Kim's Video movie rental library acquired by Alamo Drafthouse for Downtown NYC location

When Mondo Kim’s closed in early 2009, NYC lost access to its massive video rental collection, some 55,000 films. The collection was shipped to Sicily, but now it’s coming back, as Alamo Drafthouse has acquired the whole thing for its Downtown Manhattan location, where they will be available to rent. Here’s the press release:

From 1986 to 2012, film lovers from around the world would flock to the East Village to browse the legendarily diverse and esoteric catalog of Kim’s Video. One of the largest video collections in the world, the Kim’s Video collection has close to 55,000 of the deepest cuts and the hardest-to-find selections – and many are not and may never be available on a streaming platform.

After a twelve year and 9,000 mile odyssey that included a trip to Italy and back, the Kim’s Video collection is now back where it belongs – in New York City. It will be permanently housed and available for rental at Alamo Drafthouse Lower Manhattan.

Details beyond that are scant but there’s a press preview next week, so hopefully we’ll know more soon.

The last Kim’s Video & Music, which didn’t rent movies, closed in 2014 just after Record Store Day.