Third-generation owners steer Mann Theatres through pandemic, streaming culture

Isabel Saavedra-Weis, Pioneer Press
·5 min read

The Mann Theatres franchise has been showing films in the Twin Cities for over 80 years. In the past five years, their survival has relied on creativity and the ability to spur excitement.

Michelle and Michael Mann started working for the family business as teenagers, serving as ushers or behind the concessions counter. Five years ago, they became partners with their father, Stephen Mann. They plan to one day take over the business, becoming third-generation movie theater owners.

“Not many businesses make it into the third generation, and my father and grandfather set a really great foundation that Michelle and I intend to bring into the future,” Michael Mann said.

Mann Theatres was started by Marvin Mann in 1935. He bought the two historic St. Paul locations, Grandview and Highland, in 1970. Today, Mann Theatres operates seven locations in Minnesota, with a combined total of 61 screens across St. Paul, Champlin, Plymouth, Baxter, Brainerd, Grand Rapids and Hibbing. They recently bought the former Landmark Theatre in Edina and will reopen it to the public this fall.

A lot has changed since Michelle and Michael Mann’s grandfather opened his first theater. The biggest change is the combination of the internet and technology, Michelle Mann said.

Movie theaters are now competing with home theaters as more people install their own widescreens and high-quality sound systems. Mann Theatres has been vigilant about ways to stay current, such as installing heated recliners, updating screens and sound, building in-theater bars and serving hot food items.

But Michelle Mann isn’t concerned about the survival of her family business in the 21st century.

“My grandfather used to always say that everyone has a kitchen at home, but they still go out to a restaurant to eat. It’s the same with a movie theater. Everyone has a TV at home, especially these days, but they still want to experience a movie in a way they can’t at home,” she said.

Mae Sullivan, 21, goes to the Grandview theater at least once a month. It’s more convenient for her to put on a movie at home while getting work done, but it’s not the same, she said.

“I don’t have a TV at my apartment, so it’s nice to watch something on a screen bigger than my laptop,” she said.

NOW PLAYING: PANDEMIC

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, theaters all over the nation were forced to shut down. With no customers filling their seats, the Manns had to get creative about making ends meet.

“Our biggest concern was taking care of our employees. We wanted to help them in any way we could,” Michelle Mann said.

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They started by asking the community to purchase movie gift cards so that they could keep their managers on payroll. As restaurants started offering curbside pick-up, Mann Theatres locations offered curbside popcorn. In the summer of 2020, they turned their Champlin location into a drive-in theater and projected movies against the wall outside to accommodate a socially-distanced audience.

Both St. Paul theater locations closed temporarily in 2020, as well as a Hopkins location. Slowly, as COVID-19 restrictions loosened, the theaters reopened. Over the past two years, the stream of movie-watchers coming to Mann Theatres locations has been steadily increasing.

“We’re not back to pre-pandemic numbers yet, but we’re certainly recovering quicker than we expected. We’re having a phenomenal summer so far,” Michael Mann said.

REWIND AT THE GRANDVIEW

After seeing a general downturn in attendance at the Grandview location in St. Paul, general manager Daniel Garritsen decided to start a film club to get more people in theater seats. He came up with the idea in 2019, but had to put it on hold while the theater tried to survive the pandemic.

“My intention was never to make a million dollars, it was to get people excited about going to the theater. And it’s working,” Garritsen said.

For the past five months, the Grandview has been hosting the Rewind Film Club. Each week, the theater shows a rerun that fits in the monthly genre: noir, coming-of-age, slashers. August’s theme is “Summer Love,” featuring “Punch Drunk Love,” “Call Me By Your Name,” “Lost in Translation” and “Portrait of a Lady on Fire.” Some films sell better than others, but overall the reruns have been a hit, Garritsen said.

Garritsen attributes the general decrease in ticket sales to the growing popularity of streaming services.

“There’s what seems like a million streaming services now, and only so many eyes out there,” he said.

With the pandemic making streaming services all the more convenient, many experts are concerned about the future of the movie industry. Michelle Mann says it helps that many movie directors still release movies to the theaters before offering streaming options.

“People want to come to the movies in 2022 just like they did in 1935, because people don’t want to wait,” Mann said.

However, at-home streaming options are challenging theaters to make the movie-going experience even more exceptional with wrap-around movie screens or moving chairs that are synced to the action on the screen.

But Mann says she isn’t interested in keeping up with every trend. Instead, Mann Theatres is sticking to a formula that has worked for the past 87 years.

“What it comes down to for us is keeping it simple: offering great prices, great popcorn and a great movie,” she said.

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