Welcome to Music Box Theatre (original) (raw)
Vertigo
After an incident in the field, detective John “Scottie” Ferguson (Jimmy Stewart) suffers from acrophobia and vertigo, forcing him to retire. He’s hired as a private investigator to follow a man’s wif...
The Master
Freddie Quell (Joaquin Phoenix) is a troubled, boozy drifter struggling with the trauma of World War II and whatever inner demons ruled his life before that. On a fateful night in 1950, Freddie boards...
The Substance
After former A-lister Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore) is suddenly fired from her fitness TV show by repellent studio head Harvey (Dennis Quaid), she is drawn to the opportunity presented by a mysteriou...
The Becomers
Opening with a shot of planet Earth, a voice describes meeting their lover for the first time. “I remember how pretty and pale they looked, standing in the sulfur rain,” they intone. Part science fict...
The Master
Freddie Quell (Joaquin Phoenix) is a troubled, boozy drifter struggling with the trauma of World War II and whatever inner demons ruled his life before that. On a fateful night in 1950, Freddie boards...
Vertigo
After an incident in the field, detective John “Scottie” Ferguson (Jimmy Stewart) suffers from acrophobia and vertigo, forcing him to retire. He’s hired as a private investigator to follow a man’s wif...
Now Showing
September 19 – September 26 / View All
Vertigo
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
1958 / 128 mins
Between the Temples
Directed by Nathan Silver
2024 / 111 mins
The Becomers
Directed by Zach Clark
2024 / 86 mins
September 19
Young Hearts
2024 / 97 mins
Film Series
Music Box Garden Movies
The Incredible True Adventures of Two Girls in Love
Directed by Maria Maggenti
1995 / 94 mins
The Master
Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson
2012 / 138 mins
Opens September 20
The Substance
Directed by Coralie Fargeat
2024 / 140 mins
Opens September 20
Omni Loop
Directed by Bernardo Britto
2024 / 107 mins
Coming September 20
Rocky Horror Picture Show
Directed by Jim Sharman
1975 / 100 mins
Film Series
Chicago International Film Festival Presents: BIG ART FILMS
September 21
Diva
Directed by Jean-Jacques Beineix
1981 / 117 mins
September 21
Boys in the Sand
Directed by Wakefield Poole
1971 / 100 mins
September 22
The Piano
Directed by Jane Campion
1993 / 120 mins
Music Box Movie Trivia
120 mins
September 22
The Double Life of Vèronique
Directed by Krzysztof Kieslowski
1991 / 98 mins
Coming September 23
Mother's Boys
Directed by Yves Simoneau
1993 / 96 mins
Film Series
Music Box of Horrors Presents
Don’t Let The Riverbeast Get You!
Directed by Charlie Roxburgh
2012 / 99 mins
September 24
Chicago Film Archives 20th Anniversary Variety Show
72 mins
September 24
Freaky Farley
Directed by Charles Roxburgh
2007 / 83 mins
September 25
Fresh Kill
Directed by Shu Lea Cheang
1994 / 80 mins
Coming September 25
Motel Hell
Directed by Kevin Connor
1980 / 102 mins
Chicago’s Venue for Independent, Foreign, Cult and Classic Films
Turn onto Southport Avenue and it’s hard to resist the neon beacon that lures cinephiles from across Chicagoland with eight flickering letters—Music Box. It’s a promise of more than just entertainment, but a total experience. It’s a community of strangers coming together over the anticipation of that familiar red velvet curtain rising toward the twinkling, star-covered ceiling. It’s a symbol of Chicago’s go-to venue for independent, foreign, cult, and classic films.
Walk by the ticket window and step back in time to when the ‘20s were still roaring and the theatre first opened—just two months before The Great Depression—on August 22, 1929. It was a time before fluorescent lighting, megaplexes, and artificial butter. And although our ticket prices have changed slightly over the past 90 or so years, the butter on our popcorn is still real.
Each of our theatre’s 700 seats has a story to tell. The stories are more colorful than the decades of films projected here; of first dates that took place under the starry sky; of family traditions revolving around the annual White Christmas singalong; of the ghost some say haunts the theatre to this day. Join us, and make a few memories of your own. It’s certain to be an experience as unforgettable as the film itself.
The Music Box Theatre is independently owned and operated by the Southport Music Box Corporation. SMBC, through its Music Box Films division, also distributes foreign and independent films in the theatrical, DVD and television markets throughout the United States.