Austin-based cinema chain Alamo Drafthouse’s new mobile ordering policy has been out for a little bit, which means fans up in arms about it have had the chance to try it out. But for longtime patrons, it’s only affirmed that it’s a bad idea. That cohort includes one of Alamo’s more famous boosters.
Actor Elijah Wood, famous for his role as Frodo Baggins in the Lord of the Rings film adaptations, had previously called Austin theater chain Alamo Drafthouse’s new mobile ordering policy “antithetical to the ethos of Alamo” and “a profound and upsetting mistake.” But on Monday, Wood actually experienced the new policy in action. To say he was displeased was an understatement.
Writing on X on Tuesday, former Austin resident Wood said he tried the new ordering scheme that allows theater-goers to order food and drinks from their phone during the movie by scanning a QR code. That system already goes against Alamo’s longtime dogma of “keeping your phone silent and out of sight.” But besides his opposition on ethical grounds, Wood said that it’s a bad system.
“I can tell you it’s truly awful. Rather than making ordering food and drink more efficient, it actually adds steps to the process,” Wood wrote. “AND if you want to order additional items during the film you HAVE to open your phone.”
“No, your cute reference to that irony in your How To Alamo video doesn’t negate how ridiculous this is,” Wood wrote. “Please don’t cut corners with your staff and revert back to physical menus and order cards.”
No one seems to be a fan of Alamo Drafthouse’s new system.
Wood wasn’t the only Alamo-goer incensed by the new policy, instituted earlier this year by the company to keep abreast of industry trends. In replies to his X post, people recounted similarly frustrating experiences.
“Went to Alamo for I Love Boosters and omg I never wanna go again after that. It was horrible. The charm and novelty of Alamo is completely gone,” X user Alex Haha wrote. “They need to pay their workers more and get rid of this QR disaster.”
“The old, original system on 6th Street was so good and pure. The maniacs. They blew it all up,” writer Maggie Phillips wrote, referring to the Drafthouse’s former location on Sixth Street in Austin (which is now Joe Rogan’s Comedy Mothership club) and Sony’s purchase of the chain.
It would make sense that Wood, a noted fan and booster of indie cinema made by people and shown in movie theaters, is incensed about Alamo’s new policy. But the company seems to have pleased nobody with the mobile ordering snafu. Posts on the theater’s dedicated subreddit routinely slam the QR code system. And critics hate it, too.
A Jezebel writer said that the policy put a strain on already overworked theater employees. AV Club critic Matt Schimkowitz said the policy “did not reduce distraction.” And IndieWire film critic David Ehrlich, one of the best working movie critics today, wrote a scathing review of the new-look Alamo Drafthouse titled “The Absolute Hell of Watching a Movie at the Alamo Drafthouse in 2026.” Ehrlich bemoaned that the theater that once made him feel like “the movies loved me back” and a bulwark against big box chains full of rude talkers had changed too much.
“The Drafthouse itself is so deeply broken that I can’t help but curse the brand for tricking my younger and more naive self into believing that it wouldn’t be ens–ttified into something even worse than a trip to AMC,” Ehrlich wrote. “Where the screens aren’t masked, the popcorn doesn’t come in a metal salad bowl, and the general customer experience makes you long for the humanizing comforts of air travel.”