Mar Theatre

The Mar Theatre, one of Will County’s oldest movie theatres, opened way back in 1937 and has been showing films ever since. They offer two nightly 7 PM features (plus a 3 PM Sunday matinée) and are only closed on major holidays. Whether or not you’ll like the Mar depends on your priorities in a Movie Theater.
Do you…
Like paying only $ 6/​ticket?
Hate long ticket lines?
Prefer avoiding massive crowds and chaos?
Despise driving to the suburbs?
Get lost easily in a large movie megaplex?
Enjoy historic buildings and potential waves of nostalgia?
Then this is your movie theater!
Do you…
Prioritize plushy comfort over charm?
Want a variety of movie options?
Need the option of a full meal versus the «movie staples»?
Then…you might want to head to a bigger town.
If there is a film you’ve been wanting to see playing at the Mar, you should definitely come experience a historic piece of Wilmington at least once.

Great little local theater where you can go to watch new release movies for half the price of the big theaters great prices on popcorn and it tasted great

The upstairs theatre was sketchy.

I now live only a few blocks away from the Mar now. I still arrive late for show starts but tradition is hard to break. Life in a small town and we love our theatre

The Mar is very, very old; as such, the interior is really dated, and frankly the seating isn’t great in style or comfort. Parking is also really limited. Bathroom (at least the women’s) only has two stalls and one sink.
The capacity is really low — one «main» screen per week, with that movie getting bumped upstairs to the much smaller room (like the size of a generous living room) the following week.
You’ll almost never see an R-​rated movie here for this reason: if they only have space for one new movie a week, in a town of about 5,000 people, they have to allow as many people through the door as they can. This means kid-​friendly movies most of the time. Excluding the Sunday matinée, they only ever have one showtime, either: 7 PM. If you miss it, tough luck!
I’ll tell you one thing that keeps me coming back here once in a few months is the price. I went to a Sunday matinée July 28, 2013 and tickets were $ 4 each. Regular price the rest of the time is $ 5 for a ticket; kids and seniors are $ 3. Two people getting to see a movie for under $ 10 is unthinkable most other places (probably because those other theaters have more amenities).

This Theatre is way cheaper than any other theater out there. It is a little old and could use some fixing up.
I will not go to this theatre if the movie is playing in theatre 2. It is upstairs and probably no bigger than most people’s bedroom. Other than that, this theatre is great.

Nicley priced even the food and drinks. just the smell of mildew caused allegy attack a couple of times throughout movie.

I love this family-​owned theater. We live about 20 min away down Rt. 66, and we try to go as often as possible. $ 5 a ticket for current films that play every night at 7pm, reasonable concessions and nice staff. My favorite part of this theater is the old-​fashioned marquee with MAR in lights out front. Very well-​maintained with the original ticket-​seller booth in front. The bathrooms are small, but have everything you need. I look forward to the first Thursday of the month, when they play a classic movie, which includes popcorn and pop for $ 4. Not many people attend these matinees, so it seems to be a well-​kept secret. The downstairs is a large auditorium; the upstairs has about 50 seats and is very intimate. Great place!

I drove an hour and a half to see a movie at the Mar Theatre. Why? Why not?
The Mar Theatre stands a few feet from what used to be Route 66. My interest in Route 66 brought me to Wilmington a few months ago to try out the Launching Pad Drive-​in, I found out about the Mar, and here I am.
Since I was escaping from Suburbia and the $ 10 a pop movie tickets (even more for 3D!) I felt like I was stepping back in time to a different era. The Mar Theatre was build in 1937 and has been showing movies since. We really didn’t care about the movie we saw but picked the movie showing in theater 2. Theatre 2 is upstairs, up a narrow stairway leading to a room taking up the second floor.
Walking up the stairs, I couldn’t picture how they could fit an entire additional theater up there, and really they didn’t. The second room seats about 65 people, the movie screen is roughly the same size as a two car garage door. It wasn’t the stadium seating with movable arm rests that I’m used to but I wasn’t here just to see a movie.
I regret not being able to see what the main auditorium looked like. Other than that, I liked what I saw. If I lived closer to the Mar, I would be there three times a month. For the price of two regular movie ticket, we got two tickets, two boxes of candy and a large drink with a few bucks left over.
I liked the charm of the Mar, I liked the prices, I loved the experience.

1^st run theatre with 2 different movies playing. Very inexpensive $ 5 movie, or 2 large drinks large popcorn and any box of candy for $ 12 Hidden gem of a old theatre from a bygone era. Worth taking the trip out for but there a are some nice restaurants in the area and antique and specialty stores.