Gen Z Might Revive Moviegoing

Hollywood may have worried that Generation Z would abandon movie theaters for streaming, but the data tells a different story. This cohort, roughly ages 14 to 29, is now one of the most active moviegoing demographics and accounted for nearly 40% of all North American audiences in 2025, according to Comscore.

In 2025, members of this generation saw an average of seven movies in theaters — matching millennials — while Gen X and baby boomers saw about six, according to data from Fandango. That suggests the post-pandemic fear that young people would never return to the big screen was overblown. “Gen Z is driving moviegoer trends today, and I think people are shocked,” said Jason Dorsey, president of The Center for Generational Kinetics. “They’re like, ‘Oh, Gen Z doesn’t want to leave their house.’ That’s not true. Gen Z absolutely wants to leave their house — probably more than you know.”

Cost-conscious but willing to spend on experiences

Ticket prices have risen, but Steve Buck of EntTelligence, a movie data firm, noted that the increase is on par with inflation. “When you think about Gen Z, they are cost-conscious, but they’re opening up their wallet,” he said.

That thriftiness has pushed many of these young moviegoers toward subscription programs like AMC’s A-List, Regal Unlimited, and Cinemark’s Movie Club. Carrie Trotter, senior vice president of marketing at AMC, said in an interview that Gen Z over-indexes in the A-List tier and that participation has grown triple since the pandemic. “We’re trying to make it as frictionless as possible so we can encourage as much moviegoing and this social atmosphere,” she said.

A small-town theater’s approach to keeping it cheap

At Rutgers Cinema in Piscataway, New Jersey, general manager Alex DelVecchio keeps prices low for nearby college students. With a school ID, students pay just $5 for matinees and $9.50 for other shows — well below the national average of nearly $13.50.

“We try to keep it as cheap as we can,” DelVecchio said. But he also runs promos like free slushies on Wednesdays and engages the crowd with stunts. For the 2017 release of “It: Chapter One,” the theater placed a clown in every auditorium, posted red balloons around campus, and had a staff member in a yellow jacket play with a paper boat outside. “We started selling everything out,” he recalled. “And, then, once you get the momentum you can keep it as long as you keep playing what they want.”

Horror, anime, and video games drive ticket sales

Gen Z shares older generations’ love of horror and R-rated fare, but diverges in its appetite for anime and video game adaptations. In 2025, “A Minecraft Movie” was the most attended film by this demographic, generating $424 million domestically and $960 million globally. Sony and Crunchyroll’s “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba — The Movie: Infinity Castle” saw 42% of its tickets sold to Gen Z. So far in 2026, Universal’s “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” leads among the young cohort, with $425 million domestic and $982 million global. Analysts expect upcoming titles like “Toy Story 5,” “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” and “Avengers: Doomsday” to pull heavily from this audience.

The social pull — and the FOMO factor

For many in Gen Z, the experience of watching a movie with friends outweighs the film itself. “This is a way for them to come and spend time with their friends and their family, and that social experience really outweighs the movie itself that they’re seeing,” Trotter said. She added that a fear of missing out drives them to be among the first to see new releases and join the conversation online.

That online conversation often happens on Letterboxd, a platform where users track and review films. With more than 29 million users — over half under 35 — the site has become so central to Gen Z that Hollywood now refers to them as the “Letterboxd generation.” They rely more on community reviews than on professional critics when deciding what to watch.

Dorsey sees an opening for theaters.

He warns the trend is fragile. “It’s still fragile, the generation is still finicky, but there’s a massive opportunity for them to be able to build on the fact that they can create these wonderful in-person experiences and in a more affordable way,” he said.