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Comment by simonebrunozzi | Hacker News Reader

> Our European visitors are important to us.

> This site is currently unavailable to visitors from the European Economic Area while we work to ensure your data is protected in accordance with applicable EU laws.

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Alamo is a movie theater chain based mostly in the US South and CA that is known for adding food, bars, distributing both major studio and indie movies and really enhancing the "in-theater" experience. They're a very exposed casualty to Covid unfortunately.

While I'm sure European visitors are "important" it's mostly a US Brick and Mortar business so it's not that "important" to meet GDPR requirements apparently.

Right. I don't even know what is a Drafthouse? And now I may never know.

Alamo Drafthouse is a fancy theater that has limited seating, a VERY strict cell phone/talking policy, craft beer, and pretty good food.

The cell phone policy is a point of pride:

https://www.youtube.com/watch/1L3eeC2lJZs

craft beer, and pretty good food.

They do? Looks like typical mediocre American pub fare...

https://s3.drafthouse.com/menus/NOVA_DigitalMenu_JAN21_9x12....

Which is significantly better than what you'll find at most American movie theaters (popcorn, hot dogs, candy, soda).

The food selection is better, but every time I have been the actual execution has been pretty poor which is why I stopped going to the Alamo near me. I would rather eat before or after and see the movie in my other local theater which also has lower ticket prices and more comfortable seating.

Their food was better in the past. With expansion and other business challenges there was some cost cutting.

Someone further upthread suggested they should partner with local restaurants, and I think that's a great idea. Quality food trucks would be a perfect fit.

Food trucks work even better with drive-in theaters. But Alamo is making most of their profit from food & drinks. That's the truth about the theater business: most ticket revenue goes to the film producers. Splitting the food & beverage profit with 3rd parties would kill most of their income.

That's a pretty low bar.

I get that the Royale with Cheese is a Pulp Fiction reference, but at least they could have made it like an actual quarter pounder.

I've only been twice and haven't had a lot of their food, but it was better than I expected. The buffalo cauliflower was surprisingly good. Is it as good as food in my neighborhood? No, not at all. Is it far better than food normally sold to captive patrons? Yes, absolutely.

finest moviegoing experience in the united states, hands down.

Considering they've been showing this message ever since GDPR went into effect, it's clear that European visitors aren't important to them at all.

And why should they be? It's not like you'll be booking tickets.

The link is to a news article, not the business in question.

Something can be important to you and yet not important enough to pay the costs to remedy.

They only have theaters in the US so I would imagine the ROI is very low (a couple of tourists might hit it up at some point?)

It's not inconsistent to say that they care about Europeans who are interested in visiting their locations, while also punting on GDPR compliance.

Realistically, most Europeans interested in going to an Alamo Drafthouse are already in the US, so they won't see that message.

edit: I'm unsmart

https://drafthouse.com/ loads fine. https://www.kxan.com, on the other hand, doesn't.

You're not missing anything good, fwiw.

I think they mean it's important to them to respect the laws of Europe.

It’s just a generic notice. I don’t think it’s anything to get riled up about.

Of course European movie fans are important, in fact, you’re probably gonna get a free pitcher of beer if you say you came all the way from Europe and going to the draft house was part of your bucket list.

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