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Alamo Drafthouse Lower Manhattan Opening On October 18th
By
Ben Yakas
Published Oct 13, 2021
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Scott Heins/Gothamist
By
Ben Yakas
Published Oct 13, 2021
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The long-awaited first Alamo Drafthouse location in Manhattan is finally opening next week—starting Monday, October 18th, Alamo Drafthouse Lower Manhattan will open at 28 Liberty Street in the Financial District.
"The last 18 months have been a rollercoaster for our industry, but through it all we’ve believed in the future of this industry," Alamo Drafthouse CEO Shelli Taylor said in a statement. "Opening our Lower Manhattan theater is an expression of our belief that audiences will always seek elevated, communal moviegoing experiences like ours."
The 14-screen multiplex, 598-seat theater, will become Alamo Drafthouse's third location in New York, including the Downtown Brooklyn location which opened in 2016, and one in Yonkers. They are also planning to open one on Staten Island in New Dorp Beach, which will have a kung-fu themed video store and bar co-designed and curated by Wu-Tang Clan's RZA.
The first few days will be considered a “soft opening” for the Lower Manhattan location: running through October 21st, guests will get special discounts on select food and non-alcoholic beverages while staff is still training.
In addition to the typical Alamo dining options, the Lower Manhattan location will also be home to The Press Room, which is described as "a museum, a letterpress print shop, a bar, and a private event space all-in-one." That includes an archive of "over 60,000 letterpress film advertising plates spanning the 1930s through the 1980s," classes to learn how to use a 1938 Vandercook letterpress, and a bar with 48 draft beers and plenty of wines and spirits.https://gothamist.com/2016/10/25/lets_go_out_to_dinner_and_see_a_movie.php
The Brooklyn Alamo.
Scott Heins/Gothamist
There will be the expected fare of big blockbusters (No Time To Die, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Halloween Kills) and celebrated new indies (Bergman Island, Lamb) shown in its initial days. And to top things off, they are launching the new location with a curated series of movies set in and about New York City, called "Lights Of New York: A Century Of Cinema About Life In New York." They've picked out one movie from every decade, starting in the '20s, and you can see the lineup below.
Alamo Drafthouse
Lights of New York | A Century of Cinema About Life in New York
Beginning October 18th
SPEEDY (1928)
KING KONG (1933)
ON THE TOWN (1949)
Beginning October 22nd
REAR WINDOW (1954)
BAREFOOT IN THE PARK (1967)
PUTNEY SWOPE (1969)
Beginning October 29th
GOD TOLD ME TO (1976)
SMITHEREENS (1982)
GHOSTBUSTERS (1984)
THE ADDICTION (1995)
Beginning November 5th
INSIDE MAN (2006)
GOOD TIME (2017)
SHIVA BABY (2020)
And lastly, they are also gearing up for the holidays with a bunch of classic Thanksgiving and Christmas films including Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Elf, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, Love, Actually, A Christmas Story, The Polar Express, Gremlins, Scrooged, Batman Returns, Meet Me in St. Louis, It's A Wonderful Life, Black Christmas, Dial Code Santa Claus, and Carol. Details about those screenings will be forthcoming.
In 2020, it was announced that the company was filing for bankruptcy and permanently closing several locations around the country, including their flagship one in Austin. Alamo Drafthouse ended up filing for Chapter 11 in March 2021 as it tried to stay afloat amidst the pandemic, and they ultimately rebounded enough to announce they would be opening five new locations, including this one and the Staten Island one.
Tagged
film
cinema
manhattan
movies
lower manhattan
alamo drafthouse
movie theaters
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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