The White House’s movie theater appears set to return as part of President Donald Trump’s ballroom and East Wing expansion.
Plans submitted to the National Capital Planning Commission last week show the theater in the East Colonnade, in essentially the same location as the original theater.
The plans submitted to the NCPC show seven rows of six seats, suggesting that the original 42-seat configuration will remain. In fact, according to a letter sent to the NCPC earlier this month from White House director of management and administration Joshua Fisher, the theater’s furniture has been “meticulously preserved” (along with other items from the East Wing), and could find its way into the newly-built theater: “Our goal is to ensure that some of these items will be integrated into the new structure,” Fisher wrote.
The White House movie theater was demolished last October as part of Trump’s expansion of the complex, the centerpiece of which is a 90,000 square foot ballroom. As part of that expansion, the East Wing was torn down, including the theater and offices for the First Lady.
A source familiar with the matter told The Hollywood Reporter at the time that “the movie theater will be modernized and renovated with the rest of the East Wing,” and the new plans show that to be the case.
The entire project (which includes the ballroom and theater), which is being reviewed by the NCPC as the East Wing Modernization Project, is being funded by private donors. Donors include companies with connections to the entertainment business like Google (YouTube committed $22 million to the ballroom in its settlement with President Trump), Amazon, Meta, Comcast, Apple, Microsoft, T-Mobile, and former Marvel chief Ike Perlmutter’s family foundation, per the White House.
The 42-seat theater was built in 1942 at the direction of then-president Franklin D. Roosevelt, in what had been cloakroom known as the Hat Box. is a place where countless presidents, their families or staff have screened any movie of their choosing, whether the latest Hollywood blockbuster, an Oscar contender or a perennial classic. All it requires is a call to the Motion Picture Association, which then contacts a Hollywood studio or whomever is distributing the title. The theater is also used for official screenings to win over members of Congress or visiting dignitaries.
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