PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A Center City movie theater is rolling out its red carpet and dusting off its projectors once again as it reopens its doors to patrons for the first time in more than two years.
Audience restrictions for COVID-19, and the many resulting closures, left movie theaters struggling to stay afloat, profoundly affecting the industry. But Philadelphia Film Society Executive Director Andrew Greenblatt says it also awakened something in people.
“Fundamentally, it made us miss our theaters more than ever and gave us that driving desire to get back there as soon as possible,” Greenblatt said. Now, he says, the tide is turning.
In May 2021, PFS was able to reopen the Philadelphia Film Center (1412 Chestnut Street). After the Ritz at the Bourse (400 Ranstead Street) closed in January 2020, PFS acquired it and reopened it as the PFS Bourse Theater in June 2021.
And now they have purchased the Ritz East (125 South Second Street). It closed in March 2020 because of the pandemic, then reopened briefly in the fall of 2021 before closing again permanently. Now known as PFS East, its reopening comes just in time to host this year’s Philadelphia Film Festival, running from Oct. 19 – 30.
And so the second of Philly’s three corporate-owned Ritz theaters has reopened as an independent movie house. The last Ritz standing, the nearby Ritz Five (214 Walnut Street), is still operated by Landmark Theatres.
Greenblatt says, this year, cinemas are free of COVID restrictions, which is good news for moviegoers and good news for independent theaters. And he says early Film Festival ticket sales and a record number of submissions is a good indicator that people are ready to get back to watching on the big screen.
“We believe in the future of theaters. We believe in the power of cinema, and we think they collide perfectly,” Greenblatt said.
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