The Ritz at the Bourse will live again under new owenership of Philadelphia Film Society. The new theater will be named PFS at the Bourse. A mixture of programing. This will end their involvement with the Roxy Theater, which will close perm.
Disgrace. I knew this was going to happen, when the escalator was broken for over a year. I am going to miss this theater. The fashion district AMC will not show art movies, I gues I will have to go to New York more. Ritz at the Bourse would show too many films that you could watch on Demand, and Cohen Media is wrong owner.
I attended a showing of 1917, in the Dolby Cinema, WOW, this was the best sound and picture I ever experienced. The seats are a little cramped compare to my main cinema I attend, Cinemark 16 in Somerdale NJ. The price is high at AMC Fashion district, but I work in Center City Philadelphia, so it is an option, how this will impact the Ritz Theaters is yet to be seen. The AMC did book films that would have easily played at the Ritz such as Little Women.
Now, the downside. I work in hospitality for one of the city’s most visible companies, we keep Center City clean and as safe as possible, since the downtown area’s revival, we have had a problem with large groups teenagers causing havoc down there. As I left 1917, ten teenagers chased a young man from the arcade, cornered, and beat the daylights of him, running away as security showed up, this is occurring more and more, and reminded me of an event on Easter Sunday 35 years ago, 16th and Chestnut, when hundreds of kids rioted because the movies The Last Dragon and Friday the 13th Part V were sold out, causing property damaged and eventually phasing out movie theaters of the west side of Broad St.
Since the Mayor is silent, and the media says nothing, I hope the days of the Fashion does revert to the days of the old Gallery and AMC Dine In doesn’t become a dollar cinema.
have mixed emotions about this theater, on the one hand I am happy that East Market Street has once again come alive. I work in hospitality for a nonprofit, when I meet our clients, they are very impressed with the city, some prefer it to New York, and they are fascinated by City Hall.
The AMC Fashion District is marketed to millennials, who flood the bars and other attractions at night, the city has a lot riding on the success of the Fashion District. Downtown is going through a change homelessness and roaming juveniles continue to be a problem, this theater along with the arcade, may be a lightning rod for a lot of foolishness.
I am looking forward to visiting the theater, if security is in effect to keep people from sneaking into the other screening rooms, a problem with the old Sameric. The price is also a concern it seems to be different than other AMC theaters, higher.
My other concern is how this will affect the Philadelphia Film Center, the AMC as is PFC, is showing both Frozen II and Star Wars, PFC is marketed as the largest screen in Philadelphia, but AMC is more up to date. PFC releys on these films to run it’s programming, what will happen now, along with the Ritz Theaters, will have to be seen, since AMC will get first crack at any new release, for example, The Good Lier, is showing at AMC Fashion District, the Ritz Theater would have been a better choice for a movie marketed to the over 55 crowd.
The is still some work to do in that section the theater is in, I am hoping that this will succeed, our convention business is up, almost every one in the world wants to see the Rocky steps and the Reading Terminal, when the Fashion District comes to full flourishing, in the Spring will be the big test.
The first week of AMC Voorhees, was a bit bumpy. Beauty and the Beast was handled well but the theater will go through major changes in the first few months. The Coca-Cola Freestyle machine is ugly and ruins the lobby, I am sure AMC will make this theater look like an AMC theater. The classic movie posters and photos of great directors will be removed, the competition from Cinemark in Somerdale with their “luxury seating”, will prompt AMC to do the same, and I am sure a “baby IMAX or Lie-Max” will be built, Romon Posel is turning over in his grave, too bad, this theater had a great run but the Barbarians are at the gate.
The first week of AMC Voorhees, was a bit bumpy. Beauty and the Beast was handled well but the theater will go through major changes in the first few months. The Coca-Cola Freestyle machine is ugly and ruins the lobby, I am sure AMC will make this theater look like an AMC theater. The classic movie posters and photos of great directors will be removed, the competition from Cinemark in Somerdale with their “luxury seating”, will prompt AMC to do the same, and I am sure a “baby IMAX or Lie-Max” will be built, Romon Posel is turning over in his grave, too bad, this theater had a great run but the Barbarians are at the gate.
