River Oaks Theatre

Please update, theatre name is the River Oaks Theatre, it’s not on Star Cinema website, it has it’s own website https://www.theriveroakstheatre.com/movies

and Total Seats is 355. Theatre 1 249 and Theatre 2 and 3 53 seats.

Grand reopening on October 3, 2024 with “Joker 2' following a sneak peak soft opening the previous night.

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/lifestyle/article/Exclusive-Star-Cinema-Grill-to-reopen-River-Oaks-16826710.php

The River Oaks was one of those rare cinemas, like the Garden Hills in Atlanta, which you would assume that as long as there was a market for art and foreign films that it would always be around. Regretfully such fare is no longer palatable for those prefer all major character’s don capes and that dialogue is kept to a minimum. Art cinemas were a class unto themselves, the perfect frame for a perfect picture. Felini, Bergman, Cohen brothers and Wes Anderson are served better in venues such as the River Oaks than at the mall with yet another Batman remake playing next door.

Does anyone have a picture of the interior of one of the upstairs auditoriums? I took pictures of most everything else, but missed that and now it is too late.

Landmark closed the River Oaks closed on March 25, 2021 with Oscar contenders, “Minari,” “The Father,” and “Nomadland.”

Current article about the risk of closure.

https://www.mysanantonio.com/culture/arts/article/Don-t-go-River-Oaks-Theater-Houston-Linklater-16004102.php?fbclid=IwAR3PnePK6hCdsDB7YqNXWEajCq6-RIrDCxMwUfnB3KqlnYRttJV7OS1y4WU

All of the movies I, an out-of-towner, have seen here in my life (I think): “The Crying Game,” “The Scent of Green Papaya,” and “Dancing at Lughnasa.”

As a matter of fact, this theatre did have the premiere of Robocop 2. Somewhere I have photos of the event, even a photo with Peter Weller. I’ll see if I can dig them up.

First-run and major reissued movies that played at the River Oaks from 01/01/68 to 12/31/75. Research is from microfilms of The Houston Post and The Houston Chronicle. The date is the Wednesday of the opening week. 01/01/68 Reflections in a Golden Eye 01/17/68 Carmen, Baby 04/10/68 The Party 05/29/68 Inspector Clouseau 06/19/68 The Anniversary 07/10/68 Rosemary’s Baby 09/25/68 Petulia 10/09/68 Charlie Bubbles 10/16/68 I Love You, Alice B. Toklas 11/27/68 The Heart is a Lonely Hunter 12/18/68 Bullitt 03/19/69 Charly 05/28/69 Baby Love 06/11/69 The First Time 06/25/69 The April Fools 08/27/69 Staircase 09/24/69 Last Summer 11/19/69 All the Loving Couples 12/24/69 Cactus Flower 03/25/70 They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? 05/06/70 The Molly Maguires 05/13/70 The Laughing Woman 05/27/70 Fantasia 06/17/70 The Boys in the Band 07/29/70 The Sicilian Clan 08/05/70 Start the Revolution Without Me 08/26/70 The Bird with the Crystal Plumage 09/16/70 The Virgin and the Gypsy 09/23/70 Something for Everyone 09/30/70 Joe 12/16/70 South Pacific 12/23/70 The Aristocats 01/27/71 I Never Sang for My Father 02/10/71 Little Big Man 06/09/71 Willard 07/14/71 Scandalous John 09/08/71 The Adventures of Tom Sawyer 09/22/71 The Seven Minutes 10/06/71 The Late Liz 10/13/71 Joy in the Morning 10/27/71 Some of My Best Friends Are… 11/03/71 Johnny Got His Gun 11/10/71 Carry on Camping 11/24/71 House of Wax 12/08/71 Desperate Characters 12/15/71 The Lion in Winter 12/22/71 Star-Spangled Girl 01/12/72 Romeo and Juliet (ballet) 01/19/72 Toklat 01/26/72 Black Beauty/Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory 02/02/72 The Cross and the Switchblade 02/09/72 Pocket Money 03/22/72 Long Ago, Tomorrow 03/29/72 Dealing 04/12/72 Al Capone 04/19/72 The Concert for Bangladesh 05/24/72 Suburban Wives 06/21/72 The War Between Men and Women 08/02/72 Fillmore 08/16/72 Together 08/23/72 Relations 08/30/72 The Garden of the Finzi-Continis/Z 09/06/72 One Brief Summer 09/13/72 The Minx/The Female 09/20/72 The Affair 09/27/72 Five Easy Pieces/Getting Straight 10/04/72 Mary in the Morning 10/11/72 Funny Girl 11/15/72 On a Clear Day You Can See Forever 11/22/72 They Only Kill Their Masters 12/06/72 The Mephisto Waltz 12/20/72 The King of Marvin Gardens 01/24/73 Death of a Jew 01/31/73 The Assassination of Trotsky 02/07/73 Last Summer 02/21/73 Child’s Play 02/28/73 Toys are Not for Children 03/07/73 Baxter 03/14/73 The First Time 03/21/73 What the Peeper Saw 03/28/73 Two People 04/11/73 Cesar and Rosalie 04/18/73 Cold Turkey 04/25/73 Hail 05/02/73 The Boy Next Door (To Find a Man) 05/09/73 A Clockwork Orange 05/16/73 Kid Blue 06/13/73 Ten from Your Show of Shows 06/20/73 Travels with My Aunt 06/27/73 The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing 07/25/73 O Lucky Man 09/05/73 if…. 09/12/73 Love Minus One 09/19/73 Henry VIII and His Six Wives 09/26/73 Together for Days 10/03/73 No Go 10/17/73 Charley Varrick 12/05/73 The Other 12/19/73 The Laughing Policeman 01/30/74 Billy Jack 02/20/74 Siddhartha 03/20/74 American Jam 03/27/74 The Devils 04/??/74 The Sting 07/24/74 Uptown Saturday Night 09/18/74 The Pedestrian 10/02/74 Le Sex Shop 10/23/74 El Topo 11/06/74 Impulse 11/13/74 The Trial of Billy Jack 12/18/74 The Front Page 03/05/75 The Owl and the Pussycat 03/26/75 Tommy 07/16/75 The Happy Hooker 09/10/75 Yessongs 09/24/75 The London Rock & Roll Show 10/01/75 The Sensuous Sicilian 10/08/75 Gigi 10/15/75 Let’s Do It Again 12/24/75 Gone With the Wind

