Chances are, you’ve been consuming more of everything lately: news, snacks, Netflix, and yes, movies. But watching a film in your living room can never measure up to the Alamo Drafthouse experience, where cocktails, good food, and film geek camaraderie come together in one unparalleled package.

If you’ve been missing that singular environment these past few weeks, you’re definitely not alone. Founder and CEO Tim League is a movie fan first, and he’s been reduced to watching pirated clips from viewers inside various Alamo theaters online, to get his cinema experience fix.

We caught up with the movie theater mogul to talk Alamo’s new Virtual Cinema offerings, how the COVID-19 crisis could affect the rest of the calendar year (and beyond), and what kind of lasting innovations have been fueled by today’s current public restrictions.

How are you handling the coronavirus closures, and where are you directing your energies throughout your company?

It’s definitely not an ideal situation, but we’re focusing on things we can do. A lot of our energy is being put into Mondo which is doing really well. Last year we really started leaning into producing more games and jigsaw puzzles. In fact, we just launched a new line of puzzles on Wednesday, which makes sense in this climate where people are stuck at home. We’re also focused on opening new markets and exposing new customers to the Mondo experience. So, it’s not all doom and gloom.

How do you think this will affect the cinema experience moving forward? Do you foresee it having longterm ramifications?

I don’t know with absolute certainty what the future holds, but I can tell you from my personal experience, that I very much look forward to a time that I can hang out and socialize and have a good time at the movies. Somebody showed me an interesting video yesterday—it was really an audio recording on Twitter from the opening night of Avengers: Endgame—and just seeing the crowd reaction to the movie’s finale, it seriously made me cry. I miss that experience inside a crowded cinema so much. Now is where I should mention that recording inside our theaters is highly frowned upon, but I’ll forgive it this time.

Because of the financial hit movies took, even during the early days of the virus, you saw a number of studios starting to experiment with early streaming. That was true with films that never really got a fair shake at the box office, such as The Hunt, Emma, and Blumhouse’s The Invisible Man. Even after everything reopens, do you think that’ll be an avenue explored by studios, particularly with smaller independent films?

It’s hard to say. I don’t have the data to necessarily reflect on that, but I’m a strong believer in what we offer. Frankly, I never thought home entertainment was our competitor. Our competition is more outside the home: restaurants, comedy clubs, and live music. We’re offering an experience that I think people will want to return to after being cooped up for so long.

You’re now seeing a lot of major releases that were slotted for the summer and fall being pushed to the 2021 calendar. What kind of effect do you think that’ll have on theater attendance once this has cleared?

Everything you’re hearing right now is shifting sands. If we’re beyond coronavirus before those movies were scheduled, things will shift again. Movie studios jockey for release dates wherever they see opportunity, so I think it’s a fluid conversation. And we’ll be good regardless, because even though we show the big blockbusters, we also show a lot of alternative content and classic films.

Have you made any future plans about how you’re going to be looking at programming post-corona?

Not just yet. Our priority up until now has been on closing and protecting our people. Now we’re at the point where we can have those conversations. With that pause in business, that’s our opportunity to lean into improving the Alamo experience. There’s some technology innovation that we’re working on, but a lot of those fun, forward-thinking initiatives have been delayed until now.

Last week you launched the “Alamo-at-Home” initiative which includes online screenings from the Terror Tuesday and Weird Wednesday series, plus other “Virtual Cinema” experiences. How do you think those digital screenings compare?

It definitely pales in comparison to being in a theater environment. The quality of the presentation and the magic and the energy of the crowd just can’t compete. But it’s more of a function of keeping the community together. It’s about understanding these are different times and finding way for folks to get a taste of things that they like about the Alamo in a home environment.

But there is something cool that might come out of this experiment. We’re seeing a large number of viewers from European countries tuning in. I knew we’d gained an international following through Fantastic Fest, with people traveling from overseas to come to Austin once a year. But it was interesting see that demographic returning for things like Weird Wednesdays online. It’s spurred a conversation about how we can continue to build upon that and invite in these fellow film weirdos into our community. The idea that we might be able to maintain a global audience is a fascinating one for us.

Finally, what are you watching right now? Are there any specific filmmakers or movies you’ve found yourself gravitating to?

I’m in a lot of these weird film groups that have been sharing all these deep cut classic films that I’ve never seen. I’m not much of a re-visitor anymore, so these are films I’m discovering for the first time. There’s one I’m really excited about that we’re trying to buy at the moment. So, I can’t say what it is, but there’s a good chance you’ll see it in our Virtual Cinema very soon. Outside of that, I’m watching Better Call Saul and Tiger King, like everyone else. They’re just too good to pass up.