June 09, 2026
Andrew Shearer/Imagn Images
Plans fell apart for the renovation of South Philly's vacant Riverview Plaza movie theater with an IMAX screen, but the company says it is still looking to add a premium viewing experience in the city. Above, an IMAX auditorium is shown under construction at a Georgia theater in 2025.
Philly moviegoers hoping to catch showings in IMAX again may still get their wish, even as plans to bring a screen back to the vacant Riverview Plaza in South Philly unraveled last month.
"IMAX is actively looking for ways to expand in the Philadelphia market and exploring potential opportunities with a number of exhibitors to do so," an IMAX spokesperson said Tuesday.
All of the theaters that once had IMAX screens in the city have closed in the years since the COVID-19 pandemic. The former Regal UA Riverview Plaza on South Christopher Columbus Boulevard, which the independent chain Apple Cinemas had aimed to renovate and reopen this year, had an IMAX screen before the venue closed in 2020.
The Franklin Institute's domed Tuttleman theater, which opened in 1990, permanently closed in 2023 after falling out of commission for several years. It had been the city's first IMAX screen, debuting at a time when the format was mainly dedicated to nature documentaries.
Another IMAX screen at the former AMC Philadelphia Mills theater closed last year when the chain opted not to renew its lease at the struggling Northeast Philly mall. That screen was in a standard auditorium that IMAX had converted, so it was a bit smaller than usual.
The closest IMAX screens for Philly residents are at theaters in Cherry Hill, Bensalem, King of Prussia, Warrington and Downingtown.
Apple Cinemas moved to terminate its lease at the Riverview Plaza last month amid a legal conflict with property owner Bart Blatstein. Apple Cinemas, a New England-based chain that's expanded to 14 locations in the United States, said the building has numerous problems and was not delivered for renovations in accordance with the lease terms. Blatstein and his development firm, Tower Investments, declined to comment about the chain's withdrawal from the project.
"We have an ongoing partnership with Apple — they have IMAX in several of their locations throughout New England and in San Francisco — so we’re talking to them all the time about the potential for new IMAX locations," the IMAX spokesperson said.
Apple Cinemas co-owner Siva Shan said the company has already started looking at other properties in Philadelphia to open a new theater. Shan did not completely rule out the possibility of resolving the dispute at Riverview Plaza, but said the chain was "forced to cancel" its plans after investing about $200,000 in permits and other project costs with no clear path forward.
Despite the economic challenges that have hit movie theaters and the film industry broadly over the past decade, IMAX has been among the steady forces in the sector. Its premium screens make up a small fraction of showings at movie theaters, but they are the most lucrative driver of box office revenue and have taken up a growing share of ticket sales in the U.S. and Canada in recent years. The company touted a record $1.28 billion grossed at the global box office in 2025.
“We see no signs of slowing down given a very promising slate ahead and the consistency of our market share gains, as filmmakers, studios, and audiences worldwide continue to gravitate toward the IMAX Experience," CEO Rich Gelfond, who is now on medical leave battling pneumonia, said in January.
A strong slate of 2026 films has already pushed the domestic box office to $3.9 billion so far this year, a 12.5% increase over the same period in 2025 and a 42.6% jump over that period in 2024, according to Box Office Mojo.
Part of IMAX's success has been improvement in the technology, which was originally created in Canada in the 1960s and long relied on expensive 70mm film projection. The advent of digital and laser systems allowed IMAX to retrofit and convert screens in standard multiplexes at a lower cost. The format has also thrived among filmmakers in the digital era, which has made it more financially feasible to produce and distribute IMAX films.
Christopher Nolan's upcoming film "The Odyssey," which hits theaters July 17, is the first movie ever shot using only custom IMAX film cameras. The project overcame a number of technical hurdles — including reducing the sound produced by the cameras — to accommodate Nolan's ambitions for the movie.
IMAX has been exploring a possible sale, the Wall Street Journal reported in May, amid strong growth over the past two years and a bigger push into international film releases. There have been questions about whether a Hollywood studio purchasing the company would lead to certain projects gaining favor over films by competitors. Yahoo Finance reported movie theater chains, Netflix and other large tech companies could all emerge as potential buyers of IMAX, whose market cap is roughly $2.15 billion.
The IMAX spokesperson did not say whether any specific theaters in Philadelphia have been discussed as options to add a new screen.