Carmike is slowly becoming an AMC theater, they have installed a Coke freestyle machine and on March 14th will install new pricing, eliminating 5.00 Wednesdays, The better be careful the reason this theater does well is because of the relationships they have with their customers.
The AMC takeover has begun with promises not to make too many changes until months later. I just hope that they change out that popcorn soon. I can see a “Baby” IMAX like in Cherry Hill, Carmike Ritz 16 has a loyal following with their popcorn buckets.
alps
commented about
PFS Easton
Dec 16, 2016 at 7:43 pm
The best theater of the Philadelphia Landmark theaters, the staff are great and some of them remember you. The screens and the sound are top notch and on occasion, the manager will greet you before the film starts. I go out of my way to attend a film there *****
As with the Ritz Five, Landmark refuses to put money to update this theater as well. I have encountered too many broken seats as of late. A security issue remains from time to time mentally ill homeless people would find their way in the theater. Still better than the Ritz Five.
I know I am beating a dead horse but, the Rize Five really needs to be replaced. This theater is so outdated and uncomfortable I can’t stand going anymore unless the film is in the big theater. Yesterday I was forced to see ELLE there, the film was to play as a sister opening at Carmike Ritz 12 in Voorhees, for whatever reason, it didn’t open. I was looking forward to seeing this amazing piece of French Cinema, and it didn’t disappoint. Unfortunately, this did not play in the big house but in the worst theater that was there, and what happened to the disclaimer about talking during the film? To old ladies sat behind me and chatted away during the entire film, I shushed them once they stopped for a while and continued. I only attend this theater when I have to.
Last June the Ritz 5 celebrated its 40th anniversary. It’s aging but management is still doing a great job running it, I now assume that it will never be replaced by a more up to date cinema. In New York Landmarks Sunshine Cinema is being upgraded, why now here?
Here we go again, AMC has acquired this theater. The Carmike more than any other chain that ran this theater, has a good relationship with those that attend it. It’s pricing for the admission and concessions is what keeps this house well attended week after week, if AMC plans to curtail the good will that the hands on current Carmike management built with its guests, such as raising prices and offering nothing, they will fail.
This is a great theater and well run. I go there on a regular base. I enjoy the XD; Mad Max Fury Road was awesome on that screen. There is one drawback, the older theater have terrible sightlines, you have top sit in the back of the theater to avoid it’s slopping effect. The newer screens are perfect, theater 14, I believe is the best screen.
My Last visit to this theater in January of 2016 to see The Hateful Eight in its 70mm Roadshow, I used to avoid this theater because of the reviews of patrons, but now this is commonplace at all theaters. I saw Hateful 8, on a weekday at its first showing I believe, and it was wonderful, had no problem at all, I guess this is the time to go there. Never on the weekends, never!!!!!!!!
Saddened but not surprised. The first time I went to the Ziegfeld was in the summer of 1979, Apocalypse Now, with assigned seating, and it was magnificent. The last film I saw there was Hugo. Even New York has changed so much, I don’t recognize it anymore. I get up there about every other month, the tourists are ruining it. In Philadelphia, we just suffered the mindless destruction of the Boyd Theater, which could have had a second act as a Broadway touring theater instead of the unsuitable Academy of Music.
The failed Hateful 8 70mm experiment, is the death knell for the motion picture theater experience, most people just don’t care enough about it. I wish the Ziegfeld would have gone with a 70mm Road Show spectacular, with Ben Hur, Lawrence of Arabia, which I saw there, one of the best cinematic experiences I’d ever had. I appreciated the craftsmanship of the theater, the curtains, the valor seats, and the staff; I wish it well as it transition into a ball room.
