The River Oaks Theatre is a Houston film fan’s dream

By Jay Collura     11/5/24 11:19pm

The River Oaks Theatre, freshly renovated and restored, reopened its doors to Houston audiences Oct. 3. Taking visual cues from the movie palaces of the 20th century, the new theatre now boasts three screening rooms, two in-house bars and a kitchen that serves food to guests. 

Throughout October, the theatre screened new releases, including “Joker: Folie à Deux”, alongside many cult and arthouse classics, including films like “Mulholland Drive” and “Fight Club.” This new mixture of old favorites, modern arthouse and prestige studio releases is a breath of fresh air in the Houston cinema space, as few theatres near Rice consistently screen these types of films (the Museum of Fine Arts being a notable exception). 

However, the River Oaks Theatre is not new, even if it may be to many Rice students. The theatre operated from 1939 to 2021 until it closed due to the pandemic. Shortly after the theatre closed, however, a nonprofit, Arthouse Houston — previously known as Friends of River Oaks Theatre — started working to save the historic space and reinstate it back in the Houston film community. 

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Maureen McNamara, co-founder and director of Arthouse Houston, said the original River Oaks was the core of Houston’s art film community. After beginning her career overseeing the River Oaks for Landmark Theatres, McNamara returned to help save the theater, after recognizing the establishment’s complex leasing situation.

“There had been a long-standing desire of the real estate company that owned the River Oaks Shopping Center to redevelop [the River Oaks Theatre],” McNamara said. “The landlord had been renewing leases for short periods of time, so it was very hard for the people operating the business to invest in renovations and repairs.”

McNamara also said that, at this time, Weingarten Realty Investors were negotiating to raise the rent, further contributing to the initial closure of the business.

“That doesn’t mean it wasn’t healthy or thriving,” McNamara said. “With the pandemic and the lease ending, it was easy just to use the opportunity to move on and get them to close the theatre.” 

During and after these negotiations, McNamara and other Houstonians recognized the problems and began to take action.

“It was really clear that the theater was at risk, there were people who worked at the theatre, preservationists, local filmmakers, neighbors that came together to say ‘not on our watch’,” McNamara said.

Because of this nonprofit effort, the Houston Mayor’s Office determined that the space should remain a theatre, regardless of who the owner is, McNamara said. Eventually, Culinary Khancepts, a Houston-based company that operates a variety of restaurants, including Liberty Grill and the Star Cinema Grill, a chain of dine-in movie theaters in the greater Houston area, became interested in the space. 

McNamara said that the Friends of River Oaks Theatre worked with the company after they signed the lease to the space in 2022. 

“We wanted to make sure the idea of the theatre was never more than a beat away,” McNamara siad.

Despite this newfound collaboration with Culinary Khancepts, however, the River Oaks Theatre is still committed to arthouse and cinema outside what you might find in the megaplex, according to artistic director Robert Saucedo. 

“We always want to recognize that the River Oaks has historically been like a great place to see independent arthouse, so we were trying to keep on that and stay true to that,” Saucedo said.

Saucedo also noted that the theatre’s approach may be philosophically the same in terms of film programming, but noted some key differences in terms of what is being shown. 

“We will definitely keep bringing in big studio films wherever it makes sense and where they fit in with the general kind of philosophy,” Saucedo said. “We’re not probably ever going to play something like the new Avengers movie, but we would play a superhero film if it was directed by an auteur filmmaker, like Christopher Nolan.”

Since the reopening, the River Oaks has found success in terms of capturing a new audience. 

“I think the biggest surprise I’ve had is just how young our repertory audiences are,” Saucedo said. “The median age of the audience being probably 30 is great, because that’s the kind of audience that it’s important to nurture and support because they’re going to continue to continue to support the theater in the years to come.”

Going forward, Saucedo said he hopes to continue to engage audiences with the programming offered. 

“Students at Rice who want to see a certain movie or want to see certain types of programming: reach out and let us know. We’ll continue to tailor the programming at River Oaks to fit what people are interested in watching,” Saucedo said.

McNamara said the cinema experience is completely unlike watching at home. 

“I challenge anyone to watch the same movie on their [small] screen and then go see it at the River Oaks and have the same experience they had the first time,” McNamara said. “When you’re in the dark and completely surrounded, with a community of people or other people you’re with, you have shared emotional peaks and valleys and wonder that you’re experiencing together. It can be very magical.”

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