It looks like the White House movie theater will be back as part of the Donald Trump President’s Room and East Wing expansion.
Plans submitted to the National Metropolitan Planning Commission last week show the theater in the east portico, in the same location as the original theater.
Plans submitted to NCPC show seven rows of six seats, indicating that the original 42-seat configuration will remain. In fact, according to a letter sent to the National Theater Center earlier this month from White House Director of Administration and Management Joshua Fisher, the theater furniture has been “meticulously preserved” (along with other elements of the East Wing), and could find its way into the newly built theater: “Our goal is to ensure that some of these elements are incorporated into the new structure,” Fisher wrote.
The White House movie theater was demolished last October as part of Trump’s expansion of the complex, which consists of a 90,000-square-foot ballroom. As part of this expansion, the East Wing, including the theater and the First Lady’s offices, was demolished.
A source familiar with the matter said Hollywood Reporter While the cinema hall “will be modernized and renovated along with the rest of the East Wing,” the new plans show this to be the case.
The entire project (which includes the ballroom and theatre), which is being reviewed by the National Center for Urban Planning as an East Wing Modernization Project, is being funded by private donors. Donors include companies with connections to the entertainment business such as Google (YouTube committed $22 million to Ballroom in its settlement with President Trump), Amazon, Meta, Comcast, Apple, Microsoft, T-Mobile and former Marvel CEO Ike Perlmutter’s family foundation, according to the White House.
The 42-seat theater was built in 1942 at the direction of then-President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in what was a restroom known as the Hat Box. It’s where countless bosses, their families, and their staff have screened any film of their choice, whether it’s the latest Hollywood blockbuster, an Oscar contender, or an enduring classic. All it takes is contacting the Motion Picture Association, which then contacts the Hollywood studios or whoever is distributing the title. The theater is also used for official performances to entertain members of Congress or visiting dignitaries.