Marc Lawrence, the tough guy actor from the early days of film noir to “Four Rooms” said of Quentin Tarantino, called him “a headline”, because he got so much attention for doing things that have been done better years ago. The Ziegfeld Theater, I would be surprised it they got “Hateful Eight” over “Star Wars the force awakens”. With box office being what it is, that would be a silly risk. I like Quentin Tarantino’s work very much; a he is a student of film because it’s a game to find what he is using from other movies. But why does he need to release this in a 70mm road show, ego? From the trailer I saw, the film looks a talky Claus phobic mood piece, set during a blizzard. With ticket prices being as they are, the general public isn’t clamoring for this. And now he has law enforcement who will protest the film when it comes out. Maybe it’s me, but this film vs. digital is a non argument, personally I love digital, and I believe Tarantino was taking about shooting on digital, on that I agree with him, because it preserves film, but what passes for cinema today, very little of it needs to preserved. I liked Django Unchained, but they made movies like this over 40 years ago. Why is TV breaking new ground and motion pictures are failing? He through out a digital projector, eh, I don’t believe it, the prints must be awful then. I went to see “The Master” in 70mm; it looked beautiful, like a 4k blu ray. For all of Ta(rant)ino’s pontificating, it’s still called show business, and not too many exhibitors are going for the expense of putting in this old equipment just for his movie.
The iconic Sam Eric 4 marquee came down this week. The week of the 24th Philadelphia Film Festival, future generations will ask, why would we tear down the last Philadelphia movie palace? When in the suburbs their classic theaters have survived and are seeing new life. It isn’t enough that the exterior to the Boyd will be restored, because it will always be a reminder of what could have been, mocking us for our indifference. I visited many places in the Boyd / Sam Eric in my lifetime, from the Garden of Eden, from the Bible: In the Beginning (1966), the first movie I saw there in June of 1967, to Hogwarts from Harry Potter and the Sorcer’s Stone (2001), the last movie I saw in the big auditorium. People lined up on Chestnut Street, a little while ago for the opening of Five Below, a discount store in the vain of Spencer’s Gifts, not knowing that 100 years ago, the opening of the Arcadia Theater was in the same place, all that’s left is a portion of the beautiful plaster work on the ceiling, which mocked me while I was looking at the 5.00 DVD’s they had on sale. Then it hit me, I was born in Philadelphia, a place that makes Gotham City look like a utopia. At the film festival, I viewed a wonderful documentary called King Georges, about Chef Georges Perrier and his restaurant Le Bec-Fin, it was changing times and the way people approached eating that did his restaurant in, because people still like good food, but felt his restaurant was too stuffy and old fashioned. I like to think that’s what did the Boyd in, today people watch movies everywhere but in a theater given what today’s box office looks like, only springing the big bucks for a Star Wars or Hunger Games. Philadelphia is a very political town; this theater could have saved, if it wasn’t for the fact that touring Broadway shows are mounted at the Academy of Music, a concert hall, not a theater. Indiana Jones said it best in Raiders of the Lost Ark, which sneaked previewed at the Sam Eric on June 5th 1981, “Fools, bureaucratic fools! They don’t know what they got there.”
This is the first time I visited Cinema 1, 2, 3, since it got the new seating. I won’t balk about the price since I only attend this theater once a year, only to see Woody Allen’s new releases. The new seats are awesome as is the Coca Cola freestyle fountain. The staff is very friendly and helpful. The price of movies have gone up to ridicules amounts across the board, to see Irrational Man it cost $18.50 for a reserved ticket, $13.07 for popcorn and a soda, this is a lot for the experience. I live in South Jersey, outside of Philadelphia, when I see Irrational Man again, I see all new Woody Allen releases twice, I will pay, $5.75 for the ticket and $9.50 for popcorn and soda, see the difference? This is why movie theaters will continue to struggle, and streaming will be the norm. Woody Allen has an aging audience, I am 57, been into the Woodman since the 70’s, I believe I was the youngest person there.
My advice to the new management, security, security, security! I am not being cynical but if you let a patronage of individuals, whom you cannot reason with, destroy this theater as they did with the UA and the UA Cheltenham. The Cinemark on 40th St, has a curfew to keep little hellions out of the theater after 9:00 PM.
This year, the theater will turn 100 years old.
The Ritz at the Bourse will live again under new owenership of Philadelphia Film Society. The new theater will be named PFS at the Bourse. A mixture of programing. This will end their involvement with the Roxy Theater, which will close perm.
