Houston's historic River Oaks Theatre reopens after 3-year shutdown

HOUSTON, Texas -- After several years of will-they-won't-they, Houston's iconic River Oaks Theatre will officially open on Thursday.

An opening-night screening of "Joker: Folie a Deux" has already sold out. Another screening at 10:30 p.m. on Thursday still has tickets available, as of press time. According to a release, the first 800 people who show up on opening night will receive a commemorative gold coin, a throwback to the old days of early 20th-century movie palaces.

"In the early 1900s, movie theaters used to give out a gift of gold to the very first guests who would walk through the building," River Oaks Theatre artistic director Robert Saucedo said. "And the tradition was that this gift would give the theater prosperity and luck for years to come. So, we wanted to take that and do a little twist on it."

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