Leo Mall Twin
Bustleton Avenue,
Philadelphia,
PA
19149
Bustleton Avenue,
Philadelphia,
PA
19149
5 people
favorited this theater
Located on Bustleton Avenue between Byberry Road and Hendrix Street, the Leo Mall Twin was quite the dandy little theater in the pre-multiplex days.
I don’t know much about the theater’s history (research on this very website indicates that the theater became an AMC property at the same time as the Bucks Colonial, the Woodhaven, and the Premiere (which turned out to be a hell of a pick-up, eh?)), but this one time I saw a double feature of “Cloak and Dagger” and “The Last Starfighter” there, which was awesome. Also, I do recall “E.T.” playing there for almost a full year.
Closed at the end of 1990, the building itself still remains, but it is now a Chinese buffet (or it was the last time I drove by there). As for the Leo Mall itself (it was nothing more than a glorified shopping center with a ceiling), it has long been destroyed to make way for a Mega-K-Mart.
Any additional info would be appreciated, because I spent an uncountable number of hours in this bizarre little “parking lot” theater.
Contributed by
Scott Weinberg
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Recent comments (view all 14 comments)
Your memory is correct, the Leo was a single theatre originally and was twinned in the manner you speak of. My memories of the Leo, Colonial and Premiere were that they were nice theatres, but not exceptional theatres. I do recall that for a while, before they became AMC theatres, many of the AMC theatres were owned by Budco. The Orleans theatre is such an example.
The 2 best examples of former Budco Theatres that are now AMC Theatres are:
William Goldman’s Orleans Theatre (AMC Orleans 8 Theatre)
Budco 309 Cinema Theatre (AMC 309 Cinema 9 Theatre)
Other theatres that were Budco/AMc and are still operating are:
Bryn Mawr Film Institude (Goldman’s/Budco/AMC Bryn Mawr Theatre)
Prince Music Theatre (William Goldman/Budco/AMC Midtown Theatre)
The AMC Premiere Twin was closed 5 years before AMC Neshaminy 24 even was built.
1988 photo of the Leo Twin
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wow, cool.. 1988 wonder how much long it lasted after that?
I like that twin with the mod seventies look,like ronnie said “wow,Cool”.
I was an Usher and then a Projectionist Trainee at the Leo when I was just a kid(15); I rode my bike all the way from Davisville Rd. in Warminster to rip tickets and watch free movies; back then we helped people to their seats and paged patrons during shows, long before cell phones… I worked originally for Posel and then AMC all through high school and two years of college. Great memories…
I lived on Sewell Rd as a little kid (1953-1964) and we used to play and build underground forts and treeforts in the woods running from Stevens Rd. to Bustleton Ave. These woods were also our shortcut to Lumar Shopping center. We’d hit Lumar Drugs for Lime Rickeys from their fountain and then hit the A&P to smell the fresh ground 8 o'clock coffee. One horrible day, bulldozers were clearing the trees and grading the dirt that held our forts, destroying everything we built. I hated that theater’s very existence. Never set foot inside it. Went to the Orleans, Mayfair or Merben instead.
The Prey played here in 1984 June to be exact…
research i conducted that this closed at the very end of 1990….