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Since COVID-19 in 2020, Rogersville residents have had to drive out of town to get their fill of movie entertainment.

Come April 10, that will change as the Cinema 4 Theatres located in the Eastgate Shopping Center anchored by Food City, will open its doors and raise its curtains again.

The people behind this renaissance are the Petoskey family. Natives of the upper peninsula of Michigan, the “Yoopers” had vacationed in East Tennessee in the past. After vacationing in the Sevierville/Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg areas, Micah and his wife Julie loved the area.

“Every time it came time to leave, we didn’t want to leave,” Micah said. “We’d been exploring some of the areas outside of Pigeon Forge because we love the outdoors.”

They loved the area so much that they moved to Tennessee in the Fall of 2024, then moved to Rogersville in February of 2025.

“Julie is semi-retired, I was an Information Technology director for a Tribal Health Center,” Micah said. “I took a job with a tech company in Morristown, worked there for a year. We had looked into the movie theater and wondered why it had closed.”

Micah worked at a theater in the Detroit suburbs while in college.

After conversations with the property division of Food City about taking over the theater, both parties reached an agreement.

After getting the keys, the Petroskey’s went full bore into renovations.

The theaters had closed in September, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing health issues for previous owner Larry Maysilles. After sitting dormant for almost six years, there were major renovations that had to be done.

“Larry Maysilles came down here and reminisced,” Micah said. “We asked a lot of questions, their stepson Eric helped to manage it at that time. Eric also came with his son and toured the place. It was a huge help to us. A lot of things that we didn’t know about running a movie theater, they were a big help, too.”

Among the first orders of construction were to replace the existing movie theater seats.

“The seats were the main thing because there is so much labor involved,” Micah said. “Those seats must be mounted properly. New seating was purchased, which includes wider and taller seating than was inside the theater previously. These wider and taller seats have cupholders and people are allowed to lean back a little bit.”

Micah had a personal reason for ordering the taller and wider seats.

“We removed one row from each theater for seating,” Micah said. “I’m a bigger fellow and I like to have my space.”

As far as seating in each theater, one has more than 130, with others around 100 each.

The entire counter system at concessions had to be replaced, including a new popcorn machine. Computer servers for each screen had become inoperable and had to be replaced, as well as projectors. Granite countertops have been delayed twice from a vendor with a possible Plan B being a “Butcher Block” counter top. After the construction, the Health Department will have to conduct an inspection to allow the theater to open.

“It’s been a lot. I’m not the type to shy away from a lot of work or challenges, we dug in and worked harder,” Micah said. “We’re working more than eight or nine hours a day to get this place ready for opening.”

Interviews have also taken up a lot of time. More than 90 people out of 120 people applicants were interviewed for jobs in the theater.

Thanks to Larry’s son, who previously managed the Cinema 4, the theaters have finalized contracts to begin running first-run movies with the same booking agent used previously.

An arcade for the children will also be installed for entertainment before and after movies, giving others more reasons to hang out.

One of the original film projectors is on display in the theater lobby. One of the nicer original seats from the theater will be mounted nearby as a memory.

Micah said that the COVID-19 pandemic was a “gut-check” time for the country as far as socialization goes.

“Streaming, while convenient, is not as fun as adults as going to the movies is,” Micah said. “This is very much needed in the community in building social skills. There’s something that stirs in people when people are told that they can’t do something. The pandemic stirred something in people.

“Larry his family caught a lot from it,” Micah said. “Right after the theater closed, Hollywood had its writers’ strike. People had taken this for granted.”

Micah and his family are supportive of other efforts and businesses in the Rogersville community.

“Part of it is having a plan, but we also wanted to respond to community interest as best as we can,” Micah said. “We purchased a sign to advertise at the Cherokee Raceway Park Drag Strip in Rogersville. We’ve tried to be supportive of other events and businesses.”

Possible ideas for growth are a possible expansion of show hours during the summer months, as well as classic movie nights.