The Oriental Theatre has temporarily closed this week due to a malfunction with the building's boiler.
The legendary movie theater, built in 1927, announced the temporary closure on Facebook and Twitter Monday afternoon, also citing the freezing weather as a reason for staying locked up. However, the boiler that heats the entire building requires replacing.
In an answering machine message, the Oriental originally predicted that the process would leave the theater closed through Thursday at the minimum. However, the message has been updated to say they will now be closed through the weekend.
The Oriental aims to be back up and running by Monday, with showings of "The Wolf of Wall Street," "Inside Llewyn Davis" and its latest release, Spike Jonze's "Her."
Unfortunately, the news leaves audiences hoping to see either "Philomena" or "Dallas Buyers Club" – both of which had a final stretch of showings scheduled at the Oriental through Thursday evening – out in the cold. The Judi Dench drama still has a few showtimes scheduled at the Marcus Saukville Cinema. Otherwise, audiences will have to wait to catch the two likely Oscar nominees on DVD or hope for a last-ditch award season theatrical rerelease.
Meanwhile, the Landmark Downer Theatre – currently playing "American Hustle" and "Nebraska," and set to open "August: Osage County" tomorrow – is still open.