The 17-screen theater returns to Riverview in South Philadelphia

Bart Blatstein is bringing the movies back to South Philadelphia.

The locally based developer says it plans a 17-screen theater for Riverview Plaza, the same number the property housed until 2020, when the previous theater closed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“To me, the theater has always been the highest and best use for this block,” Blatstein said Wednesday. “And the demographics are amazing. They were fantastic when I opened it 30 years ago. Now they’re even better. There are a lot of kids in South Philly now, in Center City.”

Blatstein plans to redevelop the site at 1100 S. Christopher Columbus Blvd. in contrast to recent partnerships with the Post Brothers or Prime Space Capital, where he made the property available for others to develop.

The rejuvenated Riverview will include two restaurant areas and another “small carry-out use.” He said construction would begin at the end of this year and expected completion by the end of 2025.

Blatstein had previously had discussions with Dave & Busters about moving its location further up Christopher Columbus Boulevard to the location, but that is no longer part of the plan. “I think they stay where they are,” he said.

The new Riverview would be the largest theater in South Philadelphia and Center City. Currently that honor goes to the AMC Theater in the Fashion District, but this premier eight-screen theater will be demolished when the Philadelphia 76ers’ new arena is built on East Market Street. Otherwise, the competition is limited to the Ritz Five and the Philadelphia Film Society theaters in Center City, which offer first-run films as well as arthouse and vintage fare.

When Blatstein opened the Riverview Theater in the 1990s, the nine-screen complex was considered an unusual piece of theater for this corner of the city. At this point, there was little new development in South Philadelphia. Blatstein remembers not being able to sleep the night before the opening.

But the theater was successful, and he later added two more halls and then six more. The previous version of the theater was operated by Regal United Artists, which closed it as part of a larger wave of closures in 2020.

Blatstein said he doesn’t fear that big-screen cinema will become a thing of the past in the age of TikTok. He believes audiences still have an appetite for big tentpole films Top Gun: Maverick – a current favorite of his – and for smaller budget crowd favorites like horror films.

“There was COVID and a writers’ strike, but people still like going to the movies,” Blatstein said. “Don’t forget that when a good movie comes out, it sells out like crazy.”

The new theater will be operated by Apple Cinema, a mid-sized company that operates 136 screens throughout New England and New York.

“They’re a small chain, but they’re very financially stable and very strong,” Blatstein said. “They are not burdened with debt like the others [movie theater] Company. They haven’t experienced the same bankruptcies as the other companies.”

Although Blatstein developed the Riverview in the late 1980s and opened the theater in 1991, he sold it to Cedar Realty Trust ten years later. In 2019, the company had big plans to renovate the theater and build one million square feet of retail and residential space on the site.

Then the pandemic hit and Cedar Realty Trust collapsed. Blatstein bought the property back in 2022.

Blatstein emphasized that this new theater is not just a business piece. This time it’s personal.

“I give back a theater out of self-interest because I want a theater too. I live in the city,” said Blatstein, who lives in Rittenhouse Square. “There’s also the fact that at the time it was the highest performing theater in the region and today there is tremendous density in this region.”