there.
I spend a lot of time talking to tech CEOs. They ship me a phone, and they’re like, “It’s great.” That’s the end of it. Certainly, they have lots of people working in offices and they have physical plants to manage, but your product is a physical experience for people. I’m curious, how do you think about seats? “We’re going to have to install some seats.” What is the decision-making process to choose the seats in the theater and maintain them over time? Do you go to competing theaters and sit in their seats and think, “Well, these are better than mine. We’re going to have to improve them?” That’s a set of decisions that I think rarely get foregrounded, but it seems clear that you have to think about them all of the time.
Yeah, so Tim League, our founder, I don’t think he went to competitors and said, “What are they doing?” He’s created the cinema eatery experience. What he does is he’s such a huge superfan, right? He’s like, “How do I want to experience this?” One simple detail that you wouldn’t necessarily notice is the space between the screen and the first row. I think we have eight to 10 feet on any other theater, meaning [how far] we go back. So we could have squeezed in another row or two, but we said, “No, we want to make sure that even if you’re in the front row, that is a seat worth having.” Again, it’s just all these details.
But when we look at beer on tap, we go to the local market. We’re like, “What is important for this community?” We buy local beers. We still have some of the traditional beers that you would expect. We think about all those things because we’re like, “If you’re going to spend the money, if you’re going to go out of your house, come to the theater, and spend money, what do you want? You want something where someone who loves movies has curated it and thought about all that.”
It’s like our pre-show, no texting and no talking. Hey, you spent a lot of money. We know you don’t want to hear all your neighbors next to you. It’s all those little details that the company, and Tim as the visionary, have put into creating this experience. Even in COVID, we’ve thought a lot about that. We’re still making our pizza from scratch, quite frankly. We haven’t changed what makes our great quality great.
How do you think about the technical side of just showing a movie, right? That’s changed a lot over the past decade. You’re talking about sound and screen. There are audio formats and speakers. How much of a tech operation are you actually running just to hit play and make sure it all sounds good and looks good?
Well, this is not my area of expertise yet, but I’ll tell you our projectors are amazing. I mean, they’ve come a long way. They’re a very expensive piece of equipment. What we do differently than most of our competitors is that we’re changing our bulbs out regularly. We don’t wait for them to get to the end of life. It’s very expensive. They’re thousands of dollars for one of the bulbs, but it makes a huge difference in the quality of the screen and that film that you see. We do a lot of things like that. It is technical. We have some of the best people in the industry who work for us that guide us in that and stay on top of it. Definitely not where I can speak fluently yet.
Just to be clear, you’re the CEO. It’s April 30th. You start. You’re like, “Okay, show me the P&Ls.” Someone’s like, “Well, we got this COVID problem. Also, here’s our lightbulb cost.” You’re like, “This is higher than industry, and we’re good with it.”
Well, yeah, I mean, I’m super curious, right? Even if we’re not showing films, take me up and show me the projectors. I want to geek out and say, “Show me all this stuff.” So I’ve spent time in theaters — I’ve worked a few shifts, not enough, but I’ll get out and do more — and trying to learn it rapidly. But our focus really is on survival. It’s working with our banks. It’s working with our landlords, all of that. And then, quite frankly, trying to take care of our people. In this situation, that’s a lot to do.
I’m so focused on the lightbulb thing because it’s such a good stat, right? “We spend more money on lightbulbs because we care.” But there’s never been an instinct to say, “Hey, we’re in a crisis. We could save a ton of money if we just run our projector bulbs longer.”
Yeah, no, that’s not our goal. I think there are places where we can improve our P&L. We are finding those and making improvements across the board, but it won’t be in the experience. It won’t be how we treat people. Whether it’s our teammates or our guests, that’s not where you save money. You save money on how you negotiate contracts and all the costs behind the scenes that don’t touch people. That’s where we need to be more disciplined and where we haven’t had to focus. Quite frankly, now we are, like the spotlights there, but it will not ever be on quality.
Tell me about negotiating those contracts. Reading before the interview, it sounds like your landlords are working with you. They’re developing new cost structures. Tell me what some of those are. And then do you think that that will last through the pandemic, that landlords are working with theaters because we know these are important to the community? Or do you think it will shift back to your standard lease agreements?
First of all, it is a huge range. We have some landlords who are amazing and get the fact that there’s burden-sharing throughout the supply chain for any business. I mean, these are different times than normal. And then we have some landlords, quite frankly, they just don’t care. They just want the terms as they are today and are very difficult. We’ve got the gamut, and everyone does, but the conversation that we’re having, whether it’s with landlords, whether it’s with banks, vendors, this isn’t like a poorly run business.
I speak for thousands of businesses across the United States right now, not just Alamo, but there are many businesses like us that were super healthy until March. Now all of a sudden, we’re in a crisis situation and bankruptcy is not the solution. Bankruptcy is the solution for needing to shed off a bunch of your real estate assets, or assets. That’s not necessarily the case. The way that we’re going to change our economy or jumpstart it again when we come out of this — aspects of the economy; tech is thriving, or some tech — but for the service industry and those that are impacted by people physically walking in the door, it has to be burden-sharing from everyone, from the banks, your debtors, your creditors, to your landlords, to your vendors, but you as the business have to burden-share, too. Right now, we do have people that think it should be all about the business. It’s an impossible scenario. Again, this isn’t about win-lose, because if it’s a win-lose, the nation loses. It needs to be a win-win for everybody right now. It’s just not going to be a great win-win for a while. But if we can survive 18 to 24 months, the economy will come back. We know that. We are resilient as a nation, but we do have to find that path.
In addition to doing the corporate work that you’re talking about with contracts, with vendors, have you engaged on the political side? Are you out to the states you’re in? I would say, “Are you out to the federal government?” but that seems quite messy. Is that work that you’re doing as well on the policy side?
