Rave Motion Pictures on 40th and Walnut streets will officially change ownership as of early 2013, but not due to financial troubles.
Cinemark, a large international exhibition company with 500 locations across the globe, has made a $240 million deal to acquire 32 Rave locations nationwide.
Rave Cinemas is not selling their assets out of necessity. With 62 theaters across the country, Rave just completed 52 consecutive weeks of outperforming the movie industry.
“It has been Rave’s best year yet,” Jim Wroblewski, general manager of the 40th and Walnut Rave location, said. “That’s why there will never be a better time to sell.”
The theater has only been The Rave for two years. It was previously the Bridge Cinema de Lux, owned by National Amusements, Inc. before Rave Cinemas bought it in 2010. The Bridge opened in November 2002. While the theater was originally slated to show art films, it expanded its repertoire, leading to conflict with neighboring theater Cinemagic 3. Because Cinemagic owed about $100,000 in late rental payments, the University wanted the theater off of the 3900 block of Walnut Street. It closed in 2005.
The deal between Cinemark and Rave Cinemas is set to officially close in the first quarter of 2013. Until that happens, no details about how the change will affect the University City theater or any other Rave theater can be determined.
“It’s too early to say if this location will change,” Wroblewski said. Yet he does not expect the theater to go through any major changes.
“We have a good team, service and facility … I don’t see how we could benefit from any vast changes,” he said.
Cinemark will go through a process of vetting and on-boarding, where they will interview each member of the current Rave staff and review their findings.
While many decisions about how the ownership change will affect the University City Rave location are not yet finalized, Wroblewski stressed that “customers will continue to enjoy the same great movie-going experience at Rave until the transition date.”
He added, “I’d expect [this experience] to continue under Cinemark.”
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