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Philadelphia City Hall, movie star and movie venue

City Hall is no stranger to movie stardom. It has enjoyed featured roles in Nasty Habits, Winter Kills, Blow Out and Twelve Monkeys, among others. Come Monday, Billy Penn's Beaux-Arts perch will do double-duty as movie star and movie theater when Philadelphia, Jonathan Demme's Oscar-winning film starring Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington, will show at 5:30 pm in the Mayor's Screening Room as part of the Philadelphia Film Festival's "FilmadelphiaCLASSICS" series screening locally-shot movies at the locations where they were filmed.

    by Carrie Rickey
    Published 

Wednesday, June 15; 7:30pm – THE WRESTLER

Asylum Arena, South Philadelphia

Scouting out the former home of Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), Director Darren Aronofsky graced "The Arena" with a real-life film portrayal of the world of professional wrestling entertainment, guiding Mickey Rourke as a down and out former champion about to relive his glory days one last time.

Wednesday, July 27; Sundown – 12 MONKEYS

Eastern State Penitentiary; Fairmount

The Eastern State Penitentiary, hailed as one of the most expensive and famous prisons in the world, held its last prisoner in 1971. The dilapidated building still serves as historic site in Philadelphia and made many eerie appearances in this film as an asylum.

Saturday, August 13; 8:00pm – THE SIXTH SENSE

Rittenhouse Park; Rittenhouse Square

Around Rittenhouse Park is the height of couture shopping and fine dining. The former Striped Bass restaurant, which sat snuggly on 15th and Walnut Streets was the setting of the dinner scene between Bruce Willis and his on-screen wife as they celebrated their anniversary. Various parts of the area, especially the Park, make an appearance in almost all of Shyamalan's films.

Wednesday, September 14; 7:30pm – ROCKY

Asylum Arena, South Philadelphia

Thirty years after the original ROCKY story set Philadelphia on the map as a historic film landmark, Sylvester Stallone came back to shoot a sequel, ROCKY BALBOA in 2006. Once again, the Asylum Arena played host to not only the closing fight scenes, but the Italian Stallion's final show of victory.