Pop ups have become a permanent state of being in the District.

Look no further than 7th Street NW, where Drink Company’s Christmas pop-up bar morphed into a Stranger Things-themed bar which will soon become Cherry Blossom PUB, all since December.

Shortly after these concepts unveil themselves, they’re gone, though often to pop back up another time.

But what about the so-called pop ups that have remained open and largely unchanged for years at a time? I’m looking at you, Angelika Pop-Up.

The micro cinema near Union Market rolled out the welcome mat nearly three years ago, in June of 2014. Indie movie chain Angelika Film Center stated at the time that the theater was temporary, though “filmgoers can look forward to future Union Market dinner-and-a-movie promotions as well as other collaborative programs.”

But since then, the theater has just … remained open.

“We’re still working to open up a larger space in D.C.,” explains Elyse Roland, Angelika’s local events and promotions manager. Until then, the three-screen spot will remain in place.

A new 42,000-square-foot Angelika Film Center was approved for construction on top of the Union Market building in 2015. But in a May earnings report, parent company Reading International announced it nixed the plan because of “cost and feasibility issues,” adding it was “currently in lease negotiations with respect to an alternative site within the Union Market area.”

Since then, there haven’t been updates on the new plan. “As of right now, we’re still looking in the Union Market neighborhood,” says Roland.

The model for the forthcoming cinema is larger Angelika theaters like its Fairfax location, which has eight screens, the largest of which has 300 seats. The pop up, by comparison, has auditoriums of 50 seats apiece.

Alamo Drafthouse Cinema is also opening its first D.C. location in Northeast in 2019—a 44,000 square-foot theater with luxury recliner seats along the Rhode Island Avenue corridor, about a mile and a half away.

The Union Market neighborhood is filled with new construction projects. Last week saw a groundbreaking for a $100 million 12-story mixed use building

“We’re staying in the neighborhood, whether we’re the small theater or the big theater,” Roland says. “We see it in the ticket sales—more and more people coming back. We’re seeing great numbers from our current season, especially Hidden Figures.”

So for the Angelika, calling it a pop up telegraphs its intention to go bigger, even if those plans have so far been stymied. Mystery solved.