Somewhat surprising in that Trump's White House made a big deal of Melania Trump opening the theater to public tours in 2017 for the first time. "At the direction of First Lady Melania Trump, visitors to the East Wing are now being treated to a new piece of history along the tour route. Beginning today, the self-guided tours in the East Wing include the White House movie theater."
Eight years later, her husband tore it down, as well as the rest of the East Wing of the White House. A desecration of The People's House.
Source: Deadline
Photos taken on Thursday appeared to show that the Trump administration has not only torn down the East Wing, but the East Colonnade, which included a movie theater that has hosted screenings for decades.
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The theater — known as the White House Family Theater — is built in a former cloakroom, upgraded to a screening room by Franklin D. Roosevelt. The 42-seat cinema has largely hosted private screenings for family members, with studios supplying major releases, but presidents have also hosted higher profile, publicized screenings with guests from the entertainment industry. Steven Spielberg, for instance, screened E.T. there for Ronald Reagan.
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Notable screenings in the White House theater during the terms of past presidents have included Midnight Cowboy (Jimmy Carter), Patton (Richard Nixon) and Thunderball (Lyndon Johnson). The space has continued to double as a cloakroom for special events.First Lady Melania Trump has held events in the space, and promoted one for her Be Best initiative last August.
Trump is said to have watched many films there himself, including Sunset Boulevard, his favorite film. There is also a reference to him watching Joker there in 2019, finding the Joaquin Phoenix character "very interesting."
Melania, or the office of Melania, was still using it for propaganda purposes in August.
And some other tweets about the historic theater.
The beautiful 124-year-old East Wing of The White House, all of which is owned by The United States National Park Service, is being destroyed this week w/o any authorization.
And yes, that includes the demolition of the first family’s beloved movie theater, constructed in 1942. pic.twitter.com/KgYzg92cHG— Devin Nunes' Cattle Dog 🇺🇦 🇪🇺🇺🇸🇨🇦 (@Kaos_Vs_Control) October 23, 2025
GONE FOREVER!
Did you know that the famous White House movie theater was located in the East Wing. Trump just bull dozed over all that history.
Your thoughts? pic.twitter.com/S4PRZQNYb5— Lovable Liberal and his Old English sheepdog (@DougWahl1) October 23, 2025
