Frank Theatres Las Olas Riverfront 15

Air conditioning was off… in July… in South Florida. Only one person working both the concession stand and ticket booth, so we had to wait in the concession line to buy movie tickets, with sweat dripping off of us the entire time. Someone needs to put this theater out of it’s misery. Do yourself a favor, drive a little further to avoid this theater.

Let me start off by saying that you should avoid this theater like you would avoid prison, mostly because the two places have a lot in common.
Let’s start off with location. Upstairs in a run down shopping center with over priced parking and a distinctly «ghetto» even before you get out of your car.
The staff is unprofessional and poorly trained, a sign of things to come upon entering the theater.
The signage is all printed from a regular printer in size 72 font and the multiple pages are taped above the theater with the movie info, sometime even in the correct order.
The theater at time smells like a combination of an assisted care facility and the time your dog peed on the bathroom heater.
On the lighter side, I convinced my girlfriend that once the movie starts, it won’t seem so bad, and I did get a student discount.

It’s a shame the entire area has diminished! In it’s prime, this was a nice theater to go to with family or date, great bars and restaurants walking distance, plus a vibrant ambiance. Although there is never a wait for tickets, stay clear, it’s hot, old and run down; once known for its popcorn, a true shame.

The worst movie theater in Broward. I felt like Will Smith in I am legend.

I have been going to this movie theatre since it opened 12 – 13 years ago with all the bells and whistles – a full bar – miniture bowling alley game – 15 auditoriums working– and little by little, under 3 different movie managements, have seen it turn into a pig sty.
First of all the bottom auditoriums are closed and the escalator to the second floor doesn’t work and, in yesterday’s situation, the elevator to the second floor wasn’t working so we proceeded to walk up the dirtest escalator I have ever been on.
There have been times the film wasn’t delivered for the Friday opening and other times one had to go down the non-​movable esculator to complain about sound or even that the movie hasn’t started. If you are lucky the screen will be clean!
As the saying goes you get what you pay for and this location charges the cheapest price for movies on a Friday afternoon – $ 7.50.
Every Friday I go there expecting to see a ‘closed’ sign on the door. Their ‘movie reward’ card is all messed up and you are lucky if they have the movie schedule up on their web site by Friday!
I don’t have much choices when it comes to movie theatres but if a picture is playing here and The Gateway Theatre, which is 60 years old and in much better shape, I would choose the Gateway.
The only reason for the one star is the lady manager, and the woman behind the concession stand, always have a smile and will do almost anything they can to make sure the experience is a little bit worse than it can be.

The WORST movie experience EVER! Disgusting. Dirty! Escalators don’t work. No AC in Lobby, little AC in Theaters. No one has cleaned this place in what appears to be years. I have pictures of the dirt and have tried to find corporate to send them the pictures but can’t find out who owns the place. The Broward County Health Department should shut them down!

Well the film seems to be working but that’s about all that is. AC is out in various parts, trash everywhere. Fairly certain we were charged for 3-​d when film was not in 3 –d. Snacks are horrendously overpriced, we passed. Whole place reeks of mildew. How has this passed on las olas for so long?

This has got to be the absolute worst moviegoing experience I have ever had in terms of infrastructure. A/​C is out in half the building, where it’s on, it’s warm, smashed popcorn and giant stains everywhere, broken escalators, understaffed and unprofessional. Of course, when you leave, the whole place smells of mildew so strongly that you smell like it too. Ugh.
I have a friend who should contact them about shooting a post-​apocalyptic movie here. It’s the perfect place to show what happens when nobody takes care of a place for a while.

I’m not sure if I even need to leave a bad review of this place, as it won’t be in business much longer. I really don’t even know how it is in business today. But if there is one thing you should do at this theater, it is to see a scary movie. Maybe a zombie movie because that, my friends, is how this theater feels while you are in it.
We were in the area for the day waiting around for a flight. Someone suggested checking out the Riverfront area. Had lunch along the river, awesome. Saw this huge theater while walking and got excited to burn a couple of hours before returning to the flight.
Have you ever had one of those experiences where you walk in and your subconscious knows something is off but your eyes and brain haven’t quite made the connection? That is what happens here. You walk in and buy your ticket. They have new movie posters everywhere, so you may be thinking, yeah this is a regular movie theater. Then… you approach the escalator. The escalator that isn’t moving, is rusted and has lots of popcorn on it as if a swarm of movie watchers ran down the steps to escape zombies, spilling their popcorn along the way.
You go into the theater, and are most likely the only person in there. There are no other workers. How could they be paying them if there are no other customers? I really don’t even understand how they are able to keep the electricity on in the building.
OH! And try running to the bathroom mid movie. It’s so scary. haha Everyone should try this place once for a scary movie. Worth it!

