The Inwood Theatre Got a Second Act. Here's What Changed Inside, and What Didn't.

Inside the doors at Lovers Lane and Inwood Road, the lobby still has Perry Nichols' underwater mural on the wall and water nymphs drifting across the ceiling. Nichols was a member of the Dallas Nine. The staircase still leads up to the mezzanine and its neon-lit panels etched with fish. The floor you walk across to get there is the original entry terrazzo, and it was refinished this year as part of a deal that kept the theater open.

That deal is the real story of the Inwood in 2026. Landmark Theatres signed a new three-year lease in May, and the landlord made reinvestment a condition of it. The theater gets to stay because it keeps spending on the building. The new seats and LED cases came out of that agreement.

Twenty-Seven Months From Lockout to Lease

The Inwood has come back from trouble before. Most of the fixtures people love grew out of one of those comebacks.

• May 16, 1947: The theater opens at Lovers Lane and Inwood Road in a building designed by H.F. Pettigrew, according to Flashback Dallas.
• 1960s and 1970s: Attendance falls.
• Early 1980s: A fire forces a temporary closure. The old balcony later becomes a third auditorium, and the owners add a full bar in the lobby.
• Around 1984: Landmark acquires the property and renovates it further.
• January 2005: A refurbishment touches up and relights the murals, rebuilds the historic neon sign and allows patrons to carry drinks into the auditoriums for the first time.
• 2008: A "living room" auditorium opens with couch seating and its own private bar.
• 2018: Cohen Media Group buys Landmark.
• February 2024: A lockout notice says the lease was terminated on Feb. 19 for default, as D Magazine reported. WFAA reported that the doors were open again by that Saturday and that the scheduled Rocky Horror show went on.
• November 2024: Cohen-owned assets go to a foreclosure auction, and Deadline reported that Landmark drew no bids. Landmark kept operating.
• May 2026: Landmark had cured the default by moving to a month-to-month lease. It now signs a new three-year lease with Inwood Village's landlord.

The theater's owner and its landlord are two different companies. L&B Realty Advisors owns Inwood Village, including the building. Landmark, under Cohen Media Group, runs the movie business inside it. The theater's future depends on what those two companies agree to.

The Condition Attached to the Lease

Corinne Hoffman, vice president of L&B Realty Advisors, told People Newspapers that the Inwood's interior had gone roughly 15 years without a renovation. She pushed for new capital during the negotiations.

"I said, 'we can only continue if you're willing to continue to reinvest.' You've got to do something about these chairs. You've got to clean it up on the inside."

She also said the improvements will come slowly. "Each year is tied to some initial capital investment that they plan on making," Hoffman told People Newspapers. Christine Mullis, who manages the property for L&B, gave the Dallas Morning News the landlord's side of the bet: "We wanted to give them the opportunity to be able to really turn the ship around."

So the lease works as a three-year trial. Landmark puts money into the building in stages, and the landlord gives the theater time to win its audience back. Hoffman has said she hopes the changes will bring people back once they see them.

What the First Round of Money Bought

An Inwood Village representative described the first upgrades to the Preston Hollow Advocate in July.

Landmark's Inwood location page now lists "comfortable new recliner seating." It describes the main space as "newly renovated in 2026 as a unique premium auditorium." Mullis told the Dallas Morning News that the new seats were enough to get her planning a trip back with her husband after a few years away.

What the Lease Leaves Alone

None of the planned upgrades touch the parts of the building that make it the Inwood. Most of those features date back to earlier comebacks.

The Inwood Lounge. When the owners added a bar to bring in an adult crowd, Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission rules banned liquor sales inside movie theaters. The design worked around that with a separate street entrance and a glass-block wall between the bar and the theater lobby. Dallas preservation architects Architexas write that the glass block, rose-colored neon, porthole windows, waterfall and original marine murals are still in the lounge. The law that made the wall necessary has since changed. Landmark still runs it as a full-service martini bar, and you can carry a drink into the auditorium.

The murals and the sign. The Perry Nichols mural, the water-nymph ceiling and the neon sign rebuilt in 2005 all stay as they are. The Dallas Morning News reported that Victor Entropy, director of the Rocky Horror shadow cast, helped repair water damage to the murals after a freeze a couple of years ago.

The midnight crowd. Los Bastardos has performed a live shadow cast for The Rocky Horror Picture Show at the Inwood since 2011, WFAA reported. The group's own site calls the Inwood its "home turf." Its monthly midnight show on Halloween night 2026 sold out in advance, and ticket holders were told to be ready at 11:55 p.m. According to the Advocate, Inwood Village's representative called the show "widely believed to be the longest-running midnight movie showing."

Critic Matt Zoller Seitz worked at the Inwood while he was a student at SMU. He told People Newspapers he'd like to see the old lounge connected to the theater again and one auditorium equipped for 35mm film. Under Hoffman's year-by-year approach, more upgrades are planned over the next 24 months.

The Shopping Center Is Spending Too

L&B's bet on the theater is part of a bigger effort at Inwood Village. Mullis told the Dallas Morning News that the landlord hopes newer tenants such as PopUp Bagels and Jungle Studio Fitness will help bring the theater back.

This fall the landlord started its own holiday event. The center scheduled its first-ever Village Stroll for Saturday, Nov. 7, with live music from We Them Grays and free Camp Crafty workshops in the breezeway, at Ulta and at Rise No. 1. Local artist Jan Riggins was set to create a large 3D sidewalk art piece outside the theater. Mallory Baureis, a director at L&B Realty Advisors, told the Advocate that the goal was to "support our tenants at the shopping center and create that annual neighborhood tradition." Camp Crafty founder Lilly Watson said the company "has never seen an investment like this before from a property like Inwood Village."

The rest of the corner is getting busier too. Yo-Chi opened its first U.S. location at 5710 Lovers Lane on Oct. 3, and People Newspapers reported that the brand served about 5,000 guests over its opening weekend. Up Inwood Road, Campisi's has announced plans to return at 7709 Inwood Road, the former Perch Bistro & Bar, with an opening expected in early 2027. The theater now has more nearby places for dinner before a show or a drink after one, and that traffic is what the landlord is counting on.

Before You Go

• Address and phone: 5458 West Lovers Lane, Dallas, TX 75209, 214-352-5085.
• Parking: Free parking is available in the adjacent lot.
• Accessibility: Only the downstairs auditorium is wheelchair accessible. Landmark rotates films through that room and asks guests to call 214-352-5085, then press 7, to request a screening there.
• Hours: The theater opens 15 minutes before the first showing and closes 15 minutes after the last showing starts.
• Programming: The Inwood shows a mix of Hollywood and independent films. Check Landmark's showtimes page for current listings.
• Rocky Horror: Los Bastardos posts each month's midnight show on its site. The Halloween show sold out in advance.
• Holiday gifts: Landmark sells gift cards for the theater.

The Blackman Group works in Preston Hollow, and we pay attention to places like the Inwood and the landlords who decide whether they stay. If you'd like a local's take on the corners around Lovers Lane and Inwood Road, The Blackman Group would be glad to talk. Request a complimentary neighborhood consultation.