Ritz Center 16
900 Haddonfield-Berlin Road,
Voorhees,
NJ
08043
900 Haddonfield-Berlin Road,
Voorhees,
NJ
08043
9 people
favorited this theater
This theater opened as the Ritz 12 in September 1996 as part of a shopping strip with a 1,200 space parking lot. Both theater and shopping stip were owned by the Ritz Theaters of Philadelphia, arthouse film exhibitors. The Ritz 12 cost 7-million dollars to construct. The huge 5,000 square feet lobby was designed to recall a European hotel lobby, and included a lounge, a cafe and a concession area. Concessions included espresso, cappuccino, cafe au lait, and pastries. The hall leading to the auditoriums was adorned with portraits of dozens of renowned film makers. The auditoriums seating capacitys ranged from 187 to 437 people, with the largest two auditoriums sporting very large 40 feet wide screens. All auditoriums were built with digital surround sound, luxury seats, and what was referred to in 1996 as ‘terraced seating’ and explained as a 16 foot drop from back to front (as compared to the four foot drop in most theaters) for excellent sight-lines.
Four auditoriums were added later and the theatre was renamed the Ritz 16.
Following Ritz founder Raymond Posel’s death in June 2005, the Ritz Theaters were sold. The Philadelphia theaters and the Ritz Theaters name were sold to Landmark Theatres. The Voorhees theatre was sold in April 2007 to National Amusements and run by their Showcase division as the Showcase at the Ritz Center. In December 2009, Rave Motion Picture Theatres took over operation and the theater was renamed the RC Ritz Center 16. In November, 2012, Cinemark announced its acquisition of Rave theatres. In the Philadelphia region, the name ‘Ritz’ has been the gold standard for upscale movie exhibition since the first Ritz opened in 1976 in Philadelphia and this theatres continues to have a fine reputation as a topnotch cinema.
Contributed by
Howard B. Haas
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Recent comments (view all 29 comments)
A beautiful place when Ray Posel built and ran it. Managed there for about a year. Very popular with the upscale crowd…
So I’m looking for a list but this is apparently one of the theatres going to Cinemark. Which would be this theatre’s fourth owner in five years.
Interesting that Cinemark is buying this, because they have a (nicely remodeled) 16 frankenplex not far from here. It boosts their standing in the market instantly, though.
Cinemark won’t be taking over this theatre after all. Due to the proximity with their existing Somerdale theatre (3 miles away), the DOJ has ordered them to sell this off. Wonder who gets this.
It could be either AMC (Who’s closest theatre is in Cherry Hill), or Regal (Who has one being built in Moorestown, and a 2nd in Burlington)
If I had to guess, I think a higher end chain would be more interested in buying the theater. Think Mark Cuban’s Landmark Theaters or the Alamo Drafthouse. Alamo seems a tad unlikely given the lack of space to build out a full service kitchen.
Another likely reason why said chains would want to buy the theater is the local demographics. Lots of upper middle/upper class folks with $$$ to spend. http://www.poselmanagement.com/images/Ritz_Center_Demographics.pdf
well Landmark didn’t take it when they took over the Philadelphia based Ritz theaters. Might that change now?
@hdtv267, anything is possible so who knows. For posterity, here’s a link to the DoJ ruling. http://www.ofr.gov/(S(00exjxvzd0ot3r0gdyhed3ty))/OFRUpload/OFRData/2013-12762_PI.pdf
Who is operating the Ritz at this time?
Chuck1231, Cinemark will be operating the theater for now. From the ruling date, May 20th, Cinemark has 90 days to sell the theater or face government penalties.
Some thoughts on the chains that could buy the theater: AMC: They bought a fair number of Rave theaters last year. If they passed then, they’ll likely pass again. In this market, they’re planning on pouring lots of money into the existing theaters (Marlton 8 & Loews Cherry Hill 24). They just finished an extensive renovation of the Marlton 8 with 4K projectors, reclinging leather seats, a new lobby/concessions, etc.
Regal: They are building a new theater in Moorestown that was supposed to be opened by the summer. I think they would rather foues their time and public attention to their new state of the art theater over this theater they just bought.
The court ruling noted that the Ritz sold one million tickets last year. This is a theater that does well financially in a very nice area. I think chains like Landmark, after realizing their mistake, or Alamo Drafthouse, which has no current presence in the greater Philadelphia area and is making moves into the suburbs of Denver and DC, or an eccentric millionaire film geek like Ray Posel would be a good fit. In other words, someone who loves movies.
That being said, the Ritz, while by no means dilapidated, needs a lot of TLC. Since National Amusements installed 2K projectors, which was a bad decision in the long term IMHO, they’ll need to get 4Ks. I’m not so sure about the sound systems, but Dolby Atmos for the two large theaters would be nice.Then there are the little details that made the Ritz, the Ritz. Things like those cool color changing wavy light bars, the deliberate absence of cheap promotion material (Why would you cover up those beautiful classic movie posters with a crappy Hangover 3 cutout?!?!?), basic maintenance of the exterior like power washing the stucco and replacing lightbulbs. I almost forgot the menagerie of goodies they used to serve at the concessions stand!! Always see what I’m missing when I go to the Ritzes in Philly! More Art House/Foreign films are a given! :–) I could go on, but let’s just hope for the best!
Fingers CrossedFingers Crossed!!