UA Riverview Plaza Stadium 17

Hiya! My name’s Jim Perry & I’m the original chief film projectionist for the Riverview multiplex (from it’s opening in Nov. 1991, to about sometime in 1994), and I’m gonna answer a question, as well as mentioning a somewhat “important” point “trivia / history-wise”.

To “ediemer” - you asked about what the theatre had in regards to 70mm. At the time, Theatres 6 (one of the mid-size houses) & 7 (The Large House) had Century 70/35 film projectors, and both had Dolby CP65 processors for the sound. (Both were originally supposed to have an early digital stereo system called Cinema Digital Sound, but the company(s) who created it cancelled “the project” about a week or 2 before the Riverview opened up. That’s a story in itself, but for another time.) Basically, in theory - say we ran something in theatre 7 and it turned out to be a stiff at the box office, we could move it (the print) to theatre 6. (Case in point - you mentioned “Gettysburg”. Turns out that one was the last 70mm feature I ever ran. It was also “a stiff”. Meaning: we played it originally in 7 & ended up moving it in 6.)

For the record - when The Riverview finally opened up in Nov. of 1991, only 9 of its 11 screens/houses were ready - theatres 8 & 9 (A.K.A. “The Dinky Houses”) were still being worked on - we didn’t open those 2 until either December or January.

Not to “kiss ass” here, but somebody mentioned Ron Angeli. I was in “the biz” for several years & in regards to all the jobs/thetres I worked at, Ron was probably the best theatre manager I ever worked for. The guy knew how to run a theatre. He was also a “NO NONSENSE/NO B.S.” kinda guy. Let me put it another way - I wasn’t there on these stories about the theatre going into “decline”, but I can guess that when that happened, Ron wasn’t there either. The last thing I heard (probably sometime in the late 90’s), United Artists Theatres apparently decided to let Ron go. (Pretty much a STOOPID move on their part.)

Please update 3928 seats

Please update, the additional 6 screens opened on August 28, 1998

I’m reposting a yelp comment (5-27-18 by A and JS of San Francisco)– This review is mainly a post about the size of the various theaters. While Fandango does list auditorium numbers with showtimes, the size of the screens is rather mysterious until you are there. Auditoriums 1 – 6 are upstairs, and 1 and 2 are biggest, huge even. Downstairs are auditoriums 7 – 15. Avoid the tiny, nearly worthless 14 & 15, which are almost like big screen televisions. I thought, just by sight comparison, that 8 and 13 were maybe a little larger than the others downstairs, but this may be my imagination. Would love to see more posts/more information about this. I love a big screen, but don’t want to see, or pay for, IMAX. Anyone else have an opinion to contribute?

New Showcase Presentations in Philadelphia article includes mention of the 70mm engagements here at the Riverview Plaza (along with other Philadelphia area cinemas).

It was the 70mm version and was shown in the correct 2.76 to 1 aspect ratio that I saw. The auditorium had a 1.85 to 1 screen which uses top masking to achieve the more typical 2.39 to 1 ‘scope ratio. For the “Hateful 8” in 70mm they opted to not use the top masking and projected the film across the top of the unmasked screen, leaving a large amount of screen below exposed as opposed to a relatively small amount if the top masking had been used. Just for the sake of clarification, 70mm “Ultra Panavision” is basically the 70mm version of Cinemascope in that the 2.2 to 1 70mm frame has a slight anamorphic squeeze that yields the extra wide 2.76 to 1 aspect ratio. “Ultra Panavision” was actually developed as a simpler, less expensive alternative to the three camera/ three projector “Cinerama” which was also projected at 2.76 to 1 ratio on a deeply curved screen. Just a shame that AMC did not opt to do the Roadshow in Aud 24 which has a 2.39 to 1 61 foot wide screen…would have been a real event in that theater.

I was thinking of “Far and Away” in my reply. I am guessing the digital version of The Hateful Eight is also shown as 2.76 aspect ratio like the 70mm version.

70mm scope films are shown at 2.2 aspect ratio not 2.35

So, UA Riverview is showing the “Hateful Eight” 70mm Roadshow in the pre-expansion big auditorium. That had to be a far superior experience than the 25'wide 1.85 to 1 unmasked screen presentation I went to at Neshaminy 24. Should went with my initial instinct and saw it at Riverview. I saw “Far and Away” in that same room in regular 2.21 to 1 70mm and it was a great experience.

My expectations were in some ways exceeded. I had not been in the Riverview since its expansion in'the nineties, so I was pleasantly surprised that auditorium #13 (the h8 70mm room) and its adjacent #12 had not been severely stadium-ized with the upper section resembling a height ride at an amusement park. This nearly always leads to fuzzy multi-channel imaging and often, as in the Cinemark XD rooms, a one-size-fits-all screen that diminishes the impact of scope. That said, aud #13 here has a moderate rake with good views of its approximate 40-45 foot scope screen, in the 2.2:1 ratio which means letterboxing for wider aspect ratios as was the case here. It would have been nice that, given the cost of the install (or reinstall since the original Riverview did have at least one set of 35/70mm machines) to have temporarily masked off the top and bottom of the screen. Throughout the print there was a green vertical stripe down the right side of the image, and the image did often show off the soft focus often evident in UP70 photography. I will within the next few hours post on the riverview’s page on cinematreasures.org three photos I took inside the auditorium. Oops. almost forgot: the ticket taker graciously handed out the souvenir program booklets…nice touch!

I’ve posted three photographs. The one with the color information removed clearly shows the contrast between the projected letterboxed image and the actual screen material.

Have never experienced a problem at this theater with audience behavior (but I do tend to go at off peak hrs). The big rooms on the second level are wide and have very large screens (guessing over 50 ft wide), excellent sound and good site lines.

AP says it was the Brad Pitt movie:
http://tinyurl.com/8d6cdc