First-run and major reissued movies that played at the River Oaks from 01/01/60 to 12/31/63. Research is from microfilms of The Houston Post and The Houston Chronicle. The date is the Wednesday of the opening week. 01/01/60 Pillow Talk 02/10/60 The Mouse That Roared 03/16/60 The Last Angry Man 03/30/60 Babette Goes to War 04/13/60 Our Man in Havana 05/18/60 Black Orpheus 05/25/60 Rosemary 06/08/60 The Snow Queen 06/22/60 The Battle of the Sexes 07/06/60 Carry on Nurse 08/24/60 The 39 Steps 09/07/60 A Lesson in Love 09/21/60 I’m All Right, Jack 10/12/60 Carry on Sergeant 10/26/60 School for Scoundrels 11/02/60 Ten Who Dared 11/09/60 The Man in the Cocked Hat 11/16/60 Inherit the Wind 12/14/60 Lonelyhearts 12/21/60 Swiss Family Robinson 03/01/61 101 Dalmatians 04/19/61 The Absent-Minded Professor 06/28/61 The Parent Trap 09/20/61 Romanoff and Juliet 10/18/61 Greyfriar’s Bobby 11/15/61 Dumbo 12/20/61 Babes in Toyland 02/14/62 Watch Your Stern 02/21/62 Murder, She Said 02/28/62 Whistle Down the Wind 03/14/62 Doctor in Love 03/28/62 Light in the Piazza 04/11/62 A View from the Bridge 04/18/62 Lover Come Back 06/13/62 Five Finger Exercise 06/27/62 Bon Voyage 08/22/62 Stowaway in the Sky 08/29/62 A Matter of WHO 09/12/62 The Spiral Road 10/10/62 Carry on Teacher 10/24/62 No Place Like Homicide 10/31/60 A Coming Out Party 11/14/62 Gigot 12/12/62 Two Plus Two Make Six 12/19/62 Barabbas 01/16/63 Billy Budd 02/06/63 A Kind of Loving 02/13/63 Term of Trial 02/20/63 Divorce, Italian Style 03/13/63 David and Lisa 04/03/63 Freud 04/17/63 No Exit 05/01/63 To Kill a Mockingbird 05/29/63 Love and Larceny 06/05/63 Long Day’s Journey Into Night 06/26/63 Get On With It 07/17/63 The L-Shaped Room 08/21/63 Women of the World 09/11/63 Heaven’s Above 09/18/63 8 ½ 10/09/63 Irma La Douce 11/20/63 The Leopard 12/04/63 Carry on Regardless 12/11/63 3 Fables of Love 12/18/63 Winter Light 12/25/63 Ladies Who Do

I’m glad the River Oaks is still around. I saw a number of movies there when I was in high school, although I don’t think I had much of an appreciation then for its history. I think it’s been maintained well, and has a lot of charm. The converted balcony screening rooms are fairly small and not laid out that well, but the main auditorium is great- nice details with oak-shaped wall lights and deco figures flanking the screen. A recent weekday matinee was pretty well-attended, so hopefully it’ll resist the development pressures!

Joe, that’s a great find, thanks. I’ve brought it to the attention of the webmasters, who will likely add it soon. They do not read every post, so please feel free to use the “Contact Us” function to alert them of such important changes in the future.