One of the biggest complaints from Columbia and Marion County residents is there isn’t enough to do, but one Columbia businessman is trying to change that. Ben Whatley, who owns Marion Theater and The Marquee, believes downtown Columbia has so much to offer, and he is constantly working on various ideas to get the community active, involved and having a good time.
A multifaceted businessman, Whatley started his career working in IT in his hometown of Wiggins before moving to Poplarville. He has continued his IT work as the owner of RedRover IT in Columbia, which earned him the Community Connector award from the Marion County Development Partnership in February 2024. But he knew he wanted to be a bigger part of the community.
During his first few years living in Columbia, his family — which included his wife, Mary, and daughter, Kathelina, and now includes his infant daughter, Zoe — frequented Marion Theater. They loved it because they felt like it was the first theater they had ever been to where they didn’t feel the need to sneak in candy because of the affordable prices. He often joked with Mary about buying the theater, but he didn’t know it was actually for sale until it was posted on Facebook one day. Within a month from seeing that post, they purchased the theater during the spring of 2024.
It was important for Whatley that they purchase the theater prior to summertime, which is the busiest time of year for the theater, to avoid the potential sunken costs of buying a business during its slow period. Whatley said the 2024 summer was a lot of fun as they threw a lot of different ideas at the wall to drum up business, and many of the ideas were a hit.
“We did the summer kids’ movies, and that brought in so many people who hadn’t been to the theater in years. We were trying different things to see what worked. During the summer, kids get in for free. We show older movies like ‘Despicable Me’ and it’s just a great deal for everybody,” he explained. “The kids have something to do during the day during the week, and we turn over enough in concession sales to make it worth our time. From a marketing perspective, it just kind of grows on its own marketing. The fact that it’s free gets it talked about.”
Recent promotions have included showing the eight Harry Potter on consecutive Thursdays, showing timeless classics such as The Green Mile, hosting girls’ nights with familiar favorites, Halloween movies throughout October and more.
Contrary to popular belief, movie theaters make very little revenue on ticket sales because the vast majority of those funds go directly to the movie studios. During this past summer, Whatley made the decision to change the theater’s ticket prices to just $5, regardless of a patron’s age or what time the movie is playing.
“Going to the movies had gotten so expensive. A family of five going to the movies was a hundred-dollar bill at least. At that price, it’s not worth it,” he said. “If I can go to the zoo for $8, why can’t I go to the movies for $10? It’s apples to oranges, but that’s quite an experience to go to the zoo and they’re doing it for under $10. I just don’t feel like patrons should have to pay that much to go the movies.”
The theater has also lowered its concession prices and offers free refills on most of its drinks. Whatley said they still have customers who ask for a soda with no ice, but when they’re informed they get free refills, they immediately ask for ice. He added customers aren’t used to not getting ripped off at movie theaters, which is something he has zero interest in.
“We want more people. As we say, butts in seats is better than making $20 off one person. If five people come today, maybe they will tell five people and 10 people will come tomorrow,” he reasoned.
Nearly 90 years ago when Marion Theater first opened, it was a theater for plays with a large stage and only one room. The theater burned sometime during the 1940s, according to Whatley, but the stage remains behind the movie screens. While it needs a lot of work, he said he would consider using it for an event at some point in the future, but it gave him an idea.
While summertime being the busiest time for Marion Theater, it hits a lull as children go back to school in the fall through the spring. However, those are the busiest times for events. It just so happened that The Outpost and Sweet Olive Boutique were working on relocating, and Whatley saw the potential the building had for an event venue and purchased the space.
“Once it was empty, I just looked around at the amount of space and the ideas and the thoughts started rolling. A lot of people come in and say, ‘I love what you’ve done with the place,’ but we really didn’t have to do a whole lot,” he said. “They just really had a cool vibe going on already. We added a few touches in a few areas and there’s more that I want to add, but the building itself is really nice.
“We love the brick wall in one room and the wood and the balcony in the other room. The balcony upstairs is just really cool. We just rolled with what was here and just added to it.”
The Marquee is a versatile event venue that hosts concerts, comedy shows, weddings and more. Owner Ben Whatley saw its potential when it was cleared out and turned it into a gorgeous venue with a few improvements.
The Marquee hosts monthly comedy shows, has hosted two murder mystery dinners and has even had a magician perform. It is available for private events and has hosted numerous concerts, including during the Columbia Food and Music Festival, but Whatley said the stand-up comedy shows have drawn the most people.
“The interesting thing about the comedy (shows) is most people that are attending are not people that I recognize — they’re not from around here. They’re coming from Sumrall or Hattiesburg,” he said.
It’s not just the events that draw people from outside Marion County to Columbia — a significant portion of Marion Theater’s business comes from Purvis, Sumrall, Oloh, Bogalusa and several other towns within driving distance because they don’t want to travel into Hattiesburg and deal with the red lights and traffic.
Throughout The Marquee’s first year, Whatley said he’s learned that it’s not easy to get people to come out for musical events in Columbia. While studying venues in Hattiesburg, he’s learned that many people enjoy great food while listening to music while The Marquee has had great music that it has tried to add food to. But it’s bigger than that.
“What I find — and I’ve asked people this — is when people get home, the idea of leaving home to come back into town is not quite as exciting as it was two days earlier when they were thinking about it and talking about it with friends,” he said.
It’s a problem that many business owners and community leaders have been studying. They have learned that the amount of people in Columbia is reduced considerably after 5 p.m. when commuters return home, and Whatley is working diligently to provide fun opportunities for them to stick around.
Prior to moving to Columbia six years ago, Whatley owned a coffee shop in Poplarville, where he hosted trivia nights, karaoke and music performances, all of which led to full houses. He wants The Marquee to become similar but on a much larger scale.
“My goal in (The Marquee) is, over a period of time, for people to enjoy everything there is to do on a cruise ship other than gambling. I’d love to do a piano bar where we have dueling pianos — where we just have a night of piano music. Kids Hub did their bingo night here, and it was a lot of fun,” he explained. “We’ve considered doing a wine tasting where someone comes in and talks about it.”
Whatley has also talked to a popular chef who travels around to different venues and cooks meals in front of people while talking about the various dishes, and he said that will likely be in the works for 2026.
Whatley isn’t just in business to make money. One of his primary objectives is to give Marion Countians places to go with fun things to do. He said so many people talk about needing more things for the community’s children to do — which he’s a part of with the movie theater promotions and a recent talent show at The Marquee — but adults need fun activities to do as well.
He believes Columbia has so much to offer and chose it as the place to put down roots even though he and his wife both own land elsewhere in the state. Whatley said he wants the downtown area to thrive and is only just getting started.