NATO and John Fithian, they’re doing a lot of that heavy lifting. We’re thankful for their leadership in that lobbying.
That’s the National Association of Theater Owners.
Yeah.
Not the defense organization, just to be clear.
It’s a good thing you said that. My first week on the job, I’m like, “You’re calling NATO? Give me a break!” Now it’s part of my lingo. Yeah, so they’ve taken a huge leadership role, but we too have been talking. Tim was on the phone with Nancy Pelosi’s office. I’ll be on the phone with the city council in San Francisco. I’ve talked to local lawmakers here in Texas. We are having those conversations. When we have these conversations, it’s not just about Alamo and “we matter,” and “we care about Alamo.” It’s really trying to help everyone think about the broader business community, and “How do we move forward together?” That is critical right now.
Over the summer, one of the biggest controversies in Hollywood was whether to release Christopher Nolan’s Tenet into theaters during the pandemic. The movie eventually came out, but no one went. Tenant was supposed to be a huge hit, but as of right now, it’s only generated $57.4 million in box office sales in the US and Canada and $300.4 million globally. And it’s going to come out digitally on December 15th. So I wanted to ask Shelli what that data point told her about the timeline of reopening and really about the future of movie theaters.
Well, first of all, just a huge thank you to Jeff Goldstein and to Warner Bros. for a studio that took a chance, right? I think there’s a couple things that were happening. One is there’s a lot of noise in the marketplace, even today, where people do not know if movie theaters are open or not. Not even if they’re safe, they just don’t even know it’s a possibility. Trying to cut through that noise has been really difficult. When I look at it, I don’t see it as there was a message in it. I see it as the industry works in a certain way. We just didn’t have some of those key elements.
One is — not because of Warner Bros., but because there’s just so much noise — but a clear message out there to people that theaters were open and that they’re open in a really safe way and in a fun way. The messaging that we did come out with as an industry was a little dry. “We’re safe, because of a professor telling you,” versus “Come back to the theater. We’ve been super smart, but you’re going to have fun.” So we’ve got to get better at that. And then, no movie is going to stand on its own. It’s like you don’t want to be the only restaurant on a block. You want several. It’s the same with the movie slate. You’ve got to have a number of movies out at one time to draw in audiences.
Again, Warner Bros. was huge in taking that first step, and shame on everybody else who pulled their movies out at the last minute and didn’t follow through. For the studios, we’ve got to have a coordinated movie slate again and a coordinated message of, “We’re open,” and not just Alamo but all movie theaters. It’s really hard on the industry when you hear that certain chains are shutting down and not open. It sounds like we’re all closed. Well, we’re not.
What kind of audiences are you seeing come in now? I know you’ve been doing some private rentals to families and groups and so on. I know that’s been a success. Are you seeing just the day-to-day traffic to the movie theater that you were expecting?
Well, the private theater, so first of all, super proud, right? Again, stood that up really quickly with no budget and small resources. Huge kudos to my team and all the people that did it. The private theater is super fun. It’s turning out to be about 55 percent of our revenue.
Wow.
Yeah, I mean, you think about it: You pick the movie. You create your own community. You come together and get to have this great event for shockingly, a pretty affordable price. Prior to working at Alamo, I would have never thought it was possible I could rent a theater out. That just felt beyond anyone’s means. So we’ve proven we can do that and create this great experience. We still have a lot of just general showings and people coming.
I’ve been asked this a lot and we haven’t put a ton of energy around it, but anecdotally, I can see a wide variety of people. You’ve got the Alamo fans. You’ve got pretty wide age ranges. It’s not just millennials or whatever. It’s just movie lovers, and people who are wearing masks, have found a way to be safe and are picking a few things they want to do. Movies are one of them.
By the way, when I was in high school, one of my friends, her dad was the manager of a local theater, she had a birthday party [there], and it was the coolest thing. So you’re right. I mean, it’s one of those things that everybody dreams about. It’s cool that you can do it, but you’re not getting first-run movies, such as they are, anymore. That’s Jurassic Park and The Goonies and older movies and that experience. What does that tell you about the value of the experience of going to the movies versus the novelty of the blockbuster movie coming out?
Well, it goes back [to], I think we need both. I don’t think it’s an either-or, but I do think that it speaks to the fact that people are looking for experiences, and that we truly have been for a while ... an experiential economy. So the fact that people can come and find their favorite movies, they can create their own parties and dress up, or do something fun around it, is critical. First-run movies and blockbusters are still going to be important. People want new content. They want to come and see it, that huge experience, that film.
Think about the filmmakers, they’re putting their life into telling these amazing stories and spending a ton of money. They want that to be on a big screen, big sound, with a large audience. People want to see that, too, because it’s great at home, but it is not the same at home as it is in the big theater. So I think it’s both. I think the private theater will easily carry into the future. We think there’s something there. We’re going to continue to work with that product and see how it evolves and grows, but we need both. That will be probably one of the changes for the industry as it evolves. It won’t be “either,” it won’t be “or.” It’s both.
I’m looking at the big film studios — Disney, Warner — they all have their own streaming services now. They’re very excited about them. Disney puts out Mulan. They try a new pricing model on top of their existing subscription, it went okay, maybe they’ll do it again. Obviously, Warner has HBO Max. Their whole company is pointed at that product. Do you think there will be a shift to releasing stuff on the streaming services, maybe at a high price, and in theaters at the same time?
We take a lot of hope in watching the fact that more and more blockbusters are being held and waiting for theatrical. If that were the case, there’s a whole bunch of movies that could have easily been put on streaming immediately. I’d like to think that the studios understand, the filmmakers understand, there’s a lot of lost revenue if you skip theatrical. There’s a way to probably do both, have incredible theatrical and then go on to streaming. To shortchange that process probably doesn’t make sense.
