The Roxie Theater, also known as the Roxie Cinema or just The Roxie, is a historic movie theater, founded in 1912, at 3117 16th Street in the Mission District of San Francisco. It is a non-profit community arthouse cinema.

History

The Roxie is one of the oldest continuously operating movie theaters in the US, with its history tracing back to the early 1900s.

The 300-seat theater was renovated in 1933, changed its name to the Roxie, and added its unusual marquee with neon sign but no place for movie titles. In 2003, a 49-seat theater dubbed the Little Roxie opened two doors from the main theater. the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, the Arab Film Festival, San Francisco Transgender Film Festival, and many others.

In December 2005, an agreement was announced under which the Roxie was acquired by New College of California, a small liberal arts college also based in the Mission District. It became part of New College's Media Studies Program on January 1, 2006, and was renamed the "Roxie Film Center at New College". An anonymous benefactor paid off the theater's debts, and the college registered it as a non-profit corporation.

On February 26, 2008, New College announced it was closing, thus ending its support of the Roxie. Megan Wilson, who began working for the Roxie as a development consultant, became a co-Executive Director; neither received a salary. Statton also raised over $400,000 in contributions to help support the Roxie's programming and operations. In 2013 Statton was awarded the Marlon Riggs Award by the San Francisco Film Critics Circle for "his significant contribution to San Francisco’s film community through the Roxie Theater over the past four years". Statton resigned from the Roxie in 2013 due to health concerns. She further expanded the theater's film festivals and developed RoxCine, an ongoing series of Spanish-language films.

In 2015, Dave Cowen came aboard as executive director, while Fondevila remained at the Roxie in the role of Director of Programming. Over the next two years, Cowen led the theater to profitability with projection and facilities improvements, an increased social media presence, and a successful focus on showing repertory film in 35mm. During this time, the Roxie's classic neon marquee was fully restored, and the Roxie was honored by the California State Assembly in 2017 as Small Business of the Year.

In August 2017, Sundance veteran Elizabeth O'Malley replaced Cowen as executive director, with Operations Director Lex Sloan promoted to general manager. Cowen remains on the Roxie Board of Directors and is now working with Milwaukee Film on their acquisition of the historic Oriental Theatre.

In 2024, a purchase agreement was signed with their landlord to purchase the building that houses the theater. Following a nearly year-long fundraising campaign, including donations from patrons, a successful purchase of the building was announced in July 2025.

Roxie Releasing

The theatre also is home to Roxie Releasing, an independent film distributor most notably responsible for the 30th anniversary re-release of George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead. Roxie Releasing specializes in documentaries.

See also

  • Castro Theatre
  • Victoria Theatre
  • Atheist Film Festival

References

  • Roxie Theater website
  • Article on the Roxie by Roger Rose in CineSource September 4, 2008
  • Facebook page