Disgrace. I knew this was going to happen, when the escalator was broken for over a year. I am going to miss this theater. The fashion district AMC will not show art movies, I gues I will have to go to New York more. Ritz at the Bourse would show too many films that you could watch on Demand, and Cohen Media is wrong owner.
I attended a showing of 1917, in the Dolby Cinema, WOW, this was the best sound and picture I ever experienced. The seats are a little cramped compare to my main cinema I attend, Cinemark 16 in Somerdale NJ. The price is high at AMC Fashion district, but I work in Center City Philadelphia, so it is an option, how this will impact the Ritz Theaters is yet to be seen. The AMC did book films that would have easily played at the Ritz such as Little Women. Now, the downside. I work in hospitality for one of the city’s most visible companies, we keep Center City clean and as safe as possible, since the downtown area’s revival, we have had a problem with large groups teenagers causing havoc down there. As I left 1917, ten teenagers chased a young man from the arcade, cornered, and beat the daylights of him, running away as security showed up, this is occurring more and more, and reminded me of an event on Easter Sunday 35 years ago, 16th and Chestnut, when hundreds of kids rioted because the movies The Last Dragon and Friday the 13th Part V were sold out, causing property damaged and eventually phasing out movie theaters of the west side of Broad St. Since the Mayor is silent, and the media says nothing, I hope the days of the Fashion does revert to the days of the old Gallery and AMC Dine In doesn’t become a dollar cinema.
yes, that is a concern. But now the Film Center a/k/a/ Film at the Prince, can market itself as having more seats than AMC Fashion District 8.
have mixed emotions about this theater, on the one hand I am happy that East Market Street has once again come alive. I work in hospitality for a nonprofit, when I meet our clients, they are very impressed with the city, some prefer it to New York, and they are fascinated by City Hall. The AMC Fashion District is marketed to millennials, who flood the bars and other attractions at night, the city has a lot riding on the success of the Fashion District. Downtown is going through a change homelessness and roaming juveniles continue to be a problem, this theater along with the arcade, may be a lightning rod for a lot of foolishness. I am looking forward to visiting the theater, if security is in effect to keep people from sneaking into the other screening rooms, a problem with the old Sameric. The price is also a concern it seems to be different than other AMC theaters, higher. My other concern is how this will affect the Philadelphia Film Center, the AMC as is PFC, is showing both Frozen II and Star Wars, PFC is marketed as the largest screen in Philadelphia, but AMC is more up to date. PFC releys on these films to run it’s programming, what will happen now, along with the Ritz Theaters, will have to be seen, since AMC will get first crack at any new release, for example, The Good Lier, is showing at AMC Fashion District, the Ritz Theater would have been a better choice for a movie marketed to the over 55 crowd. The is still some work to do in that section the theater is in, I am hoping that this will succeed, our convention business is up, almost every one in the world wants to see the Rocky steps and the Reading Terminal, when the Fashion District comes to full flourishing, in the Spring will be the big test.
The first week of AMC Voorhees, was a bit bumpy. Beauty and the Beast was handled well but the theater will go through major changes in the first few months. The Coca-Cola Freestyle machine is ugly and ruins the lobby, I am sure AMC will make this theater look like an AMC theater. The classic movie posters and photos of great directors will be removed, the competition from Cinemark in Somerdale with their “luxury seating”, will prompt AMC to do the same, and I am sure a “baby IMAX or Lie-Max” will be built, Romon Posel is turning over in his grave, too bad, this theater had a great run but the Barbarians are at the gate.
The first week of AMC Voorhees, was a bit bumpy. Beauty and the Beast was handled well but the theater will go through major changes in the first few months. The Coca-Cola Freestyle machine is ugly and ruins the lobby, I am sure AMC will make this theater look like an AMC theater. The classic movie posters and photos of great directors will be removed, the competition from Cinemark in Somerdale with their “luxury seating”, will prompt AMC to do the same, and I am sure a “baby IMAX or Lie-Max” will be built, Romon Posel is turning over in his grave, too bad, this theater had a great run but the Barbarians are at the gate.
