One of San Francisco’s major movie theaters now bears the name of Christopher Nolan, and the Oscar-winning director plans to commemorate the occasion with a visit to the city later this year.
The Alamo Drafthouse New Mission is the latest of several locations in the Austin, Texas-based chain to be ceremonially renamed for iconic film personalities.
“San Francisco’s New Mission is a beautiful, historic, iconic cinema with more than a century of rich history,” Nolan said in a statement released by Alamo Drafthouse on Wednesday, June 10. “To be recognized in this way by Alamo Drafthouse, and with this particular theater which continues the great tradition of showing films on 70mm film, is an incredible honour.”
At the Christopher Nolan Cinema, the $250 million epic will screen on 70 mm film, 35 mm and the Big Show large format. Tickets are on sale now at www.drafthouse.com/sf.
The filmmaker whose last blockbuster, “Oppenheimer” (2023), won seven Oscars including best picture and best director, has committed to hosting a 70 mm screening event in San Francisco that he will curate. The date has not yet been determined.
“We are thrilled to welcome Christopher Nolan to San Francisco and celebrate this remarkable tribute at the Alamo Drafthouse New Mission Theater, one of our city’s treasured screening spaces,” San Francisco Film Commission Executive Director Manijeh Fata said in a statement. “Nolan’s commitment to theatrical exhibition and the moviegoing experience makes this honor especially fitting.”
The renaming, however, comes with a caveat. The signage and historic marquee of the New Mission, which first opened in 1916 and was remodeled in 1932 by noted Bay Area architect Timothy Pflueger, will remain unchanged.
Showtime listings will also remain under the New Mission name.
Still, an Alamo spokesperson told the Chronicle the ceremonial renaming “will have permanent and prominent placement throughout the lobby.”
Other Alamo Drafthouses have been renamed after directors Spike Lee, John Hughes, Ivan Reitman and Bong Joon Ho as well as “Foxy Brown” actor Pam Grier.
“By dedicating New Mission in Mr. Nolan’s name, we’re celebrating and thanking a filmmaker whose work has consistently championed cinema not merely as entertainment, but as a cultural inheritance worth protecting,” Alamo Drafthouse CEO Michael Kustermann said in a statement. “The same auditorium that ran silent movies in 1916 now has both 70mm celluloid projection sitting beside Barco’s state-of-the-art laser projector. That trajectory feels right for the Christopher Nolan Cinema.”
The New Mission operated as a movie theater until it closed in 1993. Alamo Drafthouse restored the theater and it reopened in December 2015. In May, it completed a renovation which included replacing all seating with recliners.