Greg Marcus still believes in going to the movies — and is coming to a Minnesota theater near you

Greg Marcus grew up in movie theaters. After a brief detour at film school, he ended up in front of the camera — not as an actor, but as president and CEO of Marcus Corp., which operates the Marcus Theatres movie chain his grandfather first started in 1935.

Familiar to anyone who has arrived at one of the suburban cineplexes before showtime, Marcus is known as the affable guy munching popcorn or riffing with his dad on screen as the trailers begin to roll. Marcus first appeared in a pre-movie promo as part of a United Way campaign. It’s since become something of a trademark and a way to connect with audiences.

Even after the tumult of recent years, with the COVID-19 pandemic shuttering theaters, strikes stalling productions and straight-to-streaming films shifting consumer behavior, Marcus still believes people want to go to the movies. Milwaukee-based Marcus Corp. — which also owns hotels and restaurants nationwide — recently acquired St. Louis Park’s West End Cinema, the company’s fourth theater in the Twin Cities metro and eighth in Minnesota.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

I think the most interesting part of the story is the birthplace of the company is, in a way, your newspaper because my grandfather had emigrated from Poland and the family was living in Minneapolis. There’s a legendary story about how he had a paper route that became one of the biggest paper routes in the paper’s business — like they had to divide it up between four people when he was done with it — and then he was selling advertising for the paper. And he was selling advertising to theater owners, and he would write their copy and help put the ads together. And he was like, “You know what? I like this business. I could do this.” And that was what gave him the idea to move into the theater business 90 years ago. So really, it was your paper that got our company started.

The opportunity. We’ve been in this business all my life, so it was just one of the aspects I liked being a part of. I liked the business.

We will apply the same things that we do at our other theaters ... so our Magical Movie Rewards program, we’ve got our $6 Tuesday — our Discount Tuesday, we call it, with the free popcorn — now we have a new program, $7 matinees seven days a week for seniors and kids. We want to encourage families to go back to the movies and to make it an affordable experience for everybody.

We recently picked up what was the Loews [Hotel] and we re-christened it the Lofton, right across from the Target Center. That’s our most recent acquisition; it’s our third hotel property. We used to run the Crowne Plaza — that’s not there anymore — downtown. We run the Hilton out in Bloomington, and then we just picked [the Lofton] up. And you know, look: We believe in Minneapolis. We think Minneapolis is a great city. And it’s an important city. And it’s had its challenges. But I believe at the end of the day that Minneapolis is going to succeed, and that’s why we’re making investments that we’re making there.

When my grandfather started, TV came on the scene. So, yeah, there have been tumultuous times in the history of the company. This has been a pretty tumultuous time. But at the end of the day, you know what? People want to be together, people want to go out, they want to be with other humans. And that’s what our company’s based on: people being together. There is inertia — you sort of go get people off the couch. But in the end, you know, I think what we see right now, we’re at a period where there’s so many movies to see, people are going out.

No one’s coming to see me. They’re coming to see a movie — they’re coming to see “Inside Out 2,” or they’re coming for “Deadpool,” or they’re coming for “Alien” — but when they come to those movies, historically, well, what’s Marcus? Nobody even would know what Marcus means — it’s just a building to a lot of people. And so when I get in front of it, I humanize that experience a little bit and it feels like I’m part of somebody’s community. ... And now kids have grown up with me, which is really interesting.

I am. People come up to me — last night, a woman came up to me and she said, “You know what? I grew up with you.” And I was like, “Oh, my God.”

The last movie I saw was “Fly Me to the Moon.” I like a good rom-com, you know what I mean? It’s not going to win an Oscar, but not every movie has to win an Oscar. What I don’t like is this whole thing about, “Well, I only go to the theaters for event movies.” Why? Don’t you want to laugh with a bunch of people? Or to cry with a bunch of people, or to be scared with a bunch of people? ... The idea of going to a movie and spending a couple hours and having a laugh and enjoying the characters and the actors — I liked it. It was fun.