I realize Alamo is a very different kind of theater chain than the big ones that have held back some innovation on the studio side, but do you think the theaters have held back some of that consumer innovation? I’ve always thought to myself, “I would just pay $100 to watch this movie at home and rent it just for a night.” There’s no way I’m going to go to a theater to watch this mid-market movie. Just let me watch it here now and I’ll be done with it. That has never happened. The theaters have always been opposed to it.
The theaters have been opposed to Netflix going out to awards because they stream this stuff. There’s just been a lot of that noise here that seems like maybe we’ll come out of the pandemic and those questions will get resolved. But what is that relationship between theater owners and the studios as the studios try to innovate and, quite honestly, use this moment as leverage to get some things they’ve always wanted?
I think there’s a couple of things. First of all, if theaters and studios think that the battle is between us, then we’ve lost — all of us. The battle is with COVID, and the battle, ultimately, is how to best serve your guest. So, first, coming together to fight COVID and then get into this new world, I think, is going to be important. When we get into it, to me, it’s silly to think that there’s streaming or theater, there’s this or that. Content is coming at us faster than ever. No one knew that YouTube would be huge. I mean, just take whatever innovation over the last 10 years with content, and people are consuming more content than they’ve ever consumed.
I think the question is, “How do studios and theaters continue to say, ‘What are the best ways that we can serve our guests and create incredible experiences for storytelling?’” So yes, we may be different, but we also do not want our fellow theaters going out of business. We need them. We need theaters. We don’t want to be the lone survivor. That doesn’t make sense.
But I think it really is unifying around, “How do we serve our guests?” For us, the secret sauce is an incredible experience. We sweat every little detail. We think about the napkin. We think about how clean our theaters are. We think about the popcorn. I mean, we think about the quality of the sound. We do an incredible amount around our screens and sound so that experience is always perfect.
And then we’re going to continue to innovate, whether it’s in the theater or whether it’s at home, but it’s going to be both. People are still going to come to the theater. I mean, I can’t imagine a world without a theater, I really can’t.
You say we need theaters. You said it a few times. In the post-pandemic landscape, it feels like one potential outcome is there’s theaters like Alamo, which are curated, which are more cultural events. There’s big chains that show Marvel movies, and little else, on 45 screens. Does that seem like the most likely outcome, or do you think the big chains will have to change even more?
Yeah, I mean, everybody wants that crystal ball, right?
I think that everyone will have to evolve and change to some degree. I think as much as this sucks, the pandemic... There’s very few, if any, silver linings because the damage is done to people. I don’t want to undervalue that in any way. But at the same time, as much as this sucks, it is a microscope on our business, for each of us to look back and say ... “How do I select real estate? How do I build out? What are those costs involved? Are there ways to be more effective and efficient? Can I think about the size and type of footprint for a theater differently?”
Think about how big an auditorium should be, in some places, we’re probably overscreened. In other parts of the nation, we’re probably underscreened. So thinking about all of those to the unit economics and again, without hurting your quality, there’s a lot of lessons to be learned in that. We certainly are learning them. We’ll move forward with those lessons. Probably everybody has to, but I can’t speak to the big chains and what they’re going to do or not do.
I feel like one of the things about the internet and streaming services is that we have one national cultural moment all the time. Everyone’s just, “Here’s the thing that’s on Netflix, we’re all going to talk about it.” It seems like theaters have the big opportunity to create regional experiences and regional moments in a way that has really gone under examined, right? We just don’t do that a lot anymore. Is that something you’re thinking about leaning into? Do you have regional curators, or does that happen at the top of the Drafthouse?
It’s a mix, right? I mean, you have people in the region who know that audience best and are creating experiences. Our roadshows are a great example. We’ve done things like Jaws on the Water, where you do an outside screening of Jaws. Everybody’s sitting in a lake on the water. I’m personally terrified thinking about being on the water watching Jaws. I don’t know how people do it, but we’ve done all sorts of things like that. So that is something that we’ve always leaned into. Again, it really goes back to the origins and the vision of Tim, of creating experiences and really being the best damn cinematic experience possible. So we’ve always leaned into it, we always will. It will continue to evolve as our guests’ desires and needs evolve.
So there’s been a flood of drive-in movie theaters popping up. I went to a drive-in movie the other day. Actually, they held Jaws, and people came in their pickup trucks with inflatable pools in the back, which is pretty good. Is that something you’re thinking about? We’ll just stand up a bunch of drive-ins and that’ll be it.
Yeah, that’s a good question. There’s a lot about creating a really good screen and sound experience at a drive-in. It’s just still not fantastic. We really did. We thought a lot about, “Do we go do this for the temporary, or do we stick to our traditional model of our theater and focus there?” We’ve chosen to stick with the traditional model, versus run after what we believe are short-term fixes.
Yeah, my local drive-in was definitely being run off of a MacBook. We saw the desktop. We saw the mouse go over and double click on the movie. I was like, “I don’t know about your licensing situation. That doesn’t seem right.” But everyone was happy. So it was a thing.
So we only have a few minutes left. I basically asked questions about the crisis, but you were recruited before the pandemic hit. You came in. You had a plan. What was the vision before the pandemic? Before you entered crisis mode, what was it that you wanted to accomplish in your role as CEO of Alamo Drafthouse?
Our goal was to continue to expand and grow and to do it in a way that we never lose our soul. Because a lot of times, size and scale mean that you have to give up that specialness or make it a commodity. So the goal was to really scale snowflakes and to continue to provide the most incredible cinematic experience possible and continue to evolve it and really give voice to as many films and filmmakers as we possibly can. I don’t think that goes away. I think it’s just going to change, or maybe take a little bit longer before we get solely back to that, but that’s still the goal.
