Is Austin-based Alamo Drafthouse exploring a sale? Multiple reports say its possible.

Austin-based movie theater chain Alamo Drafthouse is exploring a sale, according to multiple media reports.

Alamo Drafthouse declined to comment on the potential sale, which was first reported by Deadline citing multiple unnamed sources. According to Deadline, there are no bidders for a movie theater chain yet, nor is there a clear asking price.

Variety also reported the possible sale, saying that several Hollywood studios were approached to gauge their interest in buying the company, citing unnamed sources. The report said it was not clear if the talks are ongoing or how close a possible deal would be.

The first Alamo Drafthouse opened in Austin in 1997 and was founded by Tim and Karrie League. The company has since grown to become an influential national chain with dozens of theaters and has branched out to include merchandising and film preservation arms. Alamo Drafthouse is also known for pioneering the dinner-and-a movie model of theater design.

It's unclear what a sale could mean for the company's various theaters. Alamo Drafthouse's website lists 41 locations, across 26 metro areas, including five Austin theaters. Three additional locations in Indianapolis, Arkansas and Florida are marked as "coming soon." Several of its theaters are franchise-owned.

The company also did not comment on how many employees it has in Central Texas or nationally.

The potential sale comes amid several turbulent years for Alamo Drafthouse and the movie theater business. The company, like many other movie theater chains, faced difficulties amid the pandemic.

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The industry is still having a sluggish return. According to analytics firm Comscore, annual ticket sales last year were more than $9 billion across all movie theater chains, the highest since the pandemic started, but annual ticket sales are still down $2 billion compared to before the pandemic. In 2019, theaters brought in $11.4 billion.

Alamo Drafthouse closed its theaters in March 2020, and declined to reopen the Texas ones right away when Gov. Greg Abbott allowed indoor cinemas to resume operations, but the chain later reopened some locations in late summer 2020. Around that time, the company also laid off employees, and created a COVID-19 relief fund.

The company filed for bankruptcy in 2021 and entered into a purchase agreement for the sale of its assets to a senior lender group, that included Altamont Capital Partners, which already had invested in Alamo Drafthouse, as well as Fortress Investment Group, and Tim League, the company's co-founder and then-executive chairman. The company exited bankruptcy in summer 2021, and the company said at the time it had plans for growth, including opening five new theaters.

Amid the bankruptcy filing the company closed several locations including the Alamo Drafthouse Ritz in downtown Austin, as well as locations in New Braunfels and Kansas City, Missouri.

League had stepped down as CEO of the chain in 2020 and launched a streaming platform, Alamo on Demand. The company has had two CEOs since League stepped down in 2020. He was replaced by former Starbucks executive Shelli Taylor, who announced her retirement in July after three years on the job. Michael Kustermann, the company's then-president, was named her successor.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Reports show Austin-based Alamo Drafthouse could be exploring a sale