Dreaming of Going to the Movies: Music Box Continues Holiday Tradition

WDCB’s Gary Zidek catches up with Music Box Theatre general manager Ryan Oestreich to talk about moving the annual holiday double feature to the drive-in and adapting to the state’s pandemic rules.

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WDCB's Gary Zidek catches up with Music Box Theatre general manager Ryan Oestreich to talk about holiday programming and keeping the theatre going during the pandemic.

“There’s not a December without the Music Box Christmas Sing-a-long and double feature, there’s just not for a lot people. So many, many people were really worried that we wouldn’t be able to create that tradition because of COVID, and so we had been planning on a bunch of different ways to bring the tradition alive, depending on where we were with the restrictions. What we came up with for the Christmas double-feature is to go down to Chi-Town Movies Drive-in.” - Music Box Theatre general manager Ryan Oestreich talking about the decision to keep the holiday double-feature tradition going at a local drive-in.

Music Box Theatre general manager Ryan Oestreich

For the past 37 years, the Music Box Theatre has celebrated the holiday season with a double-bill featuring two of the most popular Christmas films of all-time, IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE and WHITE CHRISTMAS. The annual screenings that run through most of December have become a tradition for many local families who come back every year to see one or both films. It looked like the end of a nearly 4-decade tradition, per state health guidelines, Illinois movie theaters aren’t able to host indoor screenings until certain COVID-19 metrics come down again, but the Music Box is keeping the cinematic ritual alive by moving the shows outside to a drive-in theatre. 

WHITE CHRISTMAS and IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE are being presented on various nights between now and Christmas Eve at Chi-Town Movies Drive-in located in the Pilsen neighborhood.

Several of the holiday screenings have already sold out, you can find a complete schedule and find some other film-related gifts by visiting musicboxtheatre.com