AMC permanently closed its movie theater at the Franklin Mall in Northeast Philadelphia at the start of the year, the company said. The shuttering ends a run of more than 27 years for the 14-screen cinema, which had reached the end of its lease at the property.
Franklin Mall, formerly Franklin Mills and Philadelphia Mills, has been undergoing changes since Simon Property Group sold it last summer to private investment group Jones Lang LaSalle. The former owner acquired the mall in 2007 and later rebranded it as Philadelphia Mills in 2014. The property was sold because Simon Property Group — the largest mall landlord in the United States — was unable to a repay a $259 million loan.
MORE: Jefferson resident physicians vote to unionize, joining national trend
Major retailers at Franklin Mall include Burlington, Marshalls, Walmart and Dave & Buster's. The mall's website lists 89 stores still operating, but a number of storefronts remain vacant. Music store Sam Ash closed last spring before the mall was sold.
The property was appraised by the city last year at a value of $101.3 million, far below its $370 million appraisal when Simon Property Group bought it in 2007.
The mall's new management could not immediately be reached for comment about the closure of the movie theater and potential plans for the space. AMC's theater opened in December 1997 at the site of a former Sears outlet store. The mall, which opened in 1989, was originally owned by the Mills Corporation.
AMC's nearest locations to Franklin Mall are in Bensalem, where it has the 10-screen Woodhaven theater and a 24-screen theater at the Neshaminy Mall. Both have been open since the mid-to-late 1990's. The Neshaminy Mall was sold last year to commercial real estate firm Paramount Realty, which is now developing future plans for the site.
In Center City, AMC opened an eight-screen theater at the Fashion District Philadelphia mall in 2019. The future of that theater was threatened by the Philadelphia 76ers' proposed arena project that would have replaced that portion of the mall, but the team abandoned those plans this week in favor of partnering with Comcast Spectacor on a new arena in South Philadelphia. The Fashion District site was purchased by the 76ers, who are entering a 50-50 venture to invest in development projects along East Market Street. Details about those plans have not been shared.
AMC has closed more than 150 theaters in the United States since the COVID-19 pandemic, when restrictions on indoor gatherings upended the industry and shifted many new releases directly to streaming platforms. Since then, the survival of cinema chains has largely been supported by higher ticket prices.
AMC still operates another theater in Philadelphia at Temple University's campus on Broad Street. In addition to small theaters like the five-screen Landmark Ritz Five in Center City, which focuses on foreign and independent films, Cinemark has a six-screen theater in University City near the campus of the University of Pennsylvania. And in South Philadelphia, on Columbus Boulevard, the former Regal United Artists Riverview Plaza theater that closed in 2020 is expected to be redeveloped into a 17-screen theater operated by Apple Cinemas.