Sony/Alamo Drafthouse to reopen the Cinerama Dome

[Leo Enticknap]

Here.

Sony and Alamo Drafthouse announce plans to reopen the iconic Cinerama Dome

By Cerys Davies
Staff Writer
July 22, 2026 Updated 12:10 PM PT

Hollywood’s storied Cinerama Dome will soon be open for business again.

Following a six-year shutdown prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic, Sony Pictures Entertainment has stepped in to restore and reopen the historic Hollywood landmark. The dome, which will keep its Cinerama name, will be operated by Sony Pictures Entertainment’s theater chain, the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, the company announced in a statement Wednesday.

“There is no moviegoing destination anywhere in the world that commands the affection, history, and cultural significance of the Cinerama Dome,” Sony Pictures Entertainment Chief Executive Ravi Ahuja said in a statement.

“This is a meaningful moment for our company, our industry, and Los Angeles,” Ahuja added. “We look forward to honoring and extending the Dome’s extraordinary legacy.”

Renovations on the dome will start next month and continue until early 2028. Sony said the renovations will honor “its historic legacy and singular moviegoing experience,” leaving the iconic red and blue exterior lettering intact. The restoration will also preserve its immersive large-format curved-screen presentation.

Sony also has plans to reopen the adjacent 14-screen theater complex that was formerly the ArcLight Cinemas. The theater will offer dine-in services as well as curated programming. The theaters will be equipped to show premium formats such as 35mm, 70mm and 4K laser projection.

Both the dome and the theater complex will feature repertory screenings, filmmaker series, premieres and special events.

Unlike the other Alamo Drafthouse locations, the dome will not operate as a dine-in theater, but will maintain its traditional concession experience. The chain has recently come under fire for switching up the ordering system for its in-seat food service, forcing patrons to pull out their phones during a movie.

The deal comes after Sony Entertainment first purchased the Austin, Texas-based Alamo Drafthouse theater chain in 2024 and recently invested $100 million in the immersive shared reality theater chain Cosm, which has locations in Inglewood, Dallas and Atlanta.

The Cinerama Dome was first opened in 1963. The theater, located on Sunset Boulevard, became known for its 86-foot-wide, curved screen. The pioneering technology allowed audiences to experience a panoramic view of the film. Its presence helped shape a new era of moviegoing formats. Prior to Sony’s purchase, the dome had long been owned by the family of William R. Forman, the founder of Pacific Theatres.

Ever since the dome’s closure, L.A.’s film community has been missing an essential gathering space, said Benjamin Steinberg, who leads the Save Your Cinema campaign online. When the theater reopens, he said he plans to visit two to three times weekly.

“It was definitely the capital of like the movie-going experience in L.A.,” Steinberg said. “I can’t wait to go back inside the Cinerama Dome and watch movies.”

The news comes as the summer box office is experiencing its own revival. Audiences have flocked to theaters to see movies such as “Toy Story 5,” “Backrooms” and “Obsession,” among other films. There has been also been newfound attention on theatrical presentation and film formats, including the highly sought after 70mm showing of Christopher Nolan’s latest epic, “The Odyssey.”

“The Cinerama Dome has been a treasured and important landmark for movie fans and the entire film community for over six decades,” Michael O’Leary, the president of the theater owners’ trade group Cinema United, said in a statement. “The timing could not be better with moviegoers, making clear this year that they love the unique experience of seeing a movie on the big screen.”

Times staff writer Mark Olsen contributed to this report.

That's very good news and a bold move. The renovation is going to be a huge project, especially if they're serious about getting all 14 (IIRC) Arclight screens back up.

[Marcel Birgelen]

The Sony part had me confused, but SPE makes more sense, although it's both interesting and somewhat dangerous to see film companies foraging into this business... But since Netflix now has its own theater, I guess every major studio in LA needs to push their mark onto at least one landmark cinema...

The question is how well they preserved the building while it was closed. Did they sell-off the equipment after they went bankrupt? If they left all the equipment in and guarded the building for entry, did at least the basic maintenance like repairing leaks and everything is still in-tact, it shouldn't be too hard to at least get the basics back in working order. Then you can renovate the theaters one by one, probably starting with the main event, the cinerama dome itself.