I should give this place a 1 star review but I have an emotional connection to it so based on that I will give it a 2. I have been here many times and every time it amazes me how run down it is and how no one seems to be «working» there.
Well there’s the teller who sells you the movie tickets but also runs to the concession stand if you want to get some over priced popcorn. Sometimes the movie tkts. are sold AT the concession stand!!! lol
The escalator never works and while climbing upstairs, had to kick the massive amounts of popcorn in them. It baffles me how no one cleans this place. The AC does not work downstairs but it does in the movie theatres surprisingly!
The place is big but so run down. If you happen to leave after 9 pm, there is no worker in sight. One time we forgot to validate our parking tkt and went on a hunt looking for someone until we found him snoring in one of the theatres!
This place basically runs itself and although it is almost a «scary» experience like I said before I have many memories watching good movies here with someone special and will continue to go. I do appreciate its location although Gateway is nearby it doesn’t play some of the movies that Frank does!
Wonder who Frank is and where he is? Come clean up the theatre now and then Frank I don’t want you to close down!

I used to say that this was the best place as there were no lines and still good popcorn. It wasn’t high quality, but at least you could see a movie and avoid the crowds. But I took my son to see Monsters University today and have officially decided that it is a health hazard and we will never be back. The lady who took tickets was the same one who sold you food. But in addition to those two roles, it seems like she was the ticket taker (there was no ticket given and no one to take it) and she may also have been the janitor and maintenance person. The ENTIRE building was filthy and there were even bugs! The floors were sticky and the chairs were ripped up, and outside the theater itself, the escalator doesn’t work (and doesn’t get cleaned at all) and they had no air conditioning anywhere, which now includes the theater. Finally, the candy was out dated, the popcorn wasn’t fresh, the soda was flat and even the butter tasted like it was spoiled. I can not believe that this place stays open, and the fact that we were the only paying customer for the 4:10 showing (since there was no one checking tickets, there were some theater jumpers who were in and out depending on what was playing) indicates that there is no way to pay the bills from revenues.
I gave it 1 star, but its only because I am a nice guy and think they deserve something for even staying open. They must be patiently waiting on the condo buildings to get approved or its owner is a billionaire who really needs some tax losses!

I AM SO EXCITED TO REVIEW THIS PLACE.
Ok… so imagine. It’s 2021. The zombies. The dinosaurs. The aliens. They all happened. Humanity lives on the lam. We’re refugees, we’re fugitives. We all live in fear, dreaming of bygone days of Chick-​Fil-​A and soft-​serve. When we aren’t fighting for our very lives, we’re struggling to keep the despair and nostalgia away.
Once in a while though, during the full moon – you and your intrepid companions steal away to try and break through the jaded ruins of your miserable and harried existence. Down by the waterfront, in the old dilapidated strip mall is a movie theater. And you pop the corn and run the screens and throw caution to the wind with a devil-​may-​care sneer on your face. Because life should be fun once in a while – regardless of the risk. You load your Glock and sit back to enjoy your show… one eye on the door.
Basically this is that theater.
The two-​story escalator? I don’t know the last time it was running, but it hasn’t for a while. The AC? Dream on. The place is replete with mildew (and not the mild kind) pot-​smoke and a sense that you’re probably being watched. Very post-​apocalyptic.
If it was $ 2? You bet your sweet ass. We’d bring nerf guns and pretend the zombies really were going to come… really – this place would make a sweet laser tag course!
But it’s still gonna by $ 7.50 for a matinée.
I’ll come back after Z-​Day/​WWIII/​The Invasion.

OMG this place has gone downhill in the past years. A good owner could come in any really get this place to it’s old glory again. The escalators don’t work, and they haven’t for like a year now. When are they going to get them fixed? I’m out of breath before I get to the movie. At least sweep the escalators, the old rotten food stuck to the steps is probably a health department violation. The people behind the food counters are completely unmanaged. They sit there talking to their friends, who aren’t actually buying anything, instead of tending to customers waiting in line to see their movie. Once you get into the movie though, everything should be okay. A little management and an ounce of effort could really turn the theater around. I hope they try, this theater is right near my house.

