Nothing pairs better with a cold rainy Sunday and a warm baby Loxodonta quite like a Rockaway Nitro Black Gold Stout. About one-third of the way through Tim Burton's Dumbo, I ordered a second, and as it was delivered to me in the dark, I was struck by the scene where V.A. Vandevere (Michael Keaton)–evil, conniving moneybags and Dreamland amusement park owner–explains to the scrappy, DIY road circus owner Max Medici (Danny DeVito) that of course he should bring his entire operation, airborne pachyderm included, into his opulent fold. Why? Because the future of entertainment is bringing the people to you, not the other way around.

Sipping Dumbo suds at Alamo Drafthouse in Downtown Brooklyn, I couldn't have agreed more, and as attested by the typical full house, I was not alone. Alamo Drafthouse is within walking distance of my family's apartment, but it's hardly the only "dine-in" option–as theaters where you can order a meal while you watch a movie are known in industry jargon–within even a couple of miles. (The term "cultureplex" has also been bandied about, but it will not be here. I prefer the term full-service movie theaters.) On that Sunday afternoon, I went to Dumbo because it was an outing with my wife and daughter. However, had I been flying solo, though, I would've hit the newly renovated Nitehawk Cinema in Park Slope for the Matthew McConaughey stoner flick The Beach Bum, making a point of ordering the Key Zest–coconut-breaded calamari with key lime dipping sauce–and downing it with a frozen, multi-rum concoction called "Lost in the Moonfog," both from its special thematic menu. If it had been date night? My wife and I could have hopped the subway to downtown Manhattan's iPic to see Us all cuddled up with the blankets and pillows in the first-class, airline-esque dual seating pods. What if we wanted to meet a group of friends for brunch before deciding if a movie should take precedence over a nap? Then it would have been Metrograph on the Lower East Side, the beautiful, reimagined retro spot with a classic Hollywood-style commissary offering everything from steak tartare to a "Writer's Menu" of strong cocktails that could bring W.P. Mayhew to his knees.

In the age of streaming and on-demand and bit-torrenting and hyper-speed release cycles and home theaters and even apparently, 1%-ers getting Endgame delivered right to their in-home Imaxes or whatever, there's a school of thought that where you see a movie doesn't matter. "I don't disagree that going to the theater to see a movie is a great experience," Netflix chief creative officer Ted Sarandos told the press last December. "I don't think emotionally it's a different experience than seeing a movie on Netflix. It is a different physical experience for sure."

But the "old-fashioned" way of paying money to sit in a windowless room with a bunch of strangers hasn't diminished at all. In fact, it's flourishing and the options are growing. The major players like AMC, Regal, and Cinemark dominate, but this new breed of theater is increasingly seen as an opportunity for growth. Last fall, Marcus, the number-four player, acquired the New Orleans-based Movie Tavern chain for $126 million. Dallas's Studio Movie Grill and Alamo, which is headquartered in Austin, both cracked 2019's Giants of Exhibition list published by industry analyst Boxoffice, ranking number 13 and 17 respectively.