The Downer Theatre | Milwaukee Film Historic Cinemas — Local services in Milwaukee

Landmark used to run this and the Oriental. They have done a really good job with the upkeep of these historic venues. Now they are down to just one, after selling The Oriental to Milwaukee Film.

Landmark has had some blind spots in their programming. They missed booking Johnathan Glazer’s “Under the Skin” amongst others. Mostly their revenue comes from a “Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” type booking. And they are trying to do more throwback programming — like screenings of “A Clockwork Orange” and other video nasties.

So their regular demo hovers firmly in the settled East Side retiree with some diversions into midnight schlock.

I saw a 103.7 KISS FM sponsored advanced screening of “The Shape of Water” at The Downer in late 2017 with a friend. This was perhaps the perfect way to spend time...

I've always loved Landmark Downer theater it seems like it's a great neighborhood, Old Time movie house. The staff is very friendly the seating is very comfortable, and the sound has always been consistent. Never too loud always easy to hear the dialogue. The Acoustics are great in the theater. Although parking is always difficult, this is especially inconvenient on a cold winter in Milwaukee! They always have a good selection of current movies, and periodically have great, independent titles with limited runs. I'll continue to visit this location both for the variety of films, the quality of the service Chama the comfortable seating and great sound, and it's...

Lovely old school movie theatre in the heart of the east side! There is a tiny lobby and the screens are smaller with like 250 capacity, however they often show lots of cool indie films to new hits here. I enjoyed watching a documentary here at the film festival and watched The Batman (2022) here before.

Parking is a bit of a pain if you're looking for free street parking since there's some popular restaurants nearby, but luckily there's a paid parking structure across the street if you're running late. Also easy to get to on public transit and a 10-15 min walk from Oriental Theatre if you've ever gone to the wrong theater...