Carmike is slowly becoming an AMC theater, they have installed a Coke freestyle machine and on March 14th will install new pricing, eliminating 5.00 Wednesdays, The better be careful the reason this theater does well is because of the relationships they have with their customers.
The last time I went there was 40 years ago, I saw Richard Pryor in Greased Lightin and Freebie and the Bean.
The AMC takeover has begun with promises not to make too many changes until months later. I just hope that they change out that popcorn soon. I can see a “Baby” IMAX like in Cherry Hill, Carmike Ritz 16 has a loyal following with their popcorn buckets.
The best theater of the Philadelphia Landmark theaters, the staff are great and some of them remember you. The screens and the sound are top notch and on occasion, the manager will greet you before the film starts. I go out of my way to attend a film there *****
As with the Ritz Five, Landmark refuses to put money to update this theater as well. I have encountered too many broken seats as of late. A security issue remains from time to time mentally ill homeless people would find their way in the theater. Still better than the Ritz Five.
I know I am beating a dead horse but, the Rize Five really needs to be replaced. This theater is so outdated and uncomfortable I can’t stand going anymore unless the film is in the big theater. Yesterday I was forced to see ELLE there, the film was to play as a sister opening at Carmike Ritz 12 in Voorhees, for whatever reason, it didn’t open. I was looking forward to seeing this amazing piece of French Cinema, and it didn’t disappoint. Unfortunately, this did not play in the big house but in the worst theater that was there, and what happened to the disclaimer about talking during the film? To old ladies sat behind me and chatted away during the entire film, I shushed them once they stopped for a while and continued. I only attend this theater when I have to.
Last June the Ritz 5 celebrated its 40th anniversary. It’s aging but management is still doing a great job running it, I now assume that it will never be replaced by a more up to date cinema. In New York Landmarks Sunshine Cinema is being upgraded, why now here?
Here we go again, AMC has acquired this theater. The Carmike more than any other chain that ran this theater, has a good relationship with those that attend it. It’s pricing for the admission and concessions is what keeps this house well attended week after week, if AMC plans to curtail the good will that the hands on current Carmike management built with its guests, such as raising prices and offering nothing, they will fail.
This is a great theater and well run. I go there on a regular base. I enjoy the XD; Mad Max Fury Road was awesome on that screen. There is one drawback, the older theater have terrible sightlines, you have top sit in the back of the theater to avoid it’s slopping effect. The newer screens are perfect, theater 14, I believe is the best screen.
My Last visit to this theater in January of 2016 to see The Hateful Eight in its 70mm Roadshow, I used to avoid this theater because of the reviews of patrons, but now this is commonplace at all theaters. I saw Hateful 8, on a weekday at its first showing I believe, and it was wonderful, had no problem at all, I guess this is the time to go there. Never on the weekends, never!!!!!!!!
If memory serves, two of the producers of the film, a married couple named Bauer, lived outside Philadelphia, this explains why Gary Busey was there.
Saddened but not surprised. The first time I went to the Ziegfeld was in the summer of 1979, Apocalypse Now, with assigned seating, and it was magnificent. The last film I saw there was Hugo. Even New York has changed so much, I don’t recognize it anymore. I get up there about every other month, the tourists are ruining it. In Philadelphia, we just suffered the mindless destruction of the Boyd Theater, which could have had a second act as a Broadway touring theater instead of the unsuitable Academy of Music.
The failed Hateful 8 70mm experiment, is the death knell for the motion picture theater experience, most people just don’t care enough about it. I wish the Ziegfeld would have gone with a 70mm Road Show spectacular, with Ben Hur, Lawrence of Arabia, which I saw there, one of the best cinematic experiences I’d ever had. I appreciated the craftsmanship of the theater, the curtains, the valor seats, and the staff; I wish it well as it transition into a ball room.