When you say scaling snowflakes, you mean each individual theater is a unique experience that needs to be managed independently?
Yeah, I mean, right now, when you go to an Alamo...In fact, it cracks me up, people have no idea that we have more than a couple. They’re like, “What do you mean there’s 41 Alamos? That’s my community theater. That’s where I go and I see my friends, and everybody knows me.” So that experience and finding the economy of scale, it’s hard to scale and keep that soul where everyone thinks there’s only one Alamo. That’s what we want to do. And I believe that you can do that.
What do you think are the most critical elements of getting scale right, but still making it feel small? Just very personally, I always think of The Verge as a big thing that feels small. I think our audience, they know who we are, but we have bigger ambitions. So what do you think are the key elements to making it feel small, even as you get bigger?
It’s always a cost issue. How do you do that? So I think the way you do it is you know what your secret sauce is. You stay focused on that. And then you scale the hell out of your back of the house, your accounting functions, your supply chain, all of that stuff. You bring technology in and make it as effective and efficient as possible. So that you have the money, the time, the mindshare, the resources to create those individual experiences. So that when you do go to Alamo in LA versus Alamo in Dallas, or Winchester, Virginia, you have that local feeling. That is our goal and will continue to be.
Great. Well, last question. It’s a hard one, I apologize.
Uh-oh.
I don’t know if anybody has the answer. I’m curious, so I ask everybody. What’s the next sign you’re looking for, for your business, that we will be on the right track? Is it the vaccine news today? Is it a more coordinated federal and state policy? What’s the indicator that you’re waiting for that says, “Okay, we can get back to the plan”?
Yeah, I agree, this is a hard one, but I think there’s a couple. First of all, I do think the announcement of the vaccine gives me incredible hope. What’s not being talked about a lot are the therapeuticals. I think that is huge. So a combination of vaccine, therapeuticals, and then a coordinated government approach, that from a macro perspective is what we need. And then from an industry perspective, we need to have the slate come back in totality. Meaning, we need a coordinated slate again.
It’s not [that] one movie pulls out, but rather the whole thing moves. If it needs to move out to April, it all moves out to April, but one studio doesn’t leave another studio hanging or whatever. That can’t continue. So when those two things happen, we will have a ton more confidence of moving forward. I’m pretty hopeful that that is [an] April-ish timeframe.
Yeah, I do too. Well, Shelli, thank you so much for joining us. It was a great conversation.
Thank you, and it was a pleasure to be here.


theverge--2020-12-01--Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti review: impressive performance for $399

Nvidia ’ s new RTX 3060 Ti is a surprise addition to the company ’ s lineup of RTX 3000-series graphics cards .
Priced at $ 399 , it goes on sale tomorrow and Nvidia promises it will deliver more performance than the previous-generation top-of-the-line RTX 2080 and 2080 Super .
But the 3060 Ti is far from the top of the line — in fact , it ’ s the least expensive RTX card you can buy .
If the RTX 3070 was the sweet spot for 1440p gaming , the RTX 3060 Ti looks like an even sweeter @ @ @ @ @ @ @ savings .
Just like the RTX 3070 , the RTX 3060 Ti will be able to do 4K gaming if you ’ re willing to knock the settings down , but both cards are ideally positioned for the 1440p market instead .
The 3060 Ti is another great option if you ’ re looking to move from a 1080p display to a 1440p one without the $ 699 price tag on the RTX 3080 or the extra power requirements and power draw .
I ’ ve spent the past week testing out the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and 4K ahead of its debut on December 2nd .
Just like the RTX 3070 , this card will give you plenty of headroom at 1440p or below , but it struggles to hit 60fps in a number of modern games at 4K .
Still , I ’ ve been impressed with the RTX 3060 Ti ’ s performance , especially for $ 399 .
The RTX 3060 Ti looks almost identical to the RTX 3070 .
The size and shape are the same , combined with a traditional dual-fan setup .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ card cool , with the right fan pushing air all the way through the card to the opposite side , while the left directly cools the GPU cores with air that can exhaust out the rear of your chassis .
The RTX 3060 Ti is a quiet card as a result , and I rarely heard the fans spinning up as it hit temperatures of 73 degrees Celsius during most games I tested .
Just like the RTX 3070 , the RTX 3060 Ti has a dense and compact PCB that ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Nvidia is using its new 12-pin power connector here , instead of regular 6- or 8-pin power connectors .
There ’ s an adapter inside the box , which you have to use .
You only have to adapt one 8-pin connector for the RTX 3060 Ti , so the setup isn ’ t as bulky as the adapter for the RTX 3080 .
I ’ d still recommend picking up a dedicated 12-pin connector from your PSU manufacturer , so you can avoid this ugly adapter altogether .
The RTX 3060 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ port and three DisplayPort 1.4a ports .
Like the rest of the RTX 3000 series , Nvidia has dropped the USB-C VirtualLink port found on the RTX 2000 series .
Much like the RTX 3070 , there ’ s GeForce RTX branding on the side of the card but it doesn ’ t light up when your PC is powered on .
The main difference between the two cards , visually , is that Nvidia is using a slightly lighter silver coating on the 3060 Ti .
It ’ s different from the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the RTX 3000 series cards , and I personally prefer the darker variant .
Nvidia ’ s RTX 3000 series cards have all bumped up their power requirements , but the RTX 3060 Ti is a little more modest in that regard .
Nvidia is recommending a 600W power supply for the RTX 3060 Ti , and it will draw up to 200 watts .
