No talking? No texting? Naples’ new Alamo Drafthouse, a movie lover’s paradise

Charles Runnells | Naples Daily News

Alamo Drafthouse might be the coolest movie-theater chain in America. And they’ve just opened their first Florida spot ― right here in Naples.

So, of course, I had to drop everything and go.

Immediately.

I’m a huge fan of movies ― whether it’s arthouse cinema or the latest Marvel/Star Wars blockbuster. And film nuts like me know and revere the name Alamo Drafthouse.

Dinner at your theater seat? A beautiful picture and sound you feel in your bones? A zero-tolerance policy for people who talk or text during the movie?

That sounds like paradise to me.

Two tickets, please.

Silverspot left last summer, Alamo Drafthouse filled Mercato space

I’ve been wanting to go to an Alamo Drafthouse ever since seeing a CBS Sunday Morning segment on the theater chain in 2016. But I thought I’d never get the chance.

Then we got the news last year: Alamo was taking over the former Silverspot Cinema at North Naples’ shopping center Mercato.

Why Naples? General manager Brock Cowgill says they’d been wanting to expand into Florida, and it was easier to move into a preexisting theater than to build an all-new one.

“But it’s also a great market,” Cowgill says. “The southwest part of Florida is growing rapidly.”

Whatever their reasons, I’m glad they’re here. So just six days after the Alamo opened April 29, my girlfriend Silvia and I climbed into my car and made the 45-minute drive south from Cape Coral to North Naples.

And that long drive was totally worth it. Especially for Silvia, who stopped going to movie theaters years ago because of annoying people.

Read more of Charles and Sylvia’s experience at Alamo Drafthouse on naplesnews.com.