Music Box Theatre Gutting, Renovating Screening Space

Fans of foreign and independent films will soon have an updated, new space to sit back, relax and enjoy the show as the Music Box Theatre guts and renovates one of its screening rooms.

The historic theater at 3733 N. Southport Ave. started construction on one of its two auditoriums, practically gutting the entire space. When finished, the 99-seat space will be downsized to 70 seats and feature a larger screen. Permits estimate the work will cost $150,000.

Buck LePard, assistant general manager at the Music Box, says the project has been in the works for some time, and now it’s finally come to fruition.

“We’re renovating our second theater,” LePard said. “We have two theaters—our main one that seats 700 and another that seats about 100. We’re putting in a bigger screen and changing the seating layout.”

Construction is scheduled to finish in a couple weeks, LePard said. The smaller screening room is used for everything midnight movies to matinees and regular features.

“It’s something we’ve been looking to do for a while, and we think it’s really going to help transform the space,” LePard said.

Join Lake View Patch for more neighborhood news and follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

The Music Box Theatre opened in 1929 after being constructed for $110,000. For the last 28 years the theater has focused on foreign and independent films, but in the late 70s and early 80s it screened Spanish language films, porno films and Arabic language films.

The second, smaller auditorium wasn’t built until 1991 when management took over an adjacent storefront. It was originally designed to echo the larger screening room, but on a small scale.

The Music Box Theatre features an average of 300 films annually. 

Editor's Note: This article was updated for clarity regarding the construction.