Nostalgia and 21st century technology will come together this weekend at Urbana’s Gloria Theatre for two showings of a Christmas movie classic, “A Christmas Story.”
The movie will be the first in a series of Christmas movies to be shown in the historic theater this holiday season, 75 years after Urbana industrialist and philanthropist Warren Grimes opened the theater for its first movie presentation on Christmas Day, 1941.
And the movie will be the first to be shown with the theater’s newly installed state-of-the-art 4K digital projection system, upgraded 7.1 surround sound and new 38-by-16-foot screen. The new screen is about two and a half times larger than the theater’s previous screen.
“A Christmas Story” will be shown at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 26 and 4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 27. Doors will open 30 minutes before each show. The $5 per person admission will benefit ongoing renovation of the Gloria.
“Home Alone” will be shown at the same times on Dec. 10 and 11. Check for updates on the Gloria Theatre Downtown Urbana Facebook page for movies that will be shown Dec. 17 and 18 and on Christmas weekend, to mark the theater’s 75th anniversary.
The theater also will host “Prime Time Christmas,” an original play presented twice on Dec. 3, at 2 and 6 p.m., by the Cornerstone Baptist Church of Springfield. Admission is free. For more information, visit springfieldchristmas.squarespace.com.
The Grimes Foundation contributed a matching grant of $50,000, in memory of Warren Grimes, to help purchase the new digital projection system with the support of community members who provided matching gifts. Grimes made a significant investment to remodel the theater and to turn it into a movie theater in the 1940s.
