Theater chain Alamo Drafthouse had some movie-showing problems over New Year’s Eve and Day due to issues with their Sony projectors. On New Year’s Eve, Alamo posted on social media that Sony was having problems with their projectors. This meant some Alamo theaters could not show movies that day. Five theaters had to close for the rest of New Year’s Eve.
By New Year’s Day, most showtimes were available again at most theaters. But a few theaters still seemed to be having issues. It’s not clear exactly what the projector problems were. As it was a holiday, Alamo and Sony were not able to give details right away. Alamo blamed the problems on issues with their Sony projectors.
One Alamo location in Minnesota put up a sign saying it was a “nationwide” outage caused by problems with Sony. However, someone who saw that sign said they were still able to watch a movie there. They said the previews played, but they wouldn’t know until the actual movie started if it would work or just go black. Luckily, their movie played without issues.
As of January 1st, Alamo said most showings were back on at the theaters that were affected. They thanked people for their patience. If your specific movie was still canceled, Alamo said they would email you directly. It looks like the projector problems may have affected some movies more than others at some theaters. Reddit users speculated it could be expired digital certificates used to unlock encrypted movies, but Alamo and Sony did not confirm this. Sony had previously exited the movie projector business in 2020.
