Alamo Drafthouse owner auctioning off his rare movie poster collection to pay staff

The owner of the Alamo Drafthouse chain of movie theaters is auctioning off his personal collection of rare movie posters to help pay the chain’s staff following COVID-19 closures.

Tim League and his wife Karrie founded the first Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, before opening dozens of theaters across Texas and the nation.

The theater made waves for melding restaurant-like service with the movie-going experience, delivering meals such as pizza, burgers and wings to movie-goers’ seats along with beer and cocktails.

Like many movie theaters, the COVID-19 pandemic forced closures of Alamo Drafthouses across the nation, which resulted in debt, expenses and out-of-work staff, League said in a news release.

While some locations have reopened, many are required to operate at reduced capacity and the lack of blockbuster films means attendance is down, he said.

Now, League is taking a big step to help the company pay its staff members and cover its debt — auctioning off his prized movie poster collection.

“100% of proceeds from the sale will go towards paying staff of the Alamo Drafthouse and paying debt and expenses accrued during the COVID closures,” League said in the news release. “These next four to six months are critical and the proceeds from this auction will help immensely.”

“Invade the Alamo Basement” will kickoff at 7 p.m. Central time on Nov. 29 when bidding for nearly 2,000 rare hand-silkscreened movie posters from League’s personal collection goes live at at eMoviePoster.com.

Bidding will start at $1 and the auction will close on Dec. 13.

Those interested in bidding, must do so through an eMoviePoster account. It’s free to register.

The movie posters are made by Mondo, an art company co-founded in 2001 by League and Rob Jones in the basement of the first Alamo Drafthouse.

The Mondo team got its start printing T-shirts and rose to prominence designing and printing limited edition collectible movie posters for well-loved films. Since then, it’s expanded to soundtrack LPs and other collectibles popular among film enthusiasts and filmmakers, alike.

“If you are a Mondo collector, if you have a movie fan in your life who would like something unique under the Christmas tree this year, or if you have never purchased a poster before, we invite everyone to explore the incredible history of nearly 15 years of beautiful poster design in this auction,” League said. “If you’ve always wanted a specific Mondo poster but haven’t been able to get one, this is your unique chance.”

You can view some of Mondo’s current posters here.

This story was originally published November 23, 2020 at 3:06 PM with the headline "Alamo Drafthouse owner auctioning off his rare movie poster collection to pay staff."