{"id":272670,"date":"2026-08-26T17:00:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T17:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/272670\/"},"modified":"2026-08-26T17:00:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T17:00:08","slug":"ritz-five-movie-theater-closes-indefinitely-due-to-fire-code-violation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/272670\/","title":{"rendered":"Ritz Five movie theater closes indefinitely due to fire code violation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>City inspectors have shut down the Ritz Five movie theater for the foreseeable future.<\/p>\n<p>A cease operations notice posted on the building&#8217;s front door Tuesday said the Old City theater had violated Philadelphia&#8217;s fire code. The order will remain in effect until Ritz Five management obtains an electrical permit and installs an alarm system with a shunt switch, which cuts electricity to audio equipment when the alarm is triggered, throughout the building.<\/p>\n<p>MORE:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.phillyvoice.com\/snapchat-lawsuit-pennsylvania-addictive-children\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Pennsylvania sues Snapchat for exposing kids to &#8216;highly addictive&#8217; app<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Attention all customers,&#8221; a separate paper taped to the entrance read. &#8220;Until further notice, we are closed and cannot serve any customers until we resolve this matter. We are deeply sorry for the inconvenience. Please consult the customer service information, or your ticket email, to get a refund.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Landmark Theatres, the parent chain of Ritz Five, has scrubbed all showtimes from its website. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n<p><img class=\"richtext-image full-width\" data-original=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/082626_cease_operations_notice.width-704.jpg\" width=\"704\" height=\"528\" alt=\"Cease operations notice\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"richtext-image full-width\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/082626_cease_operations_notice.width-704.jpg\" width=\"704\" height=\"528\" alt=\"Cease operations notice\"\/>Kristin Hunt\/PhillyVoice<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-image-caption\">A cease operations notice on the front entrance of the Ritz Five said the theater will remain closed until its fire alarm system has been installed.<\/p>\n<p>Philadelphia <a data-original-title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/li.phila.gov\/property-history\/search?address=214-20%20WALNUT%20ST\" title=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">property records<\/a> indicate the Ritz Five had failed inspections on March 18 and Aug. 11. It has seven open violations with the Department of Licenses &amp; Inspections.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In addition to the fire alarm citations, the theater also was fined for failing to remove curtains obstructing exit doors, renew its food license and\u00a0provide documentation that all of its black curtains and wall hangings are flame retardant. It must also ensure its exit doors close and latch completely shut on their own.<\/p>\n<p>Ritz Five&#8217;s fire alarm certification lapsed in 2024.<\/p>\n<p>Follow Kristin &amp; PhillyVoice on Twitter: <a data-original-title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/kristin_hunt\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">@kristin_hunt<br \/>\n<\/a> | <a data-original-title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ThePhillyVoice\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">@thePhillyVoice<\/a><br \/>Like us on <a data-original-title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/thephillyvoice\/\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Facebook: PhillyVoice<\/a><br \/>Have a <a data-original-title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.phillyvoice.com\/ritz-five-movie-theater-closed-fire-alarm-violation\/mailto:tips@phillyvoice.com\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">news tip<\/a>? Let us know.<\/p>\n<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"City inspectors have shut down the Ritz Five movie theater for the foreseeable future. A cease operations notice&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":272671,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[60,744,16627,42356,69,71,70,114737],"class_list":["post-272670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-business","tag-government","tag-li","tag-movie-theaters","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-ritz-5"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=272670"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272670\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/272671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=272670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=272670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}