White Christmas

White Christmas is playing at the State Theatre on Wednesday, December 9 and Sunday, December 13, with doors opening at 6 PM. There's a third showing on December 17. It's a multisensory special effects screening of the classic holiday musical, and the big draw is the snow that falls inside the theater while the movie plays.

If you're wondering why it's at the State instead of the Paramount, there's a simple reason: the Paramount Theatre is currently undergoing renovations. While the work continues, its holiday programming has moved next door to the historic State Theatre. The screening is part of the Paramount's 2026 holiday season, Holiday State of Mind, which opens on November 21 and fills the State with classic films, music performances, and family entertainment for the season.

It's worth knowing a bit about the Paramount, since this is their season. It's been on Congress Avenue in downtown Austin for more than a century—built in 1915, it's the city's oldest surviving theater, a City of Austin and State Landmark listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and one of the few remaining 'hemp houses' in America. It started as a vaudeville and variety house and still stages comedy, drama, music, dance, spoken word, children's programming, and film, drawing more than 200,000 patrons a year. It hosts Austin's red-carpet film premieres, forms part of SXSW and the Austin Film Festival, and stages the Moontower Comedy Festival. Both the Paramount and the State are run by The Austin Theatre Alliance, a 501(c)(3) non-profit.

So, you've got the movie, the snow, and the State Theatre. The screenings are Wednesday, December 9 and Sunday, December 13, with doors at 6 PM, and another showing on December 17.