The De Pere Cinema – Dinner & a Movie on a Budget

Have you ever found yourself rushing through a dinner date to try to catch a showtime?  Did you watch the clock anxiously?  Did you have to remind your waiter to bring you the check?

If you opt for dinner and a movie at the De Pere Cinema, you will never have that problem.

The De Pere Cinema is the only dinner theater in Green Bay.  I’ve found it to be budget movie-going paradise.  Some older theaters give off a seedy vibe, but the De Pere Cinema is exactly the opposite. Its old school feel is enhanced by the gorgeous vintage sign, the candy cigarettes, and the 1980s ticket prices.

The owners, Mike and Vicki Radue purchased the De Pere Cinema in 2001.  They converted it to a cinema cafe shortly thereafter.  Their mission emphasizes family entertainment and affordable prices.

And boy, are those prices affordable.  A matinee feature at the single-screen De Pere Cinema will cost you three dollars, and an evening ticket is just one dollar more. The concessions aren’t even close to average movie prices, either.

Current features at the De Pere Cinema.

On top of the typical movie concessions, the theater offers homemade pizza, burger, and sandwich options. The low tables in front of the seats make it easy to enjoy the movie and your food at the same time.  Servers take your order when the credits begin and deliver your food during the first twenty minutes or so of the movie.

And just to let you know, if you order the pizza, you might find yourself fighting over the last few pieces with your date.  It is delicious.

The De Pere Cinema has more beverage choices than your average theater, too.  You can get a soda or a slurpee, or you can kick back with a beer.  And they have Mike’s Hard Lemonade for non-beer drinkers — not that there are any of those in Wisconsin.

If you’re looking for a weeknight date, the theater has a special called Two Dollar Tuesdays, where admission, a beverage, and a movie are two dollars each. That’s a twelve dollar date for two. Cheapest two hours ever?

• Click here to like the De Pere Cinema on Facebook

The cinema is an intermediate-run theater, which means if you missed a movie the first time around, you have more chances to see it.  And if you end up loving The De Pere Cinema as much as I do, you may find yourself waiting to see box-office hits until you can see them in dinner theater luxury.

If you would like the De Pere Cinema experience but don’t live in Green Bay, check out the owners’ other locations in Chilton, Manitowoc, and Black River Falls.

You can find showtimes and location information here.

You Can Help the De Pere Cinema Go Digital!

Many small, independently owned movie theaters are facing a big challenge in 2014, and The De Pere Cinema Cafe is one of them.

The movie theater industry is switching to all digital projection. That means 35mm film projectors will no longer be used. It also means Mom & Pop movie theaters have to take a big financial hit if they want to stay in operation.

The owners of De Pere Cinema have started a Kickstarter Campaign, and they are asking the community to help them raise $40,000 to buy the equipment needed to convert.

• CLICK HERE to view the Kicstarter page and contribute

When you donate (as little as $10) to the campaign, you’ll also receive a Thank You Gift. They range from free snacks and movie tickets to a huge party package for up to 100 people.

Local business that support the campaign can also get pre-show advertisement for 6 months or a year.

Supporting this theater means you’ll help other people make movie-going memories, and it also means the owners keep ticket prices at the same affordable prices. Because we all know the regular movie theaters aren’t getting any cheaper.