Swansea's Movie Theater Is Back, Run by the Man Who Built It
October 29, 2026
October 29, 2026
On Thursday, July 16, Bill Hanney walked into the former Regal Cinemas at 207 Swansea Mall Drive and found a building that had stopped in the fall of 2020. The Herald News reported that the marquee over the ticket booth still listed a few movies and showtimes. A poster for "Nomadland" still hung on a wall, and the screens in all 12 auditoriums were intact. "It's in great shape," Hanney told the paper. "All they did was close the doors and left."
He knew the building better than anyone else on that walkthrough. Hanney built the theater in 1996 and ran it as an Entertainment Cinema until he sold it to Regal. Last Thursday, October 22, the theater reopened under his company's name, Entertainment Luxury Cinemas, with its first show at 12:20 p.m. The mall the theater used to sit beside is gone. Today the theater is the biggest draw on Swansea Mall Drive, and the stores opening across the street are everyday errands rather than mall anchors.
The theater could reopen within about three months of that July visit because so little had been removed. Regal closed it in the fall of 2020 during the pandemic, and the Herald News described the multiplex as having "lain empty and untouched ever since." The projectors were still humming. The work list was cleaning seats, fixing what had broken and getting the place back in working order. A later Herald News report added that the space needed only minor repairs, including paint and new lights and TV screens.
Hanney leases the 44,000-square-foot space. He chose to open first and renovate after. "It's a major renovation at that point, but we want to just get it open right now because people want it at least open," he told the Herald News in July.
Phase One is what opened on October 22. South Coast Spotlight described it as a cleanup and refresh to get screenings running right away. The theater's Swansea page lists the address as 207 Swansea Mall Drive, Suite 17, and posted these prices at publication:
The matinee price makes a weekend afternoon show $4 cheaper than the evening adult ticket.
Phase Two is the renovation, and in July Hanney listed what it would cover:
He also said the work would be done one auditorium at a time, so the theater would not have to close while it happens. No Phase Two schedule has been published. The theater says the upgrades are coming, and management told South Coast Spotlight it is "just getting started."
Swansea can expect a phased upgrade because Hanney has done this elsewhere. His company runs several New England cinemas it has revitalized. That includes the Cape Cod Mall theater, which he is turning into Bill Hanney's Entertainment Experience, with plans for live shows for up to 1,000 people, a cabaret, a comedy club and a restaurant and bar. His live theaters include Theatre by the Sea in Wakefield, Rhode Island, and the North Shore Music Theatre.
The local demand comes down to distance. Hanney told the Herald News that when he first opened the Swansea theater in 1996, there were also multiplexes in Taunton and Seekonk. "They're gone," he said. "Now the choices are all the way in Fall River or all the way in Providence." The Herald News listed the nearby options as Picture Show in Fall River, AMC in Dartmouth and Apple Cinemas in Providence.
The response to the reopening was large. The company's first Facebook post about it went viral, according to the Herald News. The job fair drew more than 500 applicants for a staff of about 100. Kristy Faria, who handles public relations for Entertainment Luxury Cinemas, told the paper it was standing room only. That is roughly five applicants for every opening, at a theater in a town that had gone six years without one.
The theater's return comes as the shopping across the road is changing too. Swansea Mall Center, at 58 to 66 Swansea Mall Drive, is the former Toys "R" Us plaza across from the old mall, and Gator Investments announced its tenant lineup. The tenants are discount and errand stores, the kind of places people visit every week or two rather than for a day out.
| Store | Location | Status as of late October 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Five Below | Swansea Mall Center | Opened August 28 |
| Burlington | 86 Swansea Mall Drive | Announced an October 2 opening |
| Aldi | 58 Swansea Mall Drive, former Price Rite space | Preparing to open, no date announced |
| PetSmart | Moving from Route 6 | Expected by the first quarter of 2027 |
| Two restaurants | Swansea Mall Center | Planned for a later phase, not yet named |
Fall River Reporter reported the Five Below opening and the Burlington date in September. The Herald News gave Burlington's address as 86 Swansea Mall Drive, and an October 5 roundup of the chain's openings repeated the October 2 date. On October 12, WJAR reported that Aldi was preparing to open in the old Price Rite space and that its opening date was unclear. That report is more recent than September's estimate, which put Aldi's opening in the first quarter of 2027, possibly as early as fall.
Food is the missing piece for anyone hoping to make an evening of it. Jonathan Carreiro, chairman of the Swansea Planning Board, said earlier this year that the plans include two restaurants, one with about 110 seats and one with about 60. Neither is part of the first phases. Until they open, a movie on Swansea Mall Drive means eating dinner somewhere else.
The enclosed mall had been losing its anchor stores for years. According to a Fall River Reporter retrospective, Walmart moved to a standalone Supercenter in 2013, Sears closed in March 2017, and Macy's closed in 2019. That left the mall with no anchors, and its owner announced it would close for good.
In January, the Herald News reported that the site, now called Swansea Center, held a handful of tenants, including Crunch Fitness, a self-storage facility and His Providence Church. The easternmost block at 262 Swansea Mall Drive, 106,229 square feet that once held Sears and most recently Unified2 Global Packaging Group, was listed for lease or sale.
So Swansea Mall Drive has split three ways. A gym, a church and storage occupy the old mall site. Discount retail and a grocery store are going into the plaza across the street. The 12-screen theater gives people a reason to come in the evening. The Herald News wrote in July that this stretch of the road had, "until only recently," struggled to attract development. Since then, Five Below has opened across the street and the theater has started selling tickets.
The theater is open every day this Halloween weekend, and the $10.75 matinee price runs through 4 p.m.
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