It's pouring. Not a surprise for January in the Gorge, but you’re stuck looking at a gray horizon when you'd rather be looking at a screen. If you’re hunting for hood river theater showtimes, you've probably noticed it’s not as simple as pulling up a giant multiplex app and picking from twenty screens.
Hood River keeps things small. It’s charming, yeah, but it can be annoying if you miss the one showing of that indie flick you wanted to see at the Skylight. Or if you show up to the big cinema downtown and realize you’ve mixed up the times because you were looking at a site that hasn't been updated since the 2000s.
Let’s get into the actual landscape of seeing a show here right now.
The Two Main Spots for Movies
Basically, you have two choices if you want to sit in the dark with popcorn.
Andrew’s Skylight Cinema & Pub
This is the "cool" one. It’s located at 350 SW A Street. People love it because they have those massive, comfy chairs and they serve actual food—like New York-style pizza and local microbrews. Honestly, once you’ve had a Double Mountain IPA during a movie, it’s hard to go back to a lukewarm Sprite.
For the week of January 12, 2026, they’re leaning heavily into the big winter releases. You’ve got Avatar: Fire and Ash taking up a lot of the evening slots. It’s a long movie, nearly 195 minutes, so showtimes are usually split between a mid-afternoon 2:00 PM and a 6:30 PM evening show.
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They also have Zootopia 2 and The Housemaid in the rotation. If you’re looking for something a bit grittier, Marty Supreme (the Josh Safdie flick with Timothée Chalamet) is playing there too. Just a heads up: the Skylight is small. It fills up fast, especially on Friday nights when the wind is too high for anyone to be outside.
Hood River Cinemas
This is your more traditional setup at 5 5th Street. It’s got five screens and that classic "stadium seating" vibe. If you have kids or just want the standard blockbuster experience, this is the place.
They’re currently showing:
- Greenland 2: Migration (The big Gerard Butler disaster sequel)
- Anaconda (The reboot)
- 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Starting Jan 16)
- Primate
The showtimes here are more frequent than the Skylight because they have more screens. You can usually find a matinee around 4:00 PM and later shows at 7:00 PM or 9:30 PM.
Why Finding Showtimes is Kinda Tricky
You’d think in 2026 we’d have this figured out. But local theaters in small towns like this often have "ghost" listings on third-party sites. I’ve seen Fandango list times that the theater itself doesn't even know about.
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Always check the source. Don’t trust a random Google snippet from three days ago. Hood River Cinemas and the Skylight both update their own websites directly. If you see a weird time on a national aggregator, call them. It takes two seconds and saves you from a wasted trip to 5th Street.
Beyond the Big Screen: Live Performances
If you aren't looking for a movie, the Columbia Center for the Arts (215 Cascade Ave) is the heart of the live scene. They don't have "showtimes" in the daily sense, but their January calendar is actually pretty stacked right now.
Coming up on January 29, they’ve got something called the Volcano Listening Project. It sounds sort of niche—it’s music based on volcanic data—but it’s a big deal locally. They’re doing two shows, one at 5:00 PM and one at 7:30 PM.
Also, keep an eye out for their "Sense of Place" lecture series. It’s not a "theater show" in the Broadway sense, but the storytelling is top-tier. On January 21, there’s a talk about Salmon and Sovereignty that usually pulls a decent crowd.
A Few Things People Get Wrong
One: Assuming you can just walk in.
In the summer, sure. In the dead of winter when everyone is bored? Not always. The Skylight, in particular, gets "sold out" on its prime-time slots because of the limited seating.
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Two: The "Downtown" confusion.
Everything is walkable, but parking near the Skylight can be a nightmare if there’s a big event at the nearby breweries. Give yourself fifteen minutes to find a spot.
Three: Thinking there’s an AMC or Regal.
There isn't. People search for AMC Hood River all the time, but the closest big-chain theaters are way out in the suburbs of Portland or over in The Dalles (which has a Cinema 5, but it’s a different vibe).
Pro-Tips for a Better Night Out
- The Pizza Rule: If you’re going to the Skylight, order your food as soon as you sit down. If you wait until the trailers start, you might be waiting until the second act for your pie.
- The Popcorn Hack: Hood River Cinemas does a "Snack Saver" thing occasionally. If you’re a local, it’s worth asking about their 2026 discount cards.
- The "The Dalles" Pivot: If everything in Hood River is sold out, check the Granada Theatre or the local multiplex in The Dalles. It’s about a 20-minute drive east on I-84. Sometimes they get different indies that don't make it to Hood River.
How to Actually Check Times Right Now
If you’re standing on Oak Street right now wondering what to do, here is the hierarchy of truth:
- Check the Skylight Cinema website for the "dinner and a movie" experience.
- Check the Hood River Cinemas site for the big-screen blockbuster stuff.
- Check the Columbia Center for the Arts calendar for anything live or "artsy."
- Avoid the generic "Movie Times Near Me" Google map pins—they are notoriously laggy for our local theaters.
Honestly, Hood River's theater scene is less about the latest tech and more about the atmosphere. It’s about seeing your neighbors in the lobby and arguing about the ending of a movie over a beer afterward.
Actionable Next Steps
- Verify the date: Make sure you aren't looking at "Friday" times when it’s actually Tuesday; local schedules shift wildly mid-week.
- Book ahead for the Skylight: Especially for the 6:30 PM screenings of Avatar or The Housemaid.
- Dress for the lobby: It gets drafty in these older buildings during January, so keep your jacket handy until the heaters kick in.
Don't let a bad internet listing ruin a perfectly good rainy night in the Gorge. Grab a seat, get some popcorn, and enjoy the show.