New Wrigleyville Alamo Drafthouse Honors John Hughes

LAKEVIEW (Jan. 27, 2023) — A new Alamo Drafthouse opened Friday in Wrigleyville, the cinema chain’s first location in Chicago. The six-screen movie theater is dedicated to late filmmaker John Hughes.

His son James Hughes was in attendance for the grand opening Thursday to introduce a screening of “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” telling the audience about his father’s connection to the Lakeview neighborhood where the new theater now sits, less than a block from Wrigley Field.

“This was an important corridor for my father in terms of his location photography in this city. I think people would think first and foremost of Ferris Bueller and his friends at Wrigley,” Hughes said. “But lest we forget, this was also the hometown neighborhood of Uncle Buck. Another John Candy feature ‘Only the Lonely’ which my father produced…the house [in that film] was just a short walk from here.”

Hughes mentioned the historic Music Box Theatre and a now-closed nearby coffee shop where his father would anonymously write.

“Anybody who’s here from Illinois understands how weirdly connected things can be at times,” Hughes said, noting he was “genuinely honored and proud and very appreciative” for the dedication, on behalf of his family.

The 30,000 square-foot theater has 373 seats and features several homages to Hughes, a majority of whose iconic movies are set in Chicago and were filmed in the north suburbs. From holiday classics “Home Alone” and “Christmas Vacation” to high school staples “The Breakfast Club” and “Sixteen Candles,” Hughes films have a quintessentially Chicago flavor, which the new location leans into.

It is the 39th location for Alamo Drafthouse, which started in the 1990s in Austin, Texas. The company filed for bankruptcy during the pandemic but is “marching on,” founder Tim League said Thursday at the grand opening.

"We got close to death during COVID…but the industry’s strong. The press that you sometimes hear is that, cinema is dead, it’s all streaming from here…the idea that you have a kitchen in your house but yet you still continue to go to restaurants, that’s been proven and tried and true," League said. "So it’s the obligation of cinemas to have an incredible experience and to compel you to come out of the home. Great directors want their movies to be seen with great presentation in this setting, not on a laptop while you’re in bed multitasking and checking email."

Programmers are making a point of “starting out with a lot of Chicago-based programming,” Senior Manager of Regional Market Mike Samson said, including a Friday screening of “Ferris” and a Michael Mann double feature set for the weekend.

“What’s gonna be on screen here in Chicago is gonna be different than what you would see at an Alamo in Texas or in Los Angeles or in Brooklyn because we program each of these theaters individually,” Samson said. “We take a lot of active pride in what we show here.”

A mix of blockbusters and classics are on the upcoming calendar at the drafthouse, from the “Ant-Man and the Wasp” sequel to a “You’ve Got Mail” brunch in February.

Cocktails and a full food menu are available to moviegoers, along with a draft beer list featuring predominantly Midwest brewers. A free five-day video rental service known as “Video Vortex” is also part of the experience.

League said the company has “desires” but no concrete plans to expand to more locations in Chicago. “It’s typical of what we do. When we come some place, that usually means that we’re gonna keep on looking for opportunities to expand within that city.”