Few could have predicted Disney’s Zootopia 2 would become the top-grossing 2025 film ahead of Avatar: Fire and Ash, collecting $1.86 billion in worldwide ticket sales, or that Disney’s live-action Lilo & Stitch would place among the three movies to cross $1 billion. This year brought more surprises: Iron Lung, a tiny asteroid of a movie self-released by YouTube star Mark Fischbach (aka Markiplier) that stunned with $40 million, and Paramount’s panned Scream 7, which defied logic in opening to $64 million, a franchise best and $20 million ahead of expectations. On the specialty side, there’s Neon’s foreign-language films A Sentimental Value and A Secret Agent, which are both competing in the Oscar best picture race and are hovering in the $4 million to $6 million range.
The common denominator? Zoomers, aka Gen Zers, whom some had written off as anti-moviegoing, since they were the first generation to bond 24/7 with an iPhone or other device. Yes, social media has them craving a collective experience, resulting in a rise in theatergoing among those born between 1997 and 2012. “Generation Z is ironically drawn to the classic analog experience of going to the movie theater,” says Comscore’s Paul Dergarabedian. “They are able to blend this traditional activity with their digital lives, using theater outings as fodder for social engagement.”
www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/gen-z-movie-theaters...
No. They cannot.
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As someone part of the older part of the Gen Z cohort, I absolutely have hope that other moviegoers and I will sustain the theater experience! So many people I know are huge AMC A-list stubs members, and that really has to do with the practicality of the pricing. If you're going to see 2 movies in one month, the membership pays for itself! Another factor is the social media aspect of it. Great apps like Letterboxd have allowed young people to socially network with people just based on their watch history, and as someone who grew up on the rise of social media, apps like that can only expand curiosity in the theater!
They are an interesting generation for sure, Jack. I find that their commitment to analog activities, like physically going to a movie theater to watch a movie is refreshing from the digital-heavy millennial generation.
Jack Binder no they can’t…
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Oh I KNOW they can. me being gen Z myself of-course, we need to open our eyes and realizes that the new generations are keeping the movie theaters up and running, maybe my movie can do that some day.