Following its two-year-long, $41 million renovation, the Castro Theatre will officially reopen to the public on February 6 with a film screening — and a very queer one at that.

There will be a movie screening at the renovated Castro Theatre, with its removable seats and retractable seating tiers, to celebrate the theater's grand reopening next month. And it will be a screening of the 1994 Australian queer cinema classic, The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.

Tickets for the screening go on sale Friday, January 9, at 10 am, and the event will double as a 20th anniversary fundraiser for the Castro Community Benefit District.

"This is more than a movie night; it is a homecoming,” says Andrea Aiello, executive director of the Castro Community Benefit District, in a statement. "We are inviting the community to be the very first to experience the ‘New Castro’ while supporting the preservation of the queer history and culture that makes this neighborhood a global beacon."

And, Aiello added, costumes and makeup are much encouraged. "You can’t show ‘Priscilla’ without audience participation, so dress in your best Priscilla drag!"

There was some intense consternation and community debate following the takeover of the management of the Castro Theatre by local concert promoters Another Planet Entertainment — who similarly, two decades ago, spearheaded the renovation of the defunct Fox Theatre in Oakland and turned it into a full-time concert venue.

But, unlike the Fox, the Castro had remained an active community performence venue and movie house, and a home base for film festivals including Frameline and SFFILM, and many in the community worried that Another Planet would only pay lip service to the film screenings and devote most of the programming to music.

An initial release of six months worth of programming at the theater, which includes a monthlong residency by queer and nonbinary singer Sam Smith, has perhaps mollified some of those concerns, with both a clear commitment to booking LGBTQ+ musicians and comedy acts, and a promise of more film programming to come.

Before Smith's residency kicks off on February 10, the theater will also be having a "soft-launch" party on Saturday, February 7, dubbed D'Arcy's Drag and Disco, hosted by Oasis owner and former SF Drag Laureate D'Arcy Drollinger. Tickets for that also go on sale tomorrow, Friday, January 9.

Another Planet's renovations included the removal of the orchestra-level theater seating, new HVAC, sound, and lighting systems, and a thorough restoration of the theater's ceiling, chandelier, and murals. There is also reportedly a new bar on the mezzanine level, and there will be mobile bars for concert nights on the orchestra level as well.

The February 6th screening will also, presumably, offer an opportunity to hear the new hybrid electric pipe organ that was in the works since before the renovations began, with the tradition of organ music before movies continuing.