Minneapolis' Riverview Theater announces reopening date - but with higher ticket prices

Minneapolis' Riverview Theater, known for its cheap tickets and midcentury modern décor, will soon be reopening its doors.

The cinema, located on 3800 42nd Ave. S., will screen A Quiet Place 2 on May 28, marking its first regular feature since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The Riverview Theater has been closed for regular business since March 17, 2020, though has been selling popcorn to-go (and regularly updating the movie quotes on its marquee). 

"It has been gratifying and humbling to hear the encouragement from so many of you as we have considered how to once again light up the Riverview Theater’s screen on a regular basis," the theater wrote in a Facebook post announcing its reopening.

The reopening of the theater will come as welcome news for movie buffs, particularly in a week that the Edina movie theater is closing after 87 years, and the Uptown Theater is facing an eviction attempt.

Ticket prices will increase (for now)

The Riverview Theater opened in 1948, according to its website, and "has survived and looks much the same as it did in the 1950s, with the same furnishings, including imported Italian marble tables and an auditorium that features a backlit proscenium."

When moviegoers walk back through the cinema's doors, none of that will have changed. The prices, however, will have.

The Riverview was known for showing films during their second run, with tickets coming in at $2 and $3. (We even named it one of the best places in the Twin Cities to catch a cheap movie.)

As the theater explained on Facebook, the industry has changed over the past 14 months, with Hollywood shortening the amount of time movies may be shown exclusively in theaters, or foregoing a theater release altogether in favor of a direct-to-streaming distribution.

For the Riverview Theater, the old model of showing second-run movies "is not feasible right now."

"Instead, we will be shifting our movie schedule to first-run, or newly released films," the theater said, requiring a price increase.

For A Quiet Place 2, tickets will be $5 for all matinees, as well as children and seniors. Evening adult admission will be $7.

The theater will also be operating at 25% capacity with masks required to start, and customers will have to buy tickets (and reserve seats) ahead of time online. A small selection of items will be available at the concession stand. 

Said Riverview Theater: "We hope to return to scheduling films as we have done in the past, depending on when Hollywood finds its new normal."