Ken Thewes
Member Profile
How has Cinema United membership been impactful to you and/or your business?It’s difficult enough trying to run a movie theatre, let alone traditional and dine-in theatres together. Cinema United assists us by getting into the weeds on broader industry issues, sorting through the details and helping us manage through governmental changes, potential new legislation, and other issues that may come up from studios, competition and/or other states.
Being a part of Cinema United has also been beneficial as a conduit to meet others in our industry to share best practices, identify potential issues and work together to improve the movie-going experience.
I’ve always been a movie lover, but I took a bit of a circuitous route into our industry. I have math and electrical engineering degrees but quickly learned that I sparked to business and marketing more. I began my marketing career at P&G, then followed a boss into the restaurant world, followed by working in retail for a bit.
In 2012, I had the opportunity to join as CMO of Regal Cinemas in Knoxville, TN, where I worked for the next 11 years. In 2023, I had the pleasure to join Marcus Theatres in Milwaukee, WI, as SVP of Marketing, where I currently work. It took me awhile, but I am in my dream job in my dream industry and love working alongside the studios and other movie-lovers at Marcus.
I’m driven by results, so I absolutely love working with the Marcus Theatres team to develop innovative ways to get consumers wanting to go to the movies. Whether a movie is a blockbuster or a small, independent story, I really enjoy bringing it to our fans’ attention and getting our guests excited about the entire experience.
Every year, attending CinemaCon is always a memorable event. Getting the opportunity to have a sneak peek at what’s coming to our theatres, hearing directly from the stars and studios about some of the details is always a highlight.
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Like a lot of movie-lovers, there are so many fun experiences I have like my first movie in a theatre (One Million Years B.C.), my first R-rated movie (The Warriors) that I watched before I was 17, and the first movie I saw with my wife-to-be, Patty (La Bamba). However, I would have to say my favorite experience was taking my son, Taylor to experience his first movie in a theatre (Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame). While he was only 2, it was so much fun having him sit on my lap, mesmerized and leaning forward throughout the entire movie.
Despite all the competing activities for consumer attention, I see movie-going continuing to be a popular escape. Recent years have seen improvements in the experience and I expect the future to continue this trend. Improving technology to make watching movies even more entertaining as well as leveraging our theatres for non-traditional events are areas that I think will continue to develop.
Have a positive attitude, be inquisitive and continue to look for ways (big and small) to improve the movie-going experience.
