Joseph H. Corwin moved to California from Sioux City, Iowa and founded the Company in 1923 with one theatre, the Broadway, in downtown Los Angeles. His sons, Lawrence and Sherrill, grew with the business, and Metropolitan was the dominant motion picture exhibitor in downtown Los Angeles by the late 1940s. Bruce's father, Sherrill, ultimately became the chief executive of the growing circuit and fostered expansion into Palm Springs and Santa Barbara, California. Metropolitan's largest area of concentration is in Santa Barbara County, where it has operated since 1950. The Company currently owns and operates 27 screens at nine locations in Santa Barbara, Goleta, and Carpinteria.

In the mid-1960s, Metropolitan was among the first exhibition circuits in the nation to venture into a Spanish language film policy, both in subtitle form for American movies and in Spanish for Mexican produced films. The Company continues to operate two Spanish language theatres in Los Angeles as well as a traditional ten-plex in Calexico, California.  

In September 2003, the Company formed two strategic partnerships with Rocky Mountain Resort Cinemas of Sun Valley, Idaho, to build unique state-of-the-art cinemas in ski resort areas of the Western United States and Canada. The U.S. entity, Metropolitan/Rocky Mountain Cinemas, operates the five-screen Isis Theatre in Aspen, Colorado, the Ski Time Cinema in Ketchum, Idaho, and the Big Wood 4 in Hailey, Idaho as well as Redstone 8 Cinemas in Park City, Utah. The partners' Canadian company, Resort Cinemas of Whistler, operates the Village 8 Cinemas in Whistler, British Columbia, and the Garibaldi 5 in Squamish, British Columbia.

Metropolitan also operates the Wildhorse Stadium Cinemas in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, the Oaks Theatre in Berkeley, California, and University Village Cinemas in Riverside, California. The Company is part of two joint ventures in northern Colorado. It operates the MetroLux 14 Theatre in the Promenade Shops at Centerra in Loveland, Colorado, with Trans-Lux Theatres and is partners with Cinemark Theatres on a 12-plex in Greeley, Colorado, at the Greeley Mall.

The Corwin family's participation in public affairs and civic and charitable projects is well-established in Los Angeles and beyond. Metropolitan Theatres fosters local relationships in the communities in which it operates. At the University of California, Santa Barbara, there are Corwin awards for screen writing and play writing and dance and music composition. There is also continuing support for gifted music students through the Los Angeles Music Center Unified Fund. To further the cause of higher education, there have been innumerable benefit performances in Metropolitan's theatres.

Metropolitan has an experienced senior management team. Bruce C. Corwin has 40 years of industry experience. Bruce was honored as the “ ShoWester of the Year” in 1987 and as the Foundation of Motion Picture Pioneers “Pioneer of the Year” in 1997. David Corwin has grown up in the business and has served as President since 1999. David is a member of the Board of Directors of the National Association of Theatre Owners. Allen Gilbert is the Company's Executive Vice President and has been with the Company since 1984. Allen is responsible for much of the Company's real estate and development activities. Industry veterans Mike Doban and Dan Albright at Arcangelo Entertainment are responsible for booking most of Metropolitan's theatres. Alan Stokes, Vice President of Film Marketing, has more than 20 years in the industry. Ralph Breland, Vice President of Operations, has worked for Metropolitan for 27 years and is experienced in all facets of theatre operations and concessions. Metropolitan's Vice President of Concessions, Skip Stefansen, has been in the business for 40 years.