The newest addition to Wilmington’s Riverfront is open.
Delaware’s first IMAX theater, the Penn Cinema Riverfront, welcomed its first moviegoers overnight with a midnight IMAX showing of “The Hobbit” and midnight showings of three other films on its regular screens.
The 15-screen multiplex is the first major theater in Delaware’s largest city since the old Rialto went dark in 1982. The only theater currently operating within the Wilmington city limits is Theater N, but that seats just over 200 people and only operates on the weekends showing mainly independent films.
WDDE visits Penn Cinema's opening day.
WDDE visits Penn Cinema's opening day.
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By comparison, The Penn Cinema Riverfront is expected to draw around 700,000 customers to the Riverfront annually.
At Penn Cinema's test run Thursday afternoon, Riverfront Development Corporation Executive Director Michael Purzycki said the theater and a Westin hotel scheduled to open on the Riverfront in early 2014 elevate the expectations for the section of the city.
"One day you reach a step where you move on to a whole other level. I think this and the hotel both do that. You can't be a tourist destination if you don't have entertainment for people. So, this is just part of the mix we need o be a successful regional destination," said Purzycki. "Five years ago, we weren't sure we could see it. Today, we can see it very clearly."
Mayor James Baker, who leaves office next month, agrees that after nearly two decades development of Wilmington Riverfront is starting to take shape in a coherent way.
"People have to have places to go to beyond a restaurant here or a restaurant there. Having a hotel, having a movie facility, having a museum and all this together makes this a place people want to come," said Baker.
The theater is already paying dividends for one of its neighbors, the Delaware Children’s Museum. Proceeds from test run movie showings Thursday will be split by the museum and Delaware’s chapter of the National MS Society.
This piece is made possible, in part, by a grant from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency dedicated to nurturing and supporting the arts in Delaware, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts.