Downtown visitors will soon be able to enjoy a free gallery of eye-catching art that covers decades of entertainment.

The opening reception for “The Art of Cinema: 85 Years in the Making” will be held this Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at the Suffolk Center for Cultural Arts. Visitors will enjoy complimentary popcorn and live piano as they walk through the galleries and observe more than 50 movie posters that date back to 1932’s “The Mummy.”

Suffolk Division of Tourism partnered with SCCA for the exhibit as part of their movie-themed events this summer. The collection showcases the evolution of film posters from illustrated images to photography.

“In the very beginning, a lot of these movies used illustrations as the base of their movie posters,” tourism development specialist Katie Kelley said. “You see a progression in the late ’60s and early ’70s to more photography.”

Her favorite in the exhibit is Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade by Drew Struzan, a prolific artist with more than 150 movie poster credits that include the “Star Wars” and “Back to the Future” film series.

“I just love his stuff,” she said. “It’s a good mesh between illustration and photorealism.”

Visitors this Thursday can also purchase $5 tickets for a 7:30 p.m. screening of Alfred Hitchcock’s “Vertigo.” The Suffolk Center will screen the hit musical “La La Land” on Aug. 24 for the same price. The Mosaic Restaurant will offer a special movie night menu during these screenings.

Visitors will vote for which two movies they would like to see at the Suffolk Center this January. The iconic imagery on display is expected to provide plenty of inspiration.

“I feel like we got a good representation through the 85 years,” Kelley said. “A lot of them are real crowd pleasers.”

The exhibit will be free and open to the public Tuesday to Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. until Sept. 2. Call 514-4130 or go online at VisitSuffolkVa.com for more information.