Sony Pictures Entertainment and wholly owned subsidiary Alamo Drafthouse Cinema will restore and reopen Hollywood’s iconic Cinerama Dome, dark since March 2020, with an early 2028 target. Renovation begins in August on the Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument, which will retain its Cinerama name, exterior branding and famed 86-foot curved screen. The adjoining 14-screen former ArcLight Hollywood complex will reopen as a full dine-in Alamo Drafthouse. This is not merely a restoration story; it is the clearest signal yet of what Sony wants from owning a cinema circuit—a flagship it controls outright in the market where it matters most.

The Dome will remain a traditional cinema without dine-in service, pairing standard concessions with repertory screenings, filmmaker programs, premieres and special events. The neighboring multiplex provides the commercial engine, retaining 35mm capability while adding 4K laser projection, immersive audio and 70mm presentation. Separating the landmark from the workhorse is the smart move: the Dome gets to remain a shrine without being expected to carry the complex’s weekly box office.

The project follows Sony’s 2024 acquisition of Alamo and its recent USD $100 million investment in immersive entertainment company Cosm, extending an experiences strategy that now includes a national circuit, live-event technology and a Hollywood landmark. Alamo CEO Michael Kustermann called the complex the chain’s “new West Coast flagship,” filling a geographic gap beyond its existing Downtown Los Angeles location. Sony has not disclosed a restoration budget or clarified whether the Dome’s original three-strip Cinerama equipment survives, and an early 2028 reopening leaves time for preservation questions to emerge. Still, after six years of darkness, Hollywood finally has more than another promise that the Dome will return.