I’m worried the new Sixers stadium will displace the best movie theater in town

Center City is great for a lot of things; movie theaters aren’t one of them.

That changed in 2019, when AMC opened a multiscreen theater at 10th and Market Streets. Finally, residents had easy access to reclining chairs and the latest big budget releases.

Besides a great theater, another thing Center City has long lacked is a sports arena. Finally, there are plans for Center City to get the latter — but I’m worried it may end up displacing the former.

Back in July, the 76ers, along with businessman David Adelman, announced plans to build a new arena, tentatively called 76 Place, which would be located on a portion of the current site of the Fashion District. Based on current plans, the arena would almost certainly displace the part of the complex that contains the AMC DINE-IN Fashion District 8 movie theater.

» READ MORE: The Sixers want to build a new $1.3 billion arena in Center City

An AMC spokesman told me they don’t have info to share on the chain’s plans, and Macerich, the owner of the Fashion District, did not return a request for comment.

AMC Fashion District is a very new, state-of-the-art theater, featuring Dolby Cinema and Prime auditoriums that are by far the best place in the city to see a movie. Seeing Top Gun: Maverick in the Dolby room was probably my favorite movie theater experience of the last year.

Despite a significant period of jitters in which many moviegoers were reluctant to return to theaters because of COVID-19, the AMC multiplex is one of the few parts of the Fashion District complex that seems to ever attract large crowds. To lose Center City’s only multiplex would be a huge blow to the Philadelphia film scene.

That isn’t to say I’m opposed to the arena project. A sports (and concert) venue in or near the urban core is not something that Philadelphia has ever had, but in cities that do have that (like Boston, New York, and Washington, D.C.), it’s very enjoyable.

Philadelphians will be able to spin through a night out that starts out at a bar or restaurant, continues with the game or other event, and then concludes at another bar or restaurant — with each venue just steps from one another. Wouldn’t you love to eat at Reading Terminal Market, and then walk two blocks to attend a basketball game or concert?

But, of course, another great thing to have in the downtown area of a city is a movie theater. There’s something about seeing a great movie with friends, and hashing out what you just saw as you exit into the urban bustle. And much like urban sports arenas, most U.S. cities have multiplexes in or near their downtown area — according to my research online, all 10 of the largest cities in the country have at least one.

Philadelphia offers a very small number of screens for a city of its size and has lost even more in the pandemic era. The Regal UA Riverview Plaza theater, on Columbus Boulevard, closed in late 2020. The Ritz East Theatre, in Old City, shut its doors last fall and is “permanently closed as a Landmark Theatre,” a spokesperson for Landmark told me. The Roxy Theater, on Sansom Street, closed in 2021.

“Philadelphia offers a very small number of screens for a city of its size.”

There’s still the Philadelphia Film Center, operated by the Philadelphia Film Society in the former Prince Theater on Chestnut Street, as well as the Film Society’s theater in the reopened Bourse. There are several outstanding theaters in the region, but most of them are outside the city.

Of course, Philadelphia is facing many problems that are more urgent than the potential loss of a movie multiplex — it’s the poorest big city in the country, and this year it’s on track for another record year in gun violence. Many have questioned whether moviegoing has a future, when it’s so easy to stream movies at home.

But films this year like Top Gun: Maverick, Nope, and the riotous, Telugu-language action movie from India, RRR, have shown that the communal experience of seeing a movie on the big screen with a crowd still has great value. Movies bring us together, and nothing beats a big-screen experience. Everyone who comes to Center City deserves access to that.

So if the new arena moves forward — and as we’ve learned from the history of big projects in Philadelphia, it may not — I am urging developers to either keep the AMC Fashion District or include plans for another multiplex in whatever building they create. Center City would be better for it.

Stephen Silver is a journalist and film critic who lives in Delaware County. He is working on a book about the history of Jewish-oriented American films.