Gregg Dunn President / COO – Regal Entertainment Group
In the Beginning
Born in Hannibal, Missouri and spent my early youth in Missouri. My father worked for AMC theatres and, unlike my siblings, I always wanted to be at the drive-in or indoor theatre with him. My mother was always supportive and loved movies. I started earning a paycheck at 14 directing traffic at a National Amusements Theatre in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Family Married to Jennifer Dunn. Our family consists of Will( 6), who is in kindergarten, Kelsie( 16), who is a high school sophomore, Alena( 20), who is a sophomore at UC San Diego, and Zach( 35), who is the Vice President of Launch for SpaceX. We also have two beautiful grandchildren, Theo and Zohra. time, became involved in many different facets of the company, resulting in where I am today.
Hobbies Besides movies, the Kansas City Royals, 60’ s and 70’ s muscle cars, tennis, boating, jet skis, and hanging out with the family.
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Career Moves
After working at the theatre in various capacities, I became a relief manager and eventually
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Best Advice I Ever Got
Learn as much as possible about every facet of our business.
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a manager of a drive-in at age
17 in Dayton, Kentucky. This was followed by a management stint in the indoor theatres in Cincinnati for National
Amusements. I transferred to
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Best Advice Given
If you have to work, there’ s nothing better than show business. Throw yourself into it and you will be rewarded.
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East Hartford, Connecticut to work as a manager before returning to Cincinnati to reopen the Movies Repertory Cinema.
After being introduced to film buying, I took a job with Phil
Borack’ s
Tri-State
Theatre
Service booking independent theatre owners’ locations. During the late 1980’ s, I moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan to work in Goodrich Theatres’ corporate office. At that time
I was involved in Operations,
Marketing and Concessions.
An opportunity presented itself in the early 1990’ s with Regal
Cinemas, which at that time
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People Who Influenced Me
From a career standpoint, my father, Chuck Dunn, had the greatest influence. A lifelong veteran of the industry now retired, he taught me the love of the business. He provided me with the foundation and early direction needed when it came to working with individuals and coworkers. It was invaluable.
Secondly, Phil Borack taught me the film business and the tenacity needed in dealing with studios and how to really work through tough negotiations. I always marveled at what Phil accomplished in the time
I spent with him.
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had roughly 85 screens in a handful of states. I came in as
Director of Marketing and Concessions, and, over a period of
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Favorite Movies
I have a list that’ s a mile long of favorites, but there are a couple that
I can watch over and over again.
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62 • ShowTime Preview Guide – Spring 2017 |
The first being Scorcese’ s mob classic, Goodfellas, which I consider to be brilliantly layered and riveting. My all-time guilty pleasure is The Big Lebowski. I can watch the Dude all day long and never stop laughing. Throw in John Goodman and Steve Buscemi and it’ s over the top.
Giving Back I’ m currently a board member of Variety of Eastern Tennessee, the Regal Foundation, the Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneer Foundation, National Association of Theatre Owners, University of Tennessee Athletic Development Council, Women’ s Basketball Hall of Fame, and Knoxville Youth Sports.
Fondest Convention Memory Being taken behind the scenes of ShoWest in the early 90’ s by Tim Warner. Just watching all that was going into producing the event was truly fascinating.
Biggest Concern About the Industry As an industry, it’ s critical that we be willing to reinvest in our assets. By doing so, we will continually give the movie going public a reason to come to our theatres. Sight, sound, food offerings, seating, cleanliness, customer service and content offerings will promote the movie going experience. More studio strategic thinking involving release dates as well as cautious and deliberate thought to windows is paramount.
Biggest Reason to Remain Optimistic Exhibition has always been able to adapt and rise with the change in trends and habits. There is not a better way to enjoy film than being in a theatre auditorium. Our industry will continue to evolve and adapt, it always has, and we will all be at that forefront, insuring our customers are having that great experience that only we can provide.