Metro Private Cinema is opening Wednesday, October 29, adding another option to New York’s growing crop of fancy movie venues — this one with private rooms. The Chelsea project, led by the controversial Tim League of Alamo Drafthouse, features 20 private screening rooms that can be booked for four to twenty customers, each with recliners, surround sound, and table service from chef Joshua Guarneri (Breslin, Hearth and Hound, Bar Avalon in LA). The theater opens at 131 Eighth Avenue, near West 17th Street, on Wednesday, October 29.
The theater will offer themed multi-course dinners tied to films like Wicked: For Good or The Big Lebowski, or customers can decide to go with a seasonal menu — kampachi crudo, mushroom risotto, peri peri prawns, and a dessert trio, for example. The space also includes a cocktail lounge that is open to the public, the Bar with No Name.
Say you wanted to book a screening for late November: the initial booking for a room for four to six people is $300 at 7:45 p.m. Then you’d choose among themed dinners or the fall menu for a family-style experience, plus $25 to $50 per person for beverage pairings or a la carte drinks. That brings the cost to somewhere around $1,200 for dinner and a movie for a party of six, or about $200 per person. Further out, there’s a $125 per person dinner for Planes, Trains, and Automobiles on Thanksgiving, and a duck dinner for A Christmas Story on December 24 and 25.
This marks Tim League’s first major project since a turbulent few years for Alamo Drafthouse, the theater chain he founded. In 2022, the Texas Observer detailed the company’s financial struggles during the pandemic, including layoffs and a bankruptcy filing, while also describing oppressive working conditions across some of its locations. The report noted that Alamo remained a popular brand despite accusations of union-busting and past allegations of sexual misconduct involving associates and customers.
Earlier, in 2018, Splinter reported that League and his wife, Karrie, had been criticized for downplaying workplace issues during the #MeToo movement. At the time, League issued a public apology, saying he had made “problematic” decisions that fell short of the values he wanted the company to represent. Sony Pictures bought Alamo Drafthouse in 2024. In that transaction, Alamo Drafthouse kept its more than 30 cinemas across 25 metro areas under the Alamo Drafthouse brand. “We are beyond thrilled to join forces with Sony Pictures Entertainment to expand our company vision to be the best damn cinema that has ever, or will ever, exist now in ways we could only ever dream of,” said League at the time. “They have a deep respect and understanding of cinema’s ability to both drive growth and create lasting cultural impact, which aligns perfectly with everything Alamo Drafthouse stands for.”