That ’ s only 15 watts more than the RTX 2060 Super , and 50 watts less power draw than the RTX 2080 Super for similar performance .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ 3060 Ti on a PC using Intel ’ s latest Core i9-10900K inside .
For 1440p tests , I hooked up the RTX 3060 Ti to a 27-inch Asus ROG Swift PG279Q monitor .
This monitor supports refresh rates up to 165Hz plus G-Sync , so it ’ s a good 1440p option to test the limits of the 3060 Ti .
I ’ ve also been testing 4K performance , which you can find below .
I ’ ve been playing a variety of games to test the RTX 3060 Ti , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ results at 1440p .
Shadow of the Tomb Raider is able to hold 100fps steady at max settings , and Call of Duty : Warzone manages 119fps even with ray-traced shadows enabled .
Even Control , a typically demanding title , manages to hit well above 60fps .
The only exceptions are Watch Dogs : Legion and Metro Exodus .
You can enable DLSS in both titles to make up for the performance dips here , or even drop some of the visual settings .
I ’ m less concerned at Watch Dogs @ @ @ @ @ @ @ especially as Control performs so well .
All the games I ’ ve tested run better on the RTX 3060 Ti than the RTX 2080 , and the ray tracing and DLSS performance is noticeably better here .
None of the games I ’ ve tested with the RTX 3060 Ti come close enough to maxing out the 165Hz refresh rate on my monitor , though .
Death Stranding was the closest at 132fps , but you ’ d need to enable DLSS in most games to really take advantage of higher refresh @ @ @ @ @ @ @ during all of the RTX 3000 series reviews , and it ’ s been particularly noticeable with the $ 399 RTX 3060 Ti .
I was surprised at how well Fortnite manages to improve frame rates with DLSS turned on .
I managed to get up to a 219fps average with the DLSS performance mode enabled , which is close to what even the RTX 3080 can provide .
You can pick between quality and performance modes for DLSS in a wide range of games , and Nvidia ’ s image reconstruction technique @ @ @ @ @ @ @ resolution and then upscale the image to make it look as good if not better than the native resolution .
On PC monitors at 1440p , it looks great , and I think it ’ s worth enabling in most games to get a bit more performance if you need or want it .
The RTX 3060 Ti handles 1440p well , but 4K is definitely more of a struggle .
Most games I tested didn ’ t make it to 60fps regularly enough , and I really had to lower settings to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Watch Dogs : Legion falls below 30fps at 4K most of the time with maxed out settings , and it barely even runs with ray tracing enabled .
I wasn ’ t expecting a $ 400 card to do much at 4K , but it still manages to handle games like Fortnite well if you enable DLSS .
Even Control can hit 72fps with DLSS enabled , whereas it ’ s unplayable at times when it dips below its average of 45fps without DLSS .
I wouldn ’ t pick the RTX 3060 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rig right now .
It ’ s just not designed for 4K gaming , and if Assassin ’ s Creed Valhalla can ’ t even come close to 60fps at max settings , then demanding games coming in 2021 and beyond aren ’ t going to fare well either .
The other concern I have here with 4K gaming on the RTX 3060 Ti is that it ships with 8GB of video memory .
4K games can average between 4GB and 6GB of memory , and 8GB just doesn ’ t feel like @ @ @ @ @ @ @ gaming .
If you ’ re looking for 4K gaming , I ’ d recommend the RTX 3080 instead .
Once again , Nvidia continues to deliver impressive performance with its range of RTX 3000 series cards .
For $ 399 , I think the RTX 3060 Ti is a bargain given you ’ d have to shell out $ 699 or more for this level of performance only a few months ago .
If I was building a budget 1440p gaming PC right now I ’ d pick the RTX 3060 Ti @ @ @ @ @ @ @ performance at 1440p , support for ray tracing , Nvidia ’ s DLSS technology , and a range of RTX features that are designed for creators .
If you want even more performance at 1440p then there ’ s the $ 499 RTX 3070 , or even AMD ’ s Radeon RX 6800 if you ’ re willing to shell out $ 579 .
I ’ m still super curious to see when and how AMD will compete with the $ 399 pricing here .
Especially as its RTX 3070 competitor ( the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at $ 579 .
I ’ d say it might be worth waiting to see what AMD has at this price point soon , but given its cards followed Nvidia ’ s latest by a couple of months , I think we ’ ll be waiting until January or February at this point .
Either way , it ’ s highly likely you won ’ t actually be able to purchase an RTX 3060 Ti even if you want one .
Availability of the RTX 3080 , RTX 3070 , and even AMD @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Demand is still outstripping supply , and I ’ d doubt the launch of the 3060 Ti tomorrow will improve things .
Still , it ’ s great that there are even more choices if you ’ re planning to move to a 1440p monitor .
The RTX 3070 made that leap more affordable , and at $ 399 the RTX 3060 Ti makes it even more comfortable for those looking to leave 1080p behind .

Nvidia’s new RTX 3060 Ti is a surprise addition to the company’s lineup of RTX 3000-series graphics cards. Priced at $399, it goes on sale tomorrow and Nvidia promises it will deliver more performance than the previous-generation top-of-the-line RTX 2080 and 2080 Super. But the 3060 Ti is far from the top of the line — in fact, it’s the least expensive RTX card you can buy. If the RTX 3070 was the sweet spot for 1440p gaming, the RTX 3060 Ti looks like an even sweeter spot thanks to the extra $100 savings.
Just like the RTX 3070, the RTX 3060 Ti will be able to do 4K gaming if you’re willing to knock the settings down, but both cards are ideally positioned for the 1440p market instead. The 3060 Ti is another great option if you’re looking to move from a 1080p display to a 1440p one without the $699 price tag on the RTX 3080 or the extra power requirements and power draw.
