Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert are returning to Chicago in bronze, and fans will be able to take a seat beside the legendary film critics. A life-size sculpture titled Siskel & Ebert: Two Thumbs Up is scheduled to be unveiled in 2028 outside the north entrance of Prudential Plaza, giving the longtime television partners a permanent tribute in the city where their careers took off.
Sculptor Preston Jackson, professor emeritus of sculpture at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, is creating the monument. The installation will feature Siskel and Ebert in their familiar theater seats, with room for visitors to sit beside them for photographs. Wanxiang America Real Estate Group, which owns the One Two Pru office complex, announced the project on October 22.
The statue will be funded through a movie memorabilia auction hosted by Heritage Auctions, along with private donations. A public fundraising campaign is being organized for the project, with former Ebert co-host Richard Roeper sharing news of the effort on social media.
Siskel and Ebert became household names through their television reviews, where their contrasting opinions and thumbs-up-or-down verdicts helped shape how audiences talked about movies. Siskel, the Chicago Tribune‘s film critic, and Ebert, who wrote for the Chicago Sun-Times, first appeared together on Chicago television in 1975. Their partnership eventually reached a national audience and lasted for more than 25 years.
Siskel died in 1999. Ebert continued the show with other co-hosts, including Roeper, before his death in 2013. Their influence remains visible in the familiar shorthand of the thumbs-up and thumbs-down review, even for people who never watched the original broadcasts.
Chicago already has a prominent tribute to Ebert’s legacy. Outside the Virginia Theatre in Champaign, Illinois, a life-size bronze statue shows Ebert giving his signature thumbs-up from a theater seat, with empty seats beside him for visitors. Created by artist Rick Harney, C-U at the Movies was unveiled in 2014.
The new Chicago sculpture will bring both critics together again, this time in the city where they built their careers. If the project stays on schedule, visitors will be able to sit beside Siskel and Ebert in 2028 and recreate a little of the moviegoing ritual they made famous.