Marc Lawrence, the tough guy actor from the early days of film noir to “Four Rooms” said of Quentin Tarantino, called him “a headline”, because he got so much attention for doing things that have been done better years ago. The Ziegfeld Theater, I would be surprised it they got “Hateful Eight” over “Star Wars the force awakens”. With box office being what it is, that would be a silly risk. I like Quentin Tarantino’s work very much; a he is a student of film because it’s a game to find what he is using from other movies. But why does he need to release this in a 70mm road show, ego? From the trailer I saw, the film looks a talky Claus phobic mood piece, set during a blizzard. With ticket prices being as they are, the general public isn’t clamoring for this. And now he has law enforcement who will protest the film when it comes out. Maybe it’s me, but this film vs. digital is a non argument, personally I love digital, and I believe Tarantino was taking about shooting on digital, on that I agree with him, because it preserves film, but what passes for cinema today, very little of it needs to preserved. I liked Django Unchained, but they made movies like this over 40 years ago. Why is TV breaking new ground and motion pictures are failing? He through out a digital projector, eh, I don’t believe it, the prints must be awful then. I went to see “The Master” in 70mm; it looked beautiful, like a 4k blu ray. For all of Ta(rant)ino’s pontificating, it’s still called show business, and not too many exhibitors are going for the expense of putting in this old equipment just for his movie.
The iconic Sam Eric 4 marquee came down this week. The week of the 24th Philadelphia Film Festival, future generations will ask, why would we tear down the last Philadelphia movie palace? When in the suburbs their classic theaters have survived and are seeing new life. It isn’t enough that the exterior to the Boyd will be restored, because it will always be a reminder of what could have been, mocking us for our indifference. I visited many places in the Boyd / Sam Eric in my lifetime, from the Garden of Eden, from the Bible: In the Beginning (1966), the first movie I saw there in June of 1967, to Hogwarts from Harry Potter and the Sorcer’s Stone (2001), the last movie I saw in the big auditorium. People lined up on Chestnut Street, a little while ago for the opening of Five Below, a discount store in the vain of Spencer’s Gifts, not knowing that 100 years ago, the opening of the Arcadia Theater was in the same place, all that’s left is a portion of the beautiful plaster work on the ceiling, which mocked me while I was looking at the 5.00 DVD’s they had on sale. Then it hit me, I was born in Philadelphia, a place that makes Gotham City look like a utopia. At the film festival, I viewed a wonderful documentary called King Georges, about Chef Georges Perrier and his restaurant Le Bec-Fin, it was changing times and the way people approached eating that did his restaurant in, because people still like good food, but felt his restaurant was too stuffy and old fashioned. I like to think that’s what did the Boyd in, today people watch movies everywhere but in a theater given what today’s box office looks like, only springing the big bucks for a Star Wars or Hunger Games. Philadelphia is a very political town; this theater could have saved, if it wasn’t for the fact that touring Broadway shows are mounted at the Academy of Music, a concert hall, not a theater. Indiana Jones said it best in Raiders of the Lost Ark, which sneaked previewed at the Sam Eric on June 5th 1981, “Fools, bureaucratic fools! They don’t know what they got there.”
I love this theater recently went up a dollar, but that’s fine. Staff is very friendly and the theater is clean. My Imax destination.
This is the first time I visited Cinema 1, 2, 3, since it got the new seating. I won’t balk about the price since I only attend this theater once a year, only to see Woody Allen’s new releases. The new seats are awesome as is the Coca Cola freestyle fountain. The staff is very friendly and helpful. The price of movies have gone up to ridicules amounts across the board, to see Irrational Man it cost $18.50 for a reserved ticket, $13.07 for popcorn and a soda, this is a lot for the experience. I live in South Jersey, outside of Philadelphia, when I see Irrational Man again, I see all new Woody Allen releases twice, I will pay, $5.75 for the ticket and $9.50 for popcorn and soda, see the difference? This is why movie theaters will continue to struggle, and streaming will be the norm. Woody Allen has an aging audience, I am 57, been into the Woodman since the 70’s, I believe I was the youngest person there.
My advice to the new management, security, security, security! I am not being cynical but if you let a patronage of individuals, whom you cannot reason with, destroy this theater as they did with the UA and the UA Cheltenham. The Cinemark on 40th St, has a curfew to keep little hellions out of the theater after 9:00 PM.