I’ve spent the past week testing out the new RTX 3060 Ti at both 1440p and 4K ahead of its debut on December 2nd. Just like the RTX 3070, this card will give you plenty of headroom at 1440p or below, but it struggles to hit 60fps in a number of modern games at 4K. Still, I’ve been impressed with the RTX 3060 Ti’s performance, especially for $399.
8 Verge Score Nvidia RTX 3060 Ti $ 399.99 The Good Very quiet and cool
Great for 1440p gaming
DLSS helps transform games The Bad 8GB of memory $400 at Best Buy How we rate and review products
Hardware
The RTX 3060 Ti looks almost identical to the RTX 3070. The size and shape are the same, combined with a traditional dual-fan setup. The dual-axial fans work together to keep the card cool, with the right fan pushing air all the way through the card to the opposite side, while the left directly cools the GPU cores with air that can exhaust out the rear of your chassis.
The RTX 3060 Ti is a quiet card as a result, and I rarely heard the fans spinning up as it hit temperatures of 73 degrees Celsius during most games I tested. Just like the RTX 3070, the RTX 3060 Ti has a dense and compact PCB that’s designed to improve airflow throughout the card. Nvidia is using its new 12-pin power connector here, instead of regular 6- or 8-pin power connectors.
There’s an adapter inside the box, which you have to use. You only have to adapt one 8-pin connector for the RTX 3060 Ti, so the setup isn’t as bulky as the adapter for the RTX 3080. I’d still recommend picking up a dedicated 12-pin connector from your PSU manufacturer, so you can avoid this ugly adapter altogether.
The 12-pin power connector on the RTX 3060 Ti. The dual fans on the RTX 3060 Ti.
The RTX 3060 Ti also features a single HDMI 2.1 port and three DisplayPort 1.4a ports. Like the rest of the RTX 3000 series, Nvidia has dropped the USB-C VirtualLink port found on the RTX 2000 series.
Much like the RTX 3070, there’s GeForce RTX branding on the side of the card but it doesn’t light up when your PC is powered on. The main difference between the two cards, visually, is that Nvidia is using a slightly lighter silver coating on the 3060 Ti. It’s different from the darker silver found on the rest of the RTX 3000 series cards, and I personally prefer the darker variant.
Nvidia’s RTX 3000 series cards have all bumped up their power requirements, but the RTX 3060 Ti is a little more modest in that regard. Nvidia is recommending a 600W power supply for the RTX 3060 Ti, and it will draw up to 200 watts. That’s only 15 watts more than the RTX 2060 Super, and 50 watts less power draw than the RTX 2080 Super for similar performance.
1440p testing
Test machine for 1440p and 4K: Processor: Intel Core i9-10900K 3.7GHz 10-Core
CPU Cooler: Corsair H150i PRO RGB
Motherboard: Asus ROG STRIX Z490-E GAMING
RAM: Corsair Vengeance Pro 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-3200
Storage: Samsung 970 Evo Plus 2TB M.2 SSD
Case: Corsair Crystal 570X
PSU: Corsair 850W RMx Series RM850x
I’ve been testing the RTX 3060 Ti on a PC using Intel’s latest Core i9-10900K inside. For 1440p tests, I hooked up the RTX 3060 Ti to a 27-inch Asus ROG Swift PG279Q monitor. This monitor supports refresh rates up to 165Hz plus G-Sync, so it’s a good 1440p option to test the limits of the 3060 Ti. I’ve also been testing 4K performance, which you can find below.
I’ve been playing a variety of games to test the RTX 3060 Ti, and I’m impressed with the results at 1440p. Shadow of the Tomb Raider is able to hold 100fps steady at max settings, and Call of Duty: Warzone manages 119fps even with ray-traced shadows enabled.
Even Control, a typically demanding title, manages to hit well above 60fps. The only exceptions are Watch Dogs: Legion and Metro Exodus. You can enable DLSS in both titles to make up for the performance dips here, or even drop some of the visual settings. I’m less concerned at Watch Dogs just barely missing the magical 60fps, especially as Control performs so well.
RTX 3060 Ti (1440P) Benchmark RTX 3060 Ti RTX 3070 RTX 2080 Microsoft Flight Simulator 20fps 40fps 35fps Shadow of the Tomb Raider 103fps 111fps 87fps Shadow of the Tomb Raider (DLSS) 108fps 118fps 97fps CoD: Warzone 120fps 130fps 97fps CoD: Warzone (RT) 119fps 126fps 92fps Fortnite 134fps 139fps 102fps Fortnite (DLSS quality) 188fps 173fps 138fps Fortnite (DLSS perf) 219fps 214fps 153fps Gears 5 123fps 114fps 85fps Death Stranding 132fps 134fps 114fps Death Stranding (DLSS quality) 158fps 166fps 141fps Death Stranding (DLSS perf) 171fps 172fps 184fps Control 87fps 95fps 78fps Control (DLSS quality + RT) 91fps 94fps 76fps Control (RT) 54fps 57fps 46fps Control (DLSS quality) 131fps 140fps 114fps Metro Exodus 39fps 44fps 35fps Metro Exodus (RT) 24fps 28fps 21fps Metro Exodus (DLSS+RT) 46fps 53fps 42fps Assassin's Creed Valhalla 63fps 69fps 58fps Watch Dogs: Legion 59fps 66fps 52fps Watch Dogs: Legion (RT) 39fps 34fps 28fps
All the games I’ve tested run better on the RTX 3060 Ti than the RTX 2080, and the ray tracing and DLSS performance is noticeably better here. None of the games I’ve tested with the RTX 3060 Ti come close enough to maxing out the 165Hz refresh rate on my monitor, though. Death Stranding was the closest at 132fps, but you’d need to enable DLSS in most games to really take advantage of higher refresh rates.
