Historic San Marco Theatre closing its doors after 84 years

Jacksonville, Florida: San Marco’s iconic movie theater will permanently close its doors on New Year’s Day. Since being built in 1938, the iconic movie theater has been a Jacksonville staple.

Did you know? This art deco movie house offers first-run Hollywood films plus eats, beer & wine.

The San Marco Theatre made the announcement Wednesday morning in a social media post, saying the movie industry is too saturated with streaming services for it to survive.

“Dear Friends & Neighbors,

“After eighty-four and a half years, the San Marco Theatre will permanently close its doors on New Year’s Day. It’s with sad and heavy hearts that we share this news with our San Marco community and the city of Jacksonville. We all have a lot of memories of this place. We’ll miss it.

“The movie industry has seen dramatic changes since Covid. Theatrical release models for studios shifted primarily to streaming. The movie theatre business was not a very profitable endeavor before Covid. Now, when potential patrons are flooded with new releases on a dozen different streaming services it seems like the movie theatre experience is quickly going the way of Blockbuster Video.

“Nationally, theatre attendance is down over 30% compared to before Covid. The San Marco Theatre has fared the same. The San Marco Theatre occupies a warm place in a lot of people’s hearts, ours included. Thank you all so much for your patronage.”

The property owner says, even though the next move is unclear, one thing is certain, the building will not be demolished.

A treasure lost in time.