Five years after the former Regal United Artists movie theater closed at the Riverview Plaza in South Philly, plans are moving forward to reopen the building next year with an IMAX screen
IMAX and Apple Cinemas, a small theater chain based in Massachusetts, announced Thursday that they are moving forward with renovations to the multiplex theater at 1400 S. Christopher Columbus Blvd. It will have one IMAX screen with a laser system.
MORE: First suspect charged in Grays Ferry shootout that left 3 dead, 9 injured
"A number of our locations in Suburban Philadelphia are among our best performing in the country, so we're excited to return to the city itself in a prime location with a great partner in Apple Cinemas," IMAX CEO Rich Gelfrond said in a statement.
When the former Regal theater closed during the COVID-19 pandemic, it was the highest grossing multiplex in Philadelphia. The Franklin Institute's Tuttelman IMAX theater also permanently closed during the pandemic, and AMC's 14-screen theater with an IMAX screen closed at the Franklin Mall in Northeast Philadelphia in January.
Developer Bart Blatstein's Tower Investments built the movie theater and shopping center on Columbus Boulevard in the late 1980s. The theater debuted in 1991 with nine screens and later expanded to 17, including the IMAX screen.
Blatstein sold the property to Cedar Realty Trust in 2003, and there were once plans for a $12 million renovation of the theater along with the construction of apartments and new retail outlets. None of those projects moved forward, and Blatstein bought the property back in 2022. The shopping center is anchored by Staples and Pep Boys stores.
Plans to reopen the movie theater with Apple Cinemas had been floated over the past year before Thursday's announcement, and Blatstein told the Inquirer last year he also aims to open a pair of restaurants at the plaza.
Blatstein owns about 350,000 square feet of retail space along the Delaware River waterfront in South Philadelphia, including a shopping center anchored by the Giant grocery store across from Riverview Plaza.
Tower Investments and Apple Cinemas could not immediately be reached for comment about next year's opening date for the movie theater. Apple Cinemas now partners with IMAX at three other U.S. theaters and will add three more over the next two years, including locations in Maine, New Hampshire and California.
At the theater in South Philly, an IMAX spokesperson said the company plans to install a new screen with a laser projector, an IMAX sound system and a seating deck.
The South Philly project will become a "marquee" theater in the IMAX portfolio, which now includes about 375 screens in the United States. Other screens in the region are at the Regal UA King of Prussia & IMAX, Regal Warrington Crossing & IMAX, the Penn Cinema theater in Huntingdon Valley, the AMC Neshaminy 24 & IMAX in Bensalem, and the AMC Cherry Hill 24 & IMAX in South Jersey. There also are IMAX screens in Downingtown, Bethlehem and Wilmington, Delaware.