DLSS has consistently impressed me during all of the RTX 3000 series reviews, and it’s been particularly noticeable with the $399 RTX 3060 Ti. I was surprised at how well Fortnite manages to improve frame rates with DLSS turned on. I managed to get up to a 219fps average with the DLSS performance mode enabled, which is close to what even the RTX 3080 can provide.
You can pick between quality and performance modes for DLSS in a wide range of games, and Nvidia’s image reconstruction technique will render the game at a lower resolution and then upscale the image to make it look as good if not better than the native resolution. On PC monitors at 1440p, it looks great, and I think it’s worth enabling in most games to get a bit more performance if you need or want it.
The RTX 3060 Ti and RTX 3070 side by side.
4K testing
The RTX 3060 Ti handles 1440p well, but 4K is definitely more of a struggle. Most games I tested didn’t make it to 60fps regularly enough, and I really had to lower settings to get playable frame rates in some. Watch Dogs: Legion falls below 30fps at 4K most of the time with maxed out settings, and it barely even runs with ray tracing enabled.
I wasn’t expecting a $400 card to do much at 4K, but it still manages to handle games like Fortnite well if you enable DLSS. Even Control can hit 72fps with DLSS enabled, whereas it’s unplayable at times when it dips below its average of 45fps without DLSS.
RTX 3060 Ti (4K) Benchmark RTX 3060 Ti RTX 3070 RTX 2080 Microsoft Flight Simulator 19fps 23fps 19fps Shadow of the Tomb Raider 52fps 54fps 45fps Shadow of the Tomb Raider (DLSS) 65fps 69fps 61fps CoD: Warzone 60fps 74fps 62fps CoD: Warzone (RT) 59fps 70fps 58fps Fortnite 66fps 73fps 52fps Fortnite (DLSS quality) 99fps 105fps 79fps Fortnite (DLSS perf) 135fps 139fps 107fps Gears 5 69fps 66fps 46fps Death Stranding 59fps 72fps 64fps Death Stranding (DLSS quality) 83fps 104fps 89fps Death Stranding (DLSS perf) 101fps 158fps 120fps Control 45fps 48fps 41fps Control (DLSS quality + RT) 50fps 57fps 49fps Control (RT) 12fps 12fps 13fps Control (DLSS quality) 72fps 83fps 60fps Metro Exodus 14fps 16fps 15fps Metro Exodus (RT) 8fps 9fps 10fps Metro Exodus (DLSS+RT) 24fps 37fps 29fps Assassin's Creed Valhalla 39fps 57fps 49fps Watch Dogs: Legion 27fps 31fps 30fps Watch Dogs: Legion (RT) 6fps 12fps 6fps
I wouldn’t pick the RTX 3060 Ti if I was building a 4K rig right now. It’s just not designed for 4K gaming, and if Assassin’s Creed Valhalla can’t even come close to 60fps at max settings, then demanding games coming in 2021 and beyond aren’t going to fare well either.
The other concern I have here with 4K gaming on the RTX 3060 Ti is that it ships with 8GB of video memory. 4K games can average between 4GB and 6GB of memory, and 8GB just doesn’t feel like enough for some reasonable headroom for 4K gaming. If you’re looking for 4K gaming, I’d recommend the RTX 3080 instead.
RTX 3060 Ti ports. The RTX 3060 Ti and RTX 3070 are visually similar.
Once again, Nvidia continues to deliver impressive performance with its range of RTX 3000 series cards. For $399, I think the RTX 3060 Ti is a bargain given you’d have to shell out $699 or more for this level of performance only a few months ago.
If I was building a budget 1440p gaming PC right now I’d pick the RTX 3060 Ti for sure. It has some solid performance at 1440p, support for ray tracing, Nvidia’s DLSS technology, and a range of RTX features that are designed for creators. If you want even more performance at 1440p then there’s the $499 RTX 3070, or even AMD’s Radeon RX 6800 if you’re willing to shell out $579.
I’m still super curious to see when and how AMD will compete with the $399 pricing here. Especially as its RTX 3070 competitor (the Radeon RX 6800) is priced higher at $579. I’d say it might be worth waiting to see what AMD has at this price point soon, but given its cards followed Nvidia’s latest by a couple of months, I think we’ll be waiting until January or February at this point.
Either way, it’s highly likely you won’t actually be able to purchase an RTX 3060 Ti even if you want one. Availability of the RTX 3080, RTX 3070, and even AMD’s latest cards is incredibly constrained. Demand is still outstripping supply, and I’d doubt the launch of the 3060 Ti tomorrow will improve things.
Still, it’s great that there are even more choices if you’re planning to move to a 1440p monitor. The RTX 3070 made that leap more affordable, and at $399 the RTX 3060 Ti makes it even more comfortable for those looking to leave 1080p behind.


theverge--2020-12-01--Varjo’s dual-resolution VR and AR headsets just got crisper and cheaper

Virtual reality company Varjo , known for its unusual dual-resolution displays , has a new generation of virtual and augmented reality headsets .
It ’ s promising even higher resolution , a wider field of view , and AR with advanced depth mapping .
Varjo ’ s PC-tethered VR-3 and XR-3 both have some of the sharpest screens you ’ ll find in VR and AR .
The headsets use two panels for each eye : a small 1920 x 1920 display in the center of your vision , and a 2880 x 2720 panel for the rest of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ image when you ’ re looking straight ahead and a more standard ( albeit still high ) VR resolution for your peripheral vision .
Earlier Varjo devices used the same strategy with lower-resolution panels ; the VR-1 and VR-2 from 2019 , for instance , had a 1920 x 1080 inner panel and a 1440 x 1600 display .
