The BSR September 2025 movie repertory roundup

The highlights

Hamilton
Starting Friday, September 5
Various theaters

It’s hard to think of a recent movie with a stranger release pattern than Hamilton, the filmed version of the popular Broadway musical. The film was shot in 2016, during the original cast’s run with the show. Disney announced in February of 2020 that it had acquired the film and would release it in theaters in October of 2021, so as not to cannibalize the Broadway and touring productions.

But then COVID hit, and amid all of the delayed movies, Disney announced it would go in the opposite direction, moving the Hamilton release up by 15 months and debuting it on Disney+ that July 4 weekend, at a time when there were no theatrical engagements at all.

I always assumed Hamilton would come to movie theaters eventually, and on September 5, it will, for a special engagement that includes a special prologue called Reuniting the Revolution. Whether the “no singing in the theater” rule from Wicked still applies has not been made clear.

Lots of Paul Thomas Anderson

The Master in 70mm
Friday, September 19
Saturday, September 20
Sunday, September 21
Bryn Mawr Film Institute, 824 Lancaster Avenue, Bryn Mawr

There Will Be Blood
Wednesday, September 3

Inherent Vice
Wednesday, September 10

Phantom Thread
Wednesday, September 17

Licorice Pizza
Wednesday, September 24
Ritz Five, 214 Walnut Street

Paul Thomas Anderson’s new film, One Battle After Another, arrives on September 24, and for the occasion, multiple local theaters are showing Anderson’s older work. BMFI will show The Master, Anderson’s acclaimed 2012 drama that’s seen as a poke at the Church of Scientology. Meanwhile, Ritz Five—which long featured a standee next to its popcorn machine of Alana Haim in Licorice Pizza—will show that and three other Anderson pictures, each Wednesday night in September.

Night of the Juggler
Sunday, September 28
Lightbox Film Center at the Bok Building, 800 Mifflin Street

The Lightbox Film Center was away from the Bok Building for the summer, but it’s back there for September, with a series of showings that includes 1980’s Night of the Juggler, which starred James Brolin as a cop who teams up with a dog pound clerk (Julie Carmen) to rescue his daughter from a psychopath (Cliff Gorman) in a particularly grimy version of 1970s New York City. Robert Butler’s film, which has a new 4K restoration, reportedly killed it in New York last month, and comes to Philly at the end of September.

The Room
Thursday, September 4
PhilaMOCA, 531 North 12th Street

The Room shows a lot in Philadelphia, but the most entertaining screenings tend to be the ones that feature a staged reading of the film’s “original” script, which is somehow even more hilarious and deranged than that of the finished film. Co-star Greg Sestero returns to Philly for an event that will feature the film itself, the script reading, and also live commentary for some scenes.

More cinema screenings

Sunset Boulevard
Monday, September 1
Friday, September 12
Monday, September 15
Tuesday, September 16
Film Society East

Best in Show
Monday, September 1
Bryn Mawr Film Institute

North by Northwest
Wednesday, September 3
The Ambler Theater

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
Sunday, September 7
The Colonial Theatre

Casablanca
Sunday, September 7
Bryn Mawr Film Institute

The Grateful Dead Movie
Tuesday, September 9
Bryn Mawr Film Institute

The Sound of Music 60th Anniversary
Starting Friday, September 12
Fathom Events (Various theaters)

Moonrise Kingdom
Sunday, September 14
The Ambler Theater

Manhunter, presented by Space Melt Cinema and Bok Movie Club
Monday, September 15
The Bok Building

The Worst Person in the World
Wednesday, September 17
Sunday, September 21
Film Society East

Top Gun: Maverick
Wednesday, September 17
Sunset Social

The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Friday, September 19
Ritz Five

Donnie Darko
Friday, September 19
County Theater

This is Not a Film/Taxi
Saturday, September 20
Thursday, September 23

The Philadelphia Story
Sunday, September 21
The Colonial Theatre

Shall We Dance? (1996)
Tuesday, September 23
PhilaMOCA

Winter Kept Us Warm
Wednesday, September 24
Lightbox Film Center

That Thing You Do!
Thursday, September 25
The Ambler Theater

The Social Network (Cinema Classics Seminar)
Thursday, September 25
Bryn Mawr Film Institute

8 1/2
Saturday, September 27
Sunday, September 28
Film Society East

Battle Royale
Monday, September 29
PhilaMOCA

Desperately Seeking Susan
Tuesday, September 30
Bryn Mawr Film Institute

Featured image: Alana Haim in Licorice Pizza’ as seen at the Ritz Five concession stand. (Photo by Stephen Silver).

Image description: Alana Haim in Licorice Pizza as a cardboard cutout at a movie theater concession and ticket stand.