White House Family Theater

The 42-seat luxurious movie theater in the East Wing of the White House is not just any movie theater, it was an American favorite and an entertainment venue 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. In addition to its use in screening films, the theater was also used by presidents to rehearse speeches. The theater itself which opened in 1942 was also used for official screenings to win over members of Congress or visiting dignitaries.

Originally a cloakroom known as the “Hat Box” (or a cloakroom), then-President Franklin Roosevelt converted the East Terrace cloakroom into a 42-seat movie theater during World War II in 1942, dedicated on his honors as well as his administration recognizing the unique power movies held over the public. And as America lurched ever closer to entering World War II, despite national polls showing the American public was extremely isolationist and that Charles Lindbergh’s “America First” rhetoric had taken root, Roosevelt recognized that closer ties with the American movie industry might be in the government’s best interest. When the U.S. finally entered the war, Roosevelt said, “Entertainment is always a national asset. Invaluable in time of peace, it is indispensable in wartime.” This happened around the same time he added more offices as part of the White House’s growing staff which did receive stirred controversy.

Creating a Bureau of Motion Pictures, Roosevelt also transformed part of the White House’s East Wing in order to screen films as a way of gauging the national mood. As the White House Historical Association puts it, “In 1942, Roosevelt ordered an East Terrace cloakroom called the ‘Hat Box’ converted into a movie theater. Here the president enjoyed watching various newsreels from major American studio companies (Fox Movietone, Universal, Paramount, News Of The Day, etc) and took special interest in the battles fought in Europe and Asia.”

Since then, films screened in the White House Family Theater have been a matter of public record. The Washington D.C. rare books store Second Story Books has a handwritten log of many of the movies screened during the FDR, Truman, and Eisenhower administrations, and it’s an eclectic list. FDR watched Paul Robeson in “The Emperor Jones” along with many Marie Dressler comedies. Many Disney cartoons were screened for younger members of the Roosevelt family. And he even took movies on the road. The final film FDR watched before his death was the Charles Laughton noir “The Suspect,” screened in March 1945 with Crown Princess Juliana of Holland in attendance.

The D.C.-Hollywood connection was then forever set during the Kennedy Administration. On November 20, 1963, two days before his assassination, JFK watched the last movie he’d ever see, the second James Bond entry, “From Russia with Love” — he had declared Fleming’s original novel one of his top 10 favorite books. Jimmy Carter saw an estimate 480 movies at the White House during his four-years in office between 1977 and 1981, including a pre-Cannes screening of “Apocalypse Now” in May 1979 with Francis Ford Coppola in attendance. One screening of Ingmar Bergman’s “Autuma Sonata” apparently drew 48 White House staffers, beyond the Family Theater’s capacity. Carter’s moviegoing even extended to Camp David, where he arranged a screening for Egyptian leader Anwar Sadat of “Star Wars” that they watched together in the leadup to the historic summit that led to peace between Egypt and Israel.

Moviegoing at the White House Family Theater arguably hit an all-time high during the Ronald Reagan years of the 1980’s, not surprising given that the White House’s occupant was a former Hollywood movie star himself. But Reagan went a step further than his predecessors by leaving mini reviews of the movies he screened, as recalled in the memoir of his press secretary Mark Weinberg, titled “Movie Nights with the Reagans.” Reagan’s taste could be pretty wide-ranging, and for as much as he was a staunch anti-communist Reagan told Warren Beatty he wished his movie “Reds” had a happy ending.

As of 1998, Jimmy Carter had viewed more films in the White House Family Theater than any other person, having watched 480 films in the facility during his four-year term beginning with “All The President’s Men”. According to a list of film screenings obtained under a Freedom of Information Act request filed by Gizmodo, the first film watched by Bill Clinton in the White House Family Theater was “Lorenzo’s Oil” on January 27, 1993, and the final film Clinton watched was “Chocolat” on January 6, 2001. During his presidency, Gwyneth Paltrow says that Clinton dozed off and snored loudly during a screening of “Emma,” while Roland Emmerich recalled to THR how Bill Clinton watched the White House get blown up for a screening of “Independence Day.”

George W. Bush took the White House Family Theater so seriously that he actually had the whole thing redecorated in movie theater red to look like an old movie palace. President George W. Bush considered the theater a political asset, whether in trying to win over rivals, support a cause or bridge-building. In his book, Decision Points, then-President Bush quickly warmed up to British first couple Prime Minister Tony Blair and his wife Cherie when they asked if they could watch “Meet the Parents” during a visit at Camp David.

After Barack Obama left office, Hollywood insiders revealed that the Obama White House consistently asked for access to new releases. “There was never a film they didn’t request to watch,” said an executive at one studio at the time. President Obama’s office also routinely requested awards screeners (including “La La Land” and other contenders). Another source said at the time that an ask even came in to watch “Monster Trucks” several days before Barack and Michelle Obama and their daughters, Malia and Sasha, left the White House when Donald and Melania Trump along with his children: Donald Jr., Ivanka, Eric, Tiffany, and Barron, went in office on January 20, 2017. Donald Trump‘s first movie he watched there was “Finding Dory". Trump also screened “Sunset Boulevard”, one of his favorite films, on multiple occasions. President Trump also screened the film “Joker” on November 16, 2019, shortly after the film’s release, and it was reported he greatly enjoyed the film and found it intriguing.

In 2017, Melania announced that the public for the very first time would be allowed a peek inside the private theater when touring the East Wing. “The White House belongs to the people of this country,” she said. “I believe everyone who takes the time to visit and tour the White House should have as much access to its rich history and wonderful traditions as possible. It is my hope that our visitors truly enjoy the newest piece of the tour.” (At the same time, the then-first lady said nothing about allowing the public to actually watch a film in the screening room.) She couldn’t have known the tour of the East Wing is now a very different proposition.

During its final months of operation and shortly after moving into the White House upon the reelection of Trump, then-Vice President JD Vance shared that he watched “Gladiator II” with his wife. But soon right after that comes tragedy. In July 2025, the White House released renderings of the planned White House State Ballroom. Initially, the venue was expected to be able to host up to 650 people for events, but that capacity was later revised to 900 people, as announced by Trump. On July 31, President Donald Trump had said the new ballroom “won’t interfere with the current building”, wouldn’t be “touching it”, and would pay “total respect to the existing building, which I’m the biggest fan of.” Clark Construction was awarded the $200 million contract, with work planned to begin in September 2025.

Demolition of the East Wing began on October 20, 2025, without review by the National Capital Planning Commission, which oversees federal construction. On October 21, with unannounced demolition already underway, the National Trust for Historic Preservation objected that a $300 million 90,000-square-foot (8,400 m2) ballroom would “overwhelm” the 55,000-square-foot (5,100 m2) White House and “permanently disrupt the carefully balanced classical design of the White House with its two smaller, and lower, East and West Wings.” On October 22, a White House official told NBC News that the “entirety” of the East Wing would eventually be “modernized and rebuilt”. The official claimed that the construction plan had never been firm: “The scope and the size of the ballroom project have always been subject to vary as the process develops.” Later that same day, Trump told reporters during an Oval Office event, “We determined that after really a tremendous amount of study with some of the best architects in the world, we determined that really knocking it down, trying to use a little section, you know, the East Wing was not much. It was not much left from the original” and “In order to do it properly, we had to take down the existing structure.”

The next day, on October 23, photos from the Associated Press showed that the entire East Wing, including the East Colonnade and the White House Family Theater, had been demolished. However, plans have been made to restore the Family Theater so it is “modernized and renovated.” If this happens then it will have its own Cinema Treasures page.

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