A year in film: A recap of 2024’s biggest Philadelphia film moments

From theaters opening and closing to local productions to significant years for a couple of favorite Philadelphians, here are 10 highlights of the year in Philadelphia film.

The city was well-represented at the Academy Awards in early March, with Mount Airy’s and Temple’s Da’Vine Joy Randolph taking home the best supporting actress Oscar for her role in The Holdovers. Also nominated were Jenkintown’s Bradley Cooper for Maestro and West Philly’s Colman Domingo for Rustin, both for best actor.

The Rustin accolades were only part of a big year for Domingo. He both starred in and executive-produced the acclaimed prison drama Sing Sing, and while at it, he also delivered a monologue about the magic of water ice on a hot summer’s day. He received his second consecutive Golden Globe nomination for the role.

Domingo also popped up in Drive-Away Dolls, the Ethan Coen-directed crime comedy-drama that was partially set (but not shot) in Philly, and he is starring in the new, Poconos-set Netflix limited series The Madness.

In the works is him directing a film on Sammy Davis Jr. and a film on Nat King Cole. Domingo is also a cochair of the 2025 Met Gala.

Several movies and TV shows could be seen filming in the region throughout the year. A Complete Unknown, the Timothée Chalamet-starring Bob Dylan biopic, shot significant scenes in Cape May. The Netflix series Tires, with Shane Gillis, was shot in West Chester.

Both the Mark Ruffalo-starring HBO series Task and the Ridley Scott-produced Apple series Sinking Spring were spotted shooting in Delaware County. And speaking of Delco, the long-gestating Delco: The Movie finally wrapped production and will premiere in early 2025.

While M. Night Shyamalan did not film a project locally this year, it was a busy 2024 for the filmmaker raised in Penn Valley. He directed Trap, a serial killer thriller that was filmed in Canada but set most of the action in Philly, including at a fictitious downtown sports arena. That film costarred his daughter Saleka, while another of his daughters, Ishana, made her directorial debut with The Watchers.

August marked the 25th anniversary of his 1999 Philly classic The Sixth Sense, while the following month, Shyamalan hosted a Philadelphia Orchestra concert called “Night After Night,” featuring performances of composer James Newton Howard’s scores for Shyamalan’s first eight films.

There was no new Rocky movie this year, nor any word on a new Creed since the late 2023 announcement that a Creed IV was in development. But Philadelphia, in early December, hosted the inaugural RockyFest, featuring bus tours, a Film Society marathon of the films, and the temporary movement of the Rocky statue to the top of the Art Museum steps.

It was also announced that Sylvester Stallone would star in a Philadelphia-set crime film called The Epiphany, although it doesn’t appear to have been shot locally.

There was big news from the Greater Philadelphia Film Office in November: Sharon Pinkenson announced that she was stepping down as executive director after more than 30 years of playing a key role in bringing film productions to Philadelphia. Erin Wagner and Nicole Shiner, two longtime employees, will lead the office.

Movie theaters are always opening and closing in Philly, and this year was no different.

After sitting empty for the last four years, the 17-screen Riverview Plaza movie theater on Columbus Boulevard is set to reopen in 2025, under the auspices of New England-based Apple Cinemas. Meanwhile, the approval of the 76 Place arena indicates that the AMC Fashion District’s days are numbered, although there’s been no announcement.

The Lightbox Film Center art house theater shuttered in June, along with the University of the Arts, but by the end of the year, it had been revived in nonprofit form, hosting screenings at the Bok Building in South Philly and elsewhere.

The Philadelphia Film Society, meanwhile, announced the receipt of a $2 million grant from the Wyncote Foundation, which will be used to renovate its main venue in Center City, whose name was changed from Philadelphia Film Center to Film Society Center. The society announced a $4 million Moving Film Forward Capital Campaign this month.

For October’s Philadelphia Film Festival, the Film Society claimed the largest attendance in the event’s history, with over 30,000 attendees. Attendees were able to catch the year’s awards contenders and films from around the world, along with locally relevant films, such as the music documentary The Philly Sound Heard ‘Round the World and Audrey’s Children. No One Died: The Wing Bowl Story brought wing-eating luminaries to its world premiere at PFF.

The year saw several cable and streaming documentaries and docuseries about prominent Philly athletes of the past and present.

Phillies legend Michael Jack Schmidt was the subject of a titular MLB Network documentary in December, mostly about his relationship with the local fans, while his old teammate Pete Rose was explored in the HBO series Charlie Hustle & the Matter of Pete Rose, which debuted just weeks before Rose’s death in September. In the Prime Video series Evolution of the Black Quarterback, former Eagles quarterback Michael Vick sat down with several other Eagles of different eras, including Donovan McNabb, Rodney Peete, and Jalen Hurts. And North Philly native Bernard Hopkins stole the show in the boxing documentary In the Company of Kings, now on Tubi.

A short documentary, The Turnaround, told the story of how an area fan encouraged the 2023 standing ovation for the Phillies’ Trea Turner; it was picked up by Netflix and has been pushed for awards consideration by its executive producer, Barack Obama.

The epic film The Brutalist, which played at the Philadelphia Film Festival and is a leading awards contender this year, tells the story of an architect and Holocaust survivor (Adrien Brody) who settles in Philadelphia, later building a major project in Doylestown, Bucks County. While it was shot in Europe, the film makes the Delaware Valley central to its conception of the American dream and its limitations, while also incorporating vintage Pennsylvania tourism advertisements.