It’s really too bad. What’s going on at this place and all around it. bIt could be really nice if someone invested the time and money to make it special. It’s just really run down and dirty. Borderline abandoned. I hope someone fixes this place, it’s definitely broken.

This is easily the worst theater I have ever attended. While charging over $ 10/​ticket, the escalator did not work, the sound in the theater was crackled, roll-​down gates blocked off half the theaters, a hand-​written sign guided you to the theater, the picture was off, and the whole place was run down. It is amazing that a theater this close to Las Olas was such a dump and perhaps even more amazing that local building officials have not shut it down. There were only four people in the theater for the movie we attended. Thankfully, the movie was good despite the incredibly poor sound and picture quality. If you follow no other advice on this forum, do not attend this theater.

This place is sooo bad that I have to laugh. :-) I cant believe its still open! While watching a movie here I can’t help but to wonder why a demolition crew hasn’t gone to town on this place with sledge hammers and bulldozers. OK if you want a good workout climbing a broken down escalator this is your place. But I recommend the stair climber at your local gym for a workout because at least there you don’t have to deal with the horrendous stench coming from this theater. Goddamn this place smells!!! Its like wet mold carpet smell. All that being said the only reason why I come here is because its convenient to where I live and there’s no other movie theaters in Ft. Laudable. They do turn the lights totally off while watching a movie which is nice. Also every time I come here I do have a good laugh about something that’s either broken or smells bad in this place. So if you want to come see a good comedy this is definitely your place because this theater is a JOKE!

Fine. This place doesn’t smell awesome and it’s in desperate need of a makeover… but come on. I’m coming here to see a movie, not lick the carpets.
I love that I’ve been here three times and each time we were the only ones in our own «private theater». I really feel bad that more people don’t come here and hope it doesn’t go out of business because I can walk the river down to the theater and escape into the air conditioner for awhile. I think it’s just fine for what it is.

I saw Avatar here. This is not the 3D, IMAX theater and I didn’t want to partake in the 3D experience — it tends to make me nauseous. As far as a theater goes, it isn’t all that bad on the inside. The organization could use some help to make it more intuitive and easy to follow. At this point, you need to read signs to know where to go and if you miss the signs then you have no idea where you are going. What really detracts from this theater is the lack of good parking and the preponderance of pre-​teens and kids. The kids can be somewhat annoying as the parents drop them off and don’t bother to watch them and the theater allows them to stay.
On a positive note, they do have beer — even if a bit overpriced.

I am not from the area and was told that that the Riverfront is the place to be in Ft Lauderdale and there was a lot of shopping and restaurants to try out. Looked like I was misinformed because this place was empty on Sunday afternoon and we ended up going to this theater. Perhaps everyone was at the beach!
This was empty as well and DIRTY. Felt like I was in the twilight zone where people just dissappeared all of a sudden. The screen was tiny. I saw Sherlock Holmes and did not like it at all and not sure if it is because of the movie or the theater.

I didn’t come here by choice.
I wanted to see Avatar on a real IMAX screen, not the ones that AMC is calling «IMAX»
I should have called it in first, they were sold out for DAYS.
We already paid $ 7 for parking, and that was in the cheap lot.
We were screwed.
I didn’t want to give up so easily, so I whipped out my trusty iPhone and found this little disaster of a movie theater.
The first hint that bad times were going to ensue should have been when the lady at the ticketing counter said they had PLENTY of space when I asked it the movie was sold out. Mind you this was opening night and the movie was about to start.
The second hint was the total lack of people. It was less than empty.
The next hint were the bathrooms.
I felt like I just walked into a Waffle House bathroom.
The floors were wet and stunk of piss. I found out why after using the urinal and flushed it… Bad move, it started to overflow.
I couldn’t stop laughing, how does a urinal get stuffed up?
Walking down the halls to the theater you feel of sense of early 90’s nostalgia, it’s great. not really.
And now onto the theater itself. Sound system? What sound system?
Where we’re going we don’t need sound systems!
Nope, a couple of lousy flat sounding speakers behind the screen should be fine!
If that weren’t bad enough, the movie didn’t even fit onto the screen!
The subtitles were cut off at the bottom, fortunately I can read half cut off words.
The only thing I can say is that if you really MUST seem a big movie opening night, this is the place for you.
If you actually want to experience the movie in the way it was intended… watching it at home would probably be better than here.