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Tag: movies

Richmond’s Movieland at Boulevard Square to undergo $5M glow-up

Movieland at Boulevard Square, the city of Richmond’s only first-run movie theater, is undergoing approximately $5 million in renovations and upgrades.

The project, which began in October and is expected to be completed in spring 2025, represents “the most extensive enhancements to the theater since it opened in 2009,” according to a Wednesday news release.

Located at 1301 N. Arthur Ashe Blvd. in the city’s Scott’s Addition area at the intersection with Leigh Street, Movieland is owned by New York-based Bow Tie Partners, a family-owned real estate and entertainment company. Bow Tie Partners also owns a Richmond site at 301 E. Main St., a city block that is primarily a parking lot.

Over the next six months, the theater will undergo renovations and upgrades, including:

  • Two new BTX: Bow Tie Extreme large format auditoriums with 50-foot-wide screens, Dolby Atmos sound and electric recliner seating;
  • Luxury electric recliners with integrated tables in all auditoriums;
  • Increased screen sizes in several auditoriums;
  • A Playland Arcade at Movieland, with an arcade and duckpin bowling;
  • An expanded kitchen and bar facility.

The interior of the existing building is being reconfigured to accommodate the upgrades, according to Ben Moss, co-founder and managing partner of Bow Tie Partners. Movieland currently has 17 auditoriums and will have 15 when the project is completed, as two auditoriums are being converted into a new kitchen and bar and duckpin bowling lanes.

Six of the renovated electric recliner auditoriums will be open by Christmas, and some recliners are currently in the theater’s lobby for guests to try out.

Movieland at Boulevard Square is an adapted 53,000-square-foot former locomotive assembly plant. Boulevard Square also includes a 6,000-square-foot former brass foundry available for lease and a parking lot with more than 750 spaces.

Indie movie starring Jon Heder to film in Central Va. this summer

“Tapawingo,” an indie feature film starring Jon Heder and Billy Zane, will film in Hopewell, Petersburg and Richmond this summer, Gov. Ralph Northam announced June 4.

Directed by Dylan K. Narang, it’s described as a coming-of-age comedy centered on “a listless oddball who becomes the unlikely bodyguard for a misfit teenager and finds himself in the crosshairs of the town’s family of bullies.”

The project, from Foggy Bottom Pictures, is the latest in a recent string of television and film productions shot in Virginia, including the TV productions “Swagger,” “The Walking Dead: World Beyond” and “Dopesick,” a Hulu miniseries starring Michael Keaton that’s based on the New York Times bestseller by former Roanoke Times journalist Beth Macy.

Those three projects contributed more than $120 million to the economy in a nine-month period, Secretary of Commerce and Trade Brian Ball said in a statement, noting that the film industry “continues to create high-paying jobs and generate instant revenue for Virginia businesses large and small,” he said.

Virginia Film Office Director Andy Edmunds noted the post-pandemic role of the film sector: “This industry was one of the first to stimulate our hardest-hit sectors like hospitality during the past year’s challenges, and we are thrilled about the continued support these resilient projects provide.”

Richmond’s Bryan Park is being prepped this week as a setting for the post-zombie apocalypse series on AMC, “The Walking Dead: World Beyond.” The series “Swagger,” a sports-themed drama from Brian Grazer and NBA star Kevin Durant, is set to air on Apple TV+.