Apple Cinemas to Launch First Imax Multiplex in South Philadelphia

A South Philadelphia movie theater that closed its doors during the COVID-19 pandemic is being resurrected as an IMAX facility.

Bisnow Philadelphia reported that Apple Cinemas will open a 17-screen multiplex in Riverview Plaza at 1100 S. Christopher Columbus Blvd. next year, according to a news release. Tower Investments owns the property.

The renovated facility will feature one IMAX high-resolution screen, an Apple Cinemas spokesperson confirmed with Bisnow Philadelphia. When it reopens, Apple Cinemas will be the only theater facility in the Philadelphia city core to offer an IMAX facility following the closure of the Franklin Institute's IMAX experience after the pandemic.

Apple Cinemas will also provide a ScreenX panoramic viewing experience and a theater with Dolby Atmos audio.

“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 Gelfond said in a statement shared with Bisnow Philadelphia.

Tower CEO Bart Blatstein developed the concept for Riverview, which opened in 1991. Blatstein sold it in 2003 to Cedar Property Trust, which planned to create a mixed-use development on the site that never materialized. Tower repurchased the property in 2022.

Blatstein said he has been determined to bring a cinema back to the space at Riverview.

“The theater, to me, it was always the highest and best use for that block,” Blatstein told the Philadelphia Inquirer in October 2024. “The demographics are amazing. They were amazing when I opened it 30 years ago. They're even better now. There's a lot of kids now back in South Philly, in Center City.”