Toronto's oldest continuously operating cinema, still running since 1914
The Fox Theatre
Opened in 1914 in the Beaches neighbourhood, the Fox Theatre has run continuously as a cinema for over a century, making it Toronto's oldest operating movie theatre.
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The Fox Theatre opened in 1914 on Queen Street East in the Beaches neighbourhood, part of the first wave of purpose-built movie theatres constructed in Toronto as film became a mainstream entertainment medium. Unlike most of its contemporaries, which were either demolished or converted to other uses over the following century, the Fox has operated continuously as a cinema since it opened, making it, by a wide margin, the oldest theatre in the city still showing films in something close to its original form and use.
A small, single-screen holdout
The Fox has kept a single-screen, independently run format through decades of industry consolidation into multiplexes, a business model that has become increasingly rare but that has let the theatre maintain a loyal neighbourhood following. Its continuous century-plus run has made it a point of local pride in the Beaches and a frequently cited example of small independent cinemas managing to survive in a market that has been steadily dominated by large chains like Cineplex.
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