[Tj Hopland]

Are the saying a year and a half for just the dome part of the project or is that for both complexes to be fully complete?

6 years is a long time for a building to just sit and who knows what kind of shape they were in behind the scenes before it closed so I could see them both needing quite extensive infrastructure repairs before they even get to the cosmetics and features they want to add.

[Jim Cassedy]

Alamo is a rabidly anti-union company. I'm not sure how that's going to work
out in LA, which is definitely a 'union town', especially when it comes to any
entertainment related jobs. Several years ago, they eliminated the term
'projectionist' from any job description and then changed the job title to
"technical engineer". I actually had someone in management tell me that
one of the big reasons they did this was because 'projectionists' have a
union - - technical engineers do not. They then cut the staff back to only
one 'technical engineer' per location and got rid of all the others, union or
not. I think one of the reasons I managed to squeak by is that I've been
in the union for many, many, years, and my Local had just re-negotiated
a very good contract only a couple of months before they 'dismissed'
everyone else. (The contract was good for me, maybe not so much for
them). My two co-workers were declared surplus and dismissed, since
they were 'projectionists', and not 'technical engineers' . To be fair, I
believe they got some sort of buyout exit bonus before being banned
from the building.

[Mark Ogden]

It is one thing to reopen the Dome and the former ArcLight Cinemas, it's another thing to carry forward the ArcLight operating philosophy, which was: the lights go down, three trailers, and the feature. NO pre-show, NO commercials, NO policy/image daters, and NO Nicole Kidman telling us Why We Come To This Place. That is one of the real reasons the ArcLight is so dearly missed, besides its killer location. It was about as pure-play moviegoing as you could find.

I haven't been in an Alamo since the Sony merger, but from various angry subReddits one might conclude that they're not very much in the way of maintaining a company's legacy once they have taken over. I still laugh at the "no texting" dater that they made from this one gal's angry answering machine message after they gave her the heave-ho. And now you need your phone to order your nachos from your seat. It doesn't bode well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1L3eeC2lJZs

[Ryan Gallagher]

And now you need your phone to order your nachos from your seat. It doesn't bode well.

Well at least the OP article mentions the plan to do traditional lobby concessions to preserve the historical nature of that building. At least phone ordering won't be a thing in the Dome, even if it is a Sony/Alamo.

[Leo Enticknap]

It is one thing to reopen the Dome and the former ArcLight Cinemas, it's another thing to carry forward the ArcLight operating philosophy, which was: the lights go down, three trailers, and the feature. NO pre-show, NO commercials, NO policy/image daters, and NO Nicole Kidman telling us Why We Come To This Place. That is one of the real reasons the ArcLight is so dearly missed, besides its killer location. It was about as pure-play moviegoing as you could find

Unfortunately, that location is not the killer location it once was (unless the definition of killer one has in mind involves homeless people passing away on the sidewalk from fentanyl overdoses). A discussion of the reasons why would require raising political issues, but the underlying reality is that tourism in the heart of the Hollywood tourist zone (essentially, Hollywood and Sunset Boulevards from Vine to the El Capitan) has never fully recovered from covid. The result is that the area now has a reputation for being a somewhat down-at-heel neighborhood with a significant homelessness and street crime problem. This is the main reason why the Arclight and Dome have not reopened since the covid closure, and it is by no means the only leisure-focused business in the Hollywood tourist zone that did not survive it.

As for Sony/ADH's phone ordering and other changes since Sony bought ADH, the alternative for the Arclight and Dome would have been worse. Speculation was rife online, and was even mentioned in a Hollywood Reporter article, to the effect that the owners were keeping the building empty and unmaintained in order that eventually, they could make an argument that it had deteriorated to the point at which it would be too expensive to restore it to an operational condition, and on those grounds apply to have the Dome struck from the National Register of Historic Places, thereby enabling the complex's demolition and replacement with apartments (for which significant state and local subsidies would have been available, as long as some of the apartments were "affordable").

So if Sony/ADH have taken that risk off the table by stepping in, I'll take it.