Gen Z doesn’t go to movies, right? With their noses buried in their smartphones, watching their TikToks. With this generation proving even more useless than millennials, cinema is doomed. That was the prevailing narrative. Well, according to NATO (no… the other one!) this is wrong.
The National Association of Theatre Owners, the less bomby NATO, has commissioned a report – The Strength of Theatrical Moviegoing – that seemingly disproves the hypothesis that Roblox will be the death of our treasured hobby. Variety have covered the report in more detail.
The report says that among 10-24-year-olds, going to see a movie on opening weekend was the #1 preferred activity regardless of time and money. It was for me, before I discovered that I really, really liked alcohol.
The study goes on to say that Gen Z are, in fact, the most active cinema-going group out of all the ages. 90% of females and 89% of males in this group will go to at least one movie a year.
Overall, in all age groups, 85% of moviegoers plan to go to the movies in 2025 as often, or more, than they did in 2024. Also overall, 76% of Americans aged 12-74 saw at least one movie in a theater this year.
There were 95 movies released theatrically this year. That will rise to 110 next year as the post-COVID and post-strikes pipeline refills.