You could blame technology, which has managed to make home theaters as technically capable as those in the cineplex. Not to mention that with widespread broadband and a growing cadre of on-demand video providers, anyone can watch just about anything at anytime. And not even risk sitting in somebody's half-chewed Junior Mints.

(You could also blame the actual content, but that's just given.)

So how do you compete with that?

Well, if you're Alamo Drafthouse, you embrace the collapse of the tradition moviegoing experience by transforming it into more of a real theater experience. You take reservations — for assigned, plush seats. You offer a complete dining experience, with real waiters scurrying up and down the aisles. You serve beer. Oh, and you ban cellphones and kids.

And you stick with it for years in a remodeled warehouse in Austin, Texas, showing second and third-run films until the earn the right to new releases.

And you know you've arrived when one of the major players — AMC — rips it off. Sure, the big chain experience isn't the same. It's not nearly as eclectic, you might even say homogenized. And you have to order the food before stepping into the theater itself, but its a definite acknowledgment that this new (old?) "dinner and a show" experience is transforming a stagnating business model.