Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar

Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar stands at 1120 South Lamar Boulevard in Austin's Zilker neighborhood, in a shopping plaza where, a Cinema Treasures contributor recalls, a Piggly Wiggly grocery once operated. It opened as a six-screen, 695-seat theater; the same site dates its grand opening to March 7, 2005, after a soft opening on March 4. Unlike Alamo's original downtown theater, South Lamar showed mainly first-run films, served with the chain's in-seat food and drink. The building is best known as the home of Fantastic Fest, the genre festival started by Alamo Drafthouse founder Tim League and held each year in late September. The festival bills itself as the largest genre film festival in the United States; its 2026 edition was set for eight days, September 17 to 24, at South Lamar. Fantastic Fest counts among its world premieres There Will Be Blood, Apocalypto, Zombieland, Red, Frankenweenie, Red Dawn, Machete Kills, John Wick, Split, Overlord, Apostle and Smile. The Texas Film Commission notes that There Will Be Blood had its first public screening at the 2007 festival. TheWrap traced the festival's value to studios to its fifth edition in 2009, when it screened Paranormal Activity, and to the 2014 premiere of John Wick; in 2022 Smile became the tenth film to play Fantastic Fest and then open at No. 1 at the box office. The theater has also served as a SXSW screening venue. In March 2010 the festival showed Simon Rumley's Austin-set feature Red White & Blue there. Rumley, an English director who had met Tim and Karrie League at Fantastic Fest, asked League to executive produce the film, shot a scene inside the Lamar theater, and looked forward to hearing the home audience react to it. In 2013 the theater was renovated, with Weiss Architecture designing the work, and four screens were added. Cinema Treasures now lists 10 screens and 817 seats, including a 149-seat auditorium equipped for 70mm film and Dolby Atmos sound.