Spike Lee almost premiered his 1986 feature-length debut, She’s Gotta Have It, at the River Oaks Theatre in Houston. “He was going to come to town, and I set up all these press interviews. It was a lot of work because nobody knew who he was,” recounts Maureen McNamara, cofounder and director of Friends of the River Oaks Theatre, and a former manager at the venue’s longtime operator, Landmark Theatres. “I had two days packed chock-a-block with interviews… and he ended up having to cancel at the last minute.” A couple of years later, she teasingly informed him that he needed to sign 50 posters to make it up to her. He did.

The River Oaks Theatre has had plenty of brushes with celebrity since then, but the storied building showed what many feared would be its last feature on March 25, 2021, after the theater failed to come to an agreement with its landlord.

Emerging after more than two years dormant, the beloved institution is expected to reopen before the end of 2023, under the care and construction of Culinary Khancepts, an affiliate of local movie theater chain Star Cinema Grill. Alongside the Friends of the River Oaks Theatre advocacy group, they plan to revitalize the building, adding a full kitchen, dine-in theater seating, and an expertly selected cocktail and wine menu. Details regarding the type of programming visitors can expect are still being worked out, though both partners are in agreement that some degree of the old, art house–spirit must remain.

“Being able to give it the attention and innovation it needed to make sure that it could be long-term sustainable was important to us,” says Jason Ostrow, vice president of Culinary Khancepts and head of the River Oaks Theatre renovation project. “It was important that somebody stepped up. Fortunately, we have the credibility and the means to convince a developer to give it another shot. They were talking to several different groups about options on how to keep that theater alive. Luckily, we were the ones that were able to save it.”

For decades, the River Oaks Theatre offered local cinephiles a place to congregate and celebrate film culture. Events included midnight showings of cult films and rare prints, Rocky Horror Picture Show live casts, premieres of works by local and national filmmakers, special appearances and signings, and festivals. Wes Anderson fell in love with movies as a true art form here. So did Richard Linklater. Regulars met and married, with some even organizing screenings to propose.

Construction on the theater’s renovation begins this summer. It’s a relief for both the Friends of the River Oaks Theatre and Houston-area film fanatics, who have had to watch the beloved institution play a harrowingly suspenseful game of chicken with their landlords at Weingarten Realty (now Kimco Realty) for more than four decades.

News of the River Oaks Theatre’s inevitable and impending demise was at one point a constant staple of local media outlets, as well as the source of the occasional rumor or two. Weingarten would threaten to demolish the building to make room for more high-end shopping, parking garages, or high-rise luxury apartments, something they almost accomplished in 2007.

Landmark was always able to renegotiate its lease, bulwarked by the outcry from locals. However, in 2021, the two entities could not come to an agreement on a new lease, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic and questions of revenue. But the River Oaks Theatre didn’t shutter with hushed mourning and dainty tears. McNamara and Friends of the River Oaks Theatre cofounders Patrick Brooks, Sarah Gish, Michelle Mower, Cynthia Neely, and Kyle Vaughn led the memorial with all the fire and fervor of a New Orleans jazz funeral. Veterans of previous shutdown threats, they showed up on March 25 with flyers, petitions, and preservation-focused promotional events already planned.

“Initially, the intention was to make sure that the community knew what was going on and to get a lot of press and attention from the mayor’s office,” McNamara says.

When storytellers and story lovers grow inflamed and impassioned, though, history has a tendency to happen. Or, in the River Oaks Theatre’s case, history perseveres. Anderson and Linklater spoke publicly and frequently about the space’s critical importance to Houston’s creative culture, joined by rapper-turned-restaurateur Bun B, himself a board member of the Houston Cinema Arts Society. Their efforts ignited widespread community interest in resuscitating the legendary spot. After all, its significance transcends the cinematic. 

“It’s the last functioning historic movie theater in the city,” says David Bush, the executive director of Preservation Houston. “There would’ve been a few dozen in the city in the ‘30s and ‘50s, and into the ‘50s. Most of them are just gone. There’s nothing left. People don’t remember they were even there.”

According to Ostrow, plans are also underway to secure historical status from the City of Houston to ensure the building remains intact. “We really couldn’t see Houston without an art house theater,” he says. “It’s very important to the culture and the soul of the city.” And, of course, for the souls of stories and storytellers yet to come.