The original Varjo screen ( which it calls a “ bionic display ” ) had a relatively narrow , boxy field of view , but the VR-3 and XR-3 have expanded that to offer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s higher than the fairly expansive Valve Index and substantially bigger than lower-end consumer headsets .
( These headsets typically have closer to 110 degrees of diagonal FOV , which translates into 100 degrees or less horizontal . )
The XR-3 and VR-3 use the same screen , and both feature hand and eye tracking , as well as the same 90Hz refresh rate .
But the XR-3 also includes cameras and LIDAR sensors that turn it into an AR headset by combining virtual objects with a passthrough video feed .
That makes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , at 594 grams compared to 558 grams , plus the weight of a headband that ’ s supposed to evenly and comfortably distribute that weight .
( The recent Oculus Quest 2 , a totally self-contained device , weighs 503 grams altogether . )
The XR-3 ’ s passthrough design is an alternative to typical AR glasses Varjo ’ s passthrough AR approach produces a much bulkier product than AR glasses like the Microsoft HoloLens , which project light through a pair of transparent glasses onto the real world .
But it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , similar to the AR images you ’ d find on phones and tablets .
LIDAR — which Apple incorporated into its 2020 iPad Pro — helps the headset more accurately map the outside world .
You might still get some obvious “ tells , ” like virtual objects ’ lighting not matching that of a real room .
But better mapping means that physical objects can realistically occlude virtual ones , for instance .
Varjo still isn ’ t pitching its headsets to consumers .
The XR-3 costs $ 5,495 and requires @ @ @ @ @ @ @ subscription .
The VR-3 costs $ 3,195 and requires a similar $ 795 subscription .
But that ’ s still a major cut from the $ 9,995 XR-1 and the $ 4,995 VR-2 .
The goal is a headset that more businesses and other organizations can afford .
The higher resolution , meanwhile , could help with specific use cases .
The VR-3 and XR-3 ’ s crisper peripheral vision means that pilots-in-training can glance around at a virtual cockpit and get a clear image , for instance — mimicking how they ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Varjo also promises better color accuracy with the XR-3 cameras , so doctors could get a better look at something like a rash while holding telemedicine sessions .
The VR-1 , VR-2 , and XR-1 were announced and released within months of each other , and the VR-3 and XR-3 are being released roughly a year later .
Varjo doesn ’ t expect to keep up this tight hardware release cycle .
With the screen resolution boost , higher field of view , and other features in place , it ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and improving performance via software tweaks .
The XR-3 and VR-3 are both available for purchase today , and shipments will start in early 2021 .

Virtual reality company Varjo, known for its unusual dual-resolution displays, has a new generation of virtual and augmented reality headsets. It’s promising even higher resolution, a wider field of view, and AR with advanced depth mapping.
Varjo’s PC-tethered VR-3 and XR-3 both have some of the sharpest screens you’ll find in VR and AR. The headsets use two panels for each eye: a small 1920 x 1920 display in the center of your vision, and a 2880 x 2720 panel for the rest of the screen. That produces an extremely clear image when you’re looking straight ahead and a more standard (albeit still high) VR resolution for your peripheral vision. Earlier Varjo devices used the same strategy with lower-resolution panels; the VR-1 and VR-2 from 2019, for instance, had a 1920 x 1080 inner panel and a 1440 x 1600 display.
The original Varjo screen (which it calls a “bionic display”) had a relatively narrow, boxy field of view, but the VR-3 and XR-3 have expanded that to offer a 115-degree horizontal FOV. That’s higher than the fairly expansive Valve Index and substantially bigger than lower-end consumer headsets. (These headsets typically have closer to 110 degrees of diagonal FOV, which translates into 100 degrees or less horizontal.)
The XR-3 and VR-3 use the same screen, and both feature hand and eye tracking, as well as the same 90Hz refresh rate. But the XR-3 also includes cameras and LIDAR sensors that turn it into an AR headset by combining virtual objects with a passthrough video feed. That makes the XR-3 somewhat heavier than the VR-3, at 594 grams compared to 558 grams, plus the weight of a headband that’s supposed to evenly and comfortably distribute that weight. (The recent Oculus Quest 2, a totally self-contained device, weighs 503 grams altogether.)
The XR-3’s passthrough design is an alternative to typical AR glasses
Varjo’s passthrough AR approach produces a much bulkier product than AR glasses like the Microsoft HoloLens, which project light through a pair of transparent glasses onto the real world. But it also creates much more solid-looking virtual objects, similar to the AR images you’d find on phones and tablets. LIDAR — which Apple incorporated into its 2020 iPad Pro — helps the headset more accurately map the outside world. You might still get some obvious “tells,” like virtual objects’ lighting not matching that of a real room. But better mapping means that physical objects can realistically occlude virtual ones, for instance.
Varjo still isn’t pitching its headsets to consumers. The XR-3 costs $5,495 and requires a one-year $1,495 Varjo software support subscription. The VR-3 costs $3,195 and requires a similar $795 subscription. But that’s still a major cut from the $9,995 XR-1 and the $4,995 VR-2. The goal is a headset that more businesses and other organizations can afford. The higher resolution, meanwhile, could help with specific use cases. The VR-3 and XR-3’s crisper peripheral vision means that pilots-in-training can glance around at a virtual cockpit and get a clear image, for instance — mimicking how they’d act while flying a real plane. Varjo also promises better color accuracy with the XR-3 cameras, so doctors could get a better look at something like a rash while holding telemedicine sessions.
The VR-1, VR-2, and XR-1 were announced and released within months of each other, and the VR-3 and XR-3 are being released roughly a year later. Varjo doesn’t expect to keep up this tight hardware release cycle. With the screen resolution boost, higher field of view, and other features in place, it’s going to focus on scaling up deliveries and improving performance via software tweaks.