Upcoming Screenings
MAY 19, 2024
MOVIES AT THE PALACE WITH LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA
Duck Soup
SCREENING
This 1933 Marx Brothers classic follows Rufus T. Firefly as he’s named the dictator of bankrupt Freedonia and declares war on neighboring Sylvania over the love of his wealthy backer Mrs. Teasdale, contending with two inept spies who can’t seem to keep straight which side they’re on.
JUNE 19, 2024
MOVIES AT THE PALACE: SEASON OF FRIENDSHIP
Hidden Figures
SCREENING
Three brilliant African-American women at NASA serve as the brains behind one of the greatest operations in history: the launch of astronaut John Glenn into orbit, a stunning achievement that restored the nation’s confidence, turned around the Space Race and galvanized the world.
2024 PAST Events
MOVIES AT THE PALACE WITH LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA
The Producers
SCREENING
May 3, 2024
Failing producer Max Bialystock and his accountant, Leo Bloom, scam a group of elderly women out of their nest eggs by convincing them to invest in a horrendously offensive Third Reich-themed musical secretly intended to bomb the moment it opens.
MOVIES AT THE PALACE WITH LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA
The Devil Wears Prada
SCREENING
April 29, 2024
Andy (Anne Hathaway) is a recent college graduate with big dreams. Upon landing a job at prestigious Runway magazine, she finds herself the assistant to diabolical editor Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep).
MOVIES AT THE PALACE WITH LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA
Aristotle & Dante
SCREENING
February 26, 2024
Two Mexican-American teenagers in 1987 El Paso, Texas who explore a new unusual friendship and gain new understanding about their families while navigating the difficult road to self-discovery.
MOVIES AT THE PALACE WITH LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA
Blue Beetle
SCREENING
March 24, 2024
Jaime Reyes suddenly finds himself in possession of an ancient relic of alien biotechnology called the Scarab. When the Scarab chooses Jaime to be its symbiotic host, he’s bestowed with an incredible suit of armor that’s capable of extraordinary and unpredictable powers.
MOVIES AT THE PALACE: SEASON OF FRIENDSHIP
Rebel Without A Cause
SCREENING
March 1, 2024
After moving to a new town, troublemaking teen Jim Stark (James Dean) is supposed to have a clean slate, although being the new kid in town brings its own problems.
MOVIES AT THE PALACE
Season of Friendship
What do we need most to survive 2024?
In planning this year’s Movies at the Palace series, we asked ourselves: What do we need most to survive 2024? Our Answer: Friendship.
Then we asked you:
Which movies say “FRIENDSHIP” to you?and you said
MOVIES AT THE PALACE
with Lin-Manuel Miranda
The United Palace’s good friend, patron, and neighbor Lin-Manuel Miranda has supported screenings at the United Palace since 2013 when he helped the theatre’s fund-raising campaign to purchase a new projector, screen, and surround sound system to return movies to the theatre after a 40-year hiatus.
His guests in 2023 included Steven Spielberg, Spike Lee, Hugh Jackman, and Danai Gurira, and the film series attracted about 15,000 guests to the heart of Washington Heights.
Movies at the United Palace with Lin-Manuel Miranda returns in 2024 with “Movies We Missed,” since last year’s series was cut short by the writers’ and actors’ strikes, which also hurt the promotional efforts around many new releases. This led us to this year’s theme, shining a light on films that were released during the 2023 strikes, and also some films that we originally planned for our 2023 season.
MOVIES AT THE PALACE
History
The ornate United Palace opened in 1930 as the Loew’s 175th Street Theatre, a deluxe movie theatre and vaudeville house, the last of the five Wonder Theatres in New York City and New Jersey. Its first act as a movie theatre ended in April 1969 with a screening of “2001: A Space Odyssey.”
With a groundswell of community support and our good friend, patron, and neighbor Lin-Manuel Miranda, movies returned to the United Palace in 2013. Since then we have screened over 100 feature films, from world premieres (“In the Heights” and “Halftime” as part of the Tribeca Festival) to all-time classics (“It’s A Wonderful Life”), to community favorites (the documentary “Mad Hot Ballroom” about local school children winning a citywide dance contest).
We honor the theatre’s original use as a vaudeville house and movie palace by curating screenings of classic movies with live entertainment thematically linked to the film, such as mini concerts, dance performances, fashion shows, or speakers. UPCA partners with Lin-Manuel and his family for many of these screenings, inviting special guests such as Rita Moreno (“West Side Story”), Steven Spielberg (“Raiders of the Lost Ark”), Spike Lee (“Do the Right Thing”), and Hugh Jackman (“The Greatest Showman”).
Our goal is to have the cinematic experience come alive for audiences too used to watching movies on their phones or TVs.
One of our highest compliments came from Robert DeNiro who, speaking before a 50th anniversary screening of “The Godfather,” described watching a movie at the United Palace as: “The moviegoing experience doesn’t get any better.”
With a groundswell of community support and our good friend, patron, and neighbor Lin-Manuel Miranda, movies returned to the United Palace in 2013. Since then we have screened over 100 feature films, from world premieres (“In the Heights” and “Halftime” as part of the Tribeca Festival) to all-time classics (“It’s A Wonderful Life”), to community favorites (the documentary “Mad Hot Ballroom” about local school children winning a citywide dance contest).
We honor the theatre’s original use as a vaudeville house and movie palace by curating screenings of classic movies with live entertainment thematically linked to the film, such as mini concerts, dance performances, fashion shows, or speakers. UPCA partners with Lin-Manuel and his family for many of these screenings, inviting special guests such as Rita Moreno (“West Side Story”), Steven Spielberg (“Raiders of the Lost Ark”), Spike Lee (“Do the Right Thing”), and Hugh Jackman (“The Greatest Showman”).
Our goal is to have the cinematic experience come alive for audiences too used to watching movies on their phones or TVs.
One of our highest compliments came from Robert DeNiro who, speaking before a 50th anniversary screening of “The Godfather,” described watching a movie at the United Palace as: “The moviegoing experience doesn’t get any better.”
The series kicked off on February 26 with Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, about two Mexican-American teenagers in 1987 El Paso, Texas who explore a new unusual friendship and gain new understanding about their families while navigating the difficult road to self-discovery.
After the screening, attendees were treated to a special conversation between the United Palace’s good friend, patron, and neighbor, Lin-Manuel Miranda (also a producer of the film), director Aitch Alberto, and stars Max Pelayo and Reese Gonzales. This was the first NYC screening of the film where Miranda, Alberto, Pelayo and Gonzales are able to celebrate the film together due to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes in 2023, when the film was originally released.
To honor the theatre’s original use as a vaudeville house and movie palace, UPCA helps curate screenings of classic movies with live entertainment thematically linked to the film, such as mini concerts, dance performances, fashion shows, or speakers. UPCA partners with Lin-Manuel Miranda and his family for many of these screenings. The goal is to have the cinematic experience come alive for audiences too used to watching movies on their phones or TVs.