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What does it take to get young moviegoers to the theater? Here's what they told us.
After hotly anticipated films like The Fall Guy and Furiosa failed to stir up “Barbenheimer” levels of heat at the box office, what did move the needle for audiences was an animated sequel that mixed nostalgia with a hefty dose of the feels. Inside Out 2 followed its beloved 2015 original to the top of the charts, which has all but guaranteed it a billion-dollar success.
Who was responsible for making it a megahit? Families with kids, of course, but the box office — and Disney Pixar — can also thank Gen Z.
“According to general audience exit polls conducted by PostTrak over the June 22-24 weekend, nearly 40 percent of ticket buyers were between the ages of 18 and 24,” the Hollywood Reporter wrote about the film. “Teenagers, or those between ages 13 and 17, represented 23 percent of the audience.”
For Gen Z audiences especially — who generally make less money than older generations and have grown up with access to myriad TV shows, movies and more on a variety of devices — it takes a lot to get this generation into theaters. For moviegoers in their 20s and younger, forking over a chunk of their spending money better be worth it.
“Obviously they are not a generation that has lacked for home entertainment,” Walt Hickey, author of You Are What You Watch: How Movies and TV Affect Everything, told Yahoo Entertainment. “They have had at the fingertips streaming services that, back in the day, millennials could only dream about.”
When it comes to making the choice between hitting the multiplex and watching at home, for considerably less money and effort, it has to be for something they don’t want to miss.
Mia Lima, a University of Southern California rising senior who is also co-president of the Trojan Filmmakers Club, told Yahoo “there's an increase on the importance of the movie in the theater being an event.”
Otherwise, if you can wait “and watch it on streaming,” Lima said, you might as well. Audiences, she added, are waiting for “something that feels like a quote-unquote must-see.”
While FOMO is one factor getting Gen Z into theaters, it’s not the only one.
According to UCLA’s October 2023 Teens and Screens report, which surveyed 1,500 people ages 10-24, Gen Z is also looking for content “centered around friendships and platonic relationships” over “forced” romance, as well as storylines that reflect “real life” versus unrealistic ones but are nevertheless hopeful, uplifting and authentic.
“Adolescents are looking to media as a ‘third place’ where they can connect and have a sense of belonging,” Stephanie Rivas-Lara, the UCLA study's first author, said in a statement. That combination showed up in Barbie last summer and arguably added to the can’t-miss factor of Inside Out 2.
After hotly anticipated films like The Fall Guy and Furiosa failed to stir up “Barbenheimer” levels of heat at the box office, what did move the needle for audiences was an animated sequel that mixed nostalgia with a hefty dose of the feels. Inside Out 2 followed its beloved 2015 original to the top of the charts, which has all but guaranteed it a billion-dollar success.
Who was responsible for making it a megahit? Families with kids, of course, but the box office — and Disney Pixar — can also thank Gen Z.
“According to general audience exit polls conducted by PostTrak over the June 22-24 weekend, nearly 40 percent of ticket buyers were between the ages of 18 and 24,” the Hollywood Reporter wrote about the film. “Teenagers, or those between ages 13 and 17, represented 23 percent of the audience.”
For Gen Z audiences especially — who generally make less money than older generations and have grown up with access to myriad TV shows, movies and more on a variety of devices — it takes a lot to get this generation into theaters. For moviegoers in their 20s and younger, forking over a chunk of their spending money better be worth it.
“Obviously they are not a generation that has lacked for home entertainment,” Walt Hickey, author of You Are What You Watch: How Movies and TV Affect Everything, told Yahoo Entertainment. “They have had at the fingertips streaming services that, back in the day, millennials could only dream about.”
When it comes to making the choice between hitting the multiplex and watching at home, for considerably less money and effort, it has to be for something they don’t want to miss.
Mia Lima, a University of Southern California rising senior who is also co-president of the Trojan Filmmakers Club, told Yahoo “there's an increase on the importance of the movie in the theater being an event.”
Otherwise, if you can wait “and watch it on streaming,” Lima said, you might as well. Audiences, she added, are waiting for “something that feels like a quote-unquote must-see.”
While FOMO is one factor getting Gen Z into theaters, it’s not the only one.
According to UCLA’s October 2023 Teens and Screens report, which surveyed 1,500 people ages 10-24, Gen Z is also looking for content “centered around friendships and platonic relationships” over “forced” romance, as well as storylines that reflect “real life” versus unrealistic ones but are nevertheless hopeful, uplifting and authentic.
“Adolescents are looking to media as a ‘third place’ where they can connect and have a sense of belonging,” Stephanie Rivas-Lara, the UCLA study's first author, said in a statement. That combination showed up in Barbie last summer and arguably added to the can’t-miss factor of Inside Out 2.
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