Alamo Drafthouse Announces New Franchise Partner Cojeaux Cinemas

AUSTIN, Texas, Jan. 23, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas is pleased to announce plans to expand locations in the Washington D.C. metro and surrounding areas with new franchise partner Cojeaux Cinemas.  The first location being opened by Cojeaux Cinemas is Alamo Ashburn in One Loudoun, located in Loudoun County, Virginia.

(Logo:  http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100816/FFLOGO)

The Alamo Ashburn location will be a state of the art ground-up location with 8 screens.  Each of the auditoriums will be equipped with high-tech digital projection as well as excellent screen size to room ratio and amazing sound.  In addition to the superior AV equipment, the layout of each screening room will eliminate the traditional front row, ensuring every seat in the house allows for a great viewing experience. 

Alamo Drafthouse signed a development agreement with Cojeaux Cinemas in August 2011 that includes Washington D.C. and the surrounding market areas in Virginia and Maryland.  Cojeaux Cinemas is currently pursuing additional locations to expand the presence of Alamo Drafthouse Cinema within Washington D.C. proper and the surrounding metropolitan areas over the next five years. 

Cojeaux Cinemas is made up of President Anthony Coco, Executive Vice President Joseph Edwards and partners Roy Spence, Judy Trabuls, Mary Spence and Shay Spence.  The advisory board members include Rusty Coco and Tara Coco.

Anthony Coco, Joseph Edwards and Russell Coco come from Deli Management, Inc., the company that operates 230 Jason's Deli branded restaurants throughout the United States.  Anthony Coco served as the company's Chief Concept Officer.  Edwards worked in the Real Estate and Accounting departments.  Russell Coco was formerly the Executive VP and Co-Founder of Deli Management Inc. where he helped the business grow from 1976 through 2011 and was an integral part of the success and growth from one Jason's Deli location in Beaumont, Texas to approximately 230 locations in 29 states with system wide revenues topping $500 million. 

Roy Spence and Judy Trabulsi are Co-Founders of GSD&M Idea City, a national and leading marketing communications and advertising company. GSD&M has helped grow some of the world's most successful brands like "Don't Mess with Texas", Southwest Airlines, Wal-Mart, DreamWorks, the PGA TOUR, BMW, the U.S. Air Force, LLBean and the Clinton Global Initiative.

The Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas provides a unique combination of theatre and restaurant, showing first-run & independent films and special programming events with an extensive menu made from scratch in a state-of-the-art culinary kitchen. Customers order all food and drinks from servers who quietly attend to them throughout the movie.  Customers are encouraged to arrive early to enjoy the pre-show entertainment. Instead of a barrage of advertising, a pre-show of rare (and often hilarious) clips are shown that change on a regular basis, often tailored specifically to the feature film. 

Additionally, the Alamo Drafthouse protects the theater experience with a zero tolerance policy for people who disrupt the film with talking or texting.  Last summer the Alamo Drafthouse was featured on global news for a viral "Don't Talk" PSA that used a humorously misguided voicemail from an actual patron who was ejected for texting during the film.  The full story on the long tradition of Alamo's no talking/texting policy can be found here.

About Alamo Drafthouse
The Alamo Drafthouse is a lifestyle entertainment brand with an acclaimed cinema-eatery, the largest genre film festival in the United Sates and an online collectible art store. Named "the best theater ever" by Time Magazine, the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema has built a reputation as a movie lover's oasis not only by combining food and drink service with the movie-going experience, but also introducing unique programming and high-profile, star studded special events. Alamo Drafthouse Founder & CEO, Tim League, created Fantastic Fest, a world renowned film festival dubbed "The Geek Telluride" by Variety. Fantastic Fest showcases eight days of offbeat cinema from independents, international filmmakers and major Hollywood studios. The Alamo Drafthouse's collectible art boutique, Mondo, offers breathtaking, original products featuring designs from world-famous artists based on licenses for popular TV and Movie properties including Star Wars, Star Trek & Universal Monsters. The Alamo Drafthouse Cinema is expanding its brand in new and exciting ways, including the launch of Drafthouse Films, a new film distribution label and plans to extend its theaters and unique programming philosophy to additional markets across the United States. More information about Alamo Drafthouse franchise opportunities are available on the official website. http://drafthouse.com/

SOURCE Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas