Younger viewers are reviving the box office growth

Hollywood can breathe a sigh of relief: Generation Z is not only going to the movies, it’s driving box office growth.

During the pandemic, when theaters shut down and streaming became a dominant force in the media landscape, fears rose that this young cohort would shun the big screen as they matured into more engaged consumers. 

However, this generation, which ranges from around 14 to 29 years old, is one of the most active moviegoing demographics and attends more films per year than some older generations, according to data from Fandango.

In 2025, members of Gen Z saw an average of seven movies in theaters — matching average viewership among millennials — while members of Generation X and baby boomers saw around six movies on average, Fandango found.

“Gen Z is driving moviegoer trends today, and I think people are shocked,” said Jason Dorsey, president and co-founder of The Center for Generational Kinetics and co-author of “Zconomy.” “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.”

Gen Z accounted for nearly 40% of all movie audiences in North America in 2025, according to data from Comscore.

As teens and 20-somethings become the dominant generation at the box office, they’re also shaping the future of moviegoing — and studios and movie theaters are taking note.

“Not only are we seeing a bigger and bigger percentage of Gen Z make up our overall audience, but their frequency is increasing year over year,” Carrie Trotter, senior vice president of marketing at AMC, told CNBC. “So they have become one of the most important audiences for us, and I see that in the future, it may become the absolute most important audience for us.”

Helping to fuel Gen Z’s affinity for the movies is the fact that it remains one of the more inexpensive forms of entertainment.

“Ticket pricing has gone up, as it does, but when you compare it to the year-over-year inflation rate, it’s on par, if not less,” said Steve Buck of EntTelligence, a movie data firm. “When you think about Gen Z, they are cost-conscious, but they’re opening up their wallet.”

Gen Zers came of age around the time of Covid, which Dorsey called a “generation-defining experience.” This cohort doesn’t know a time without social media or smartphones and is incredibly cost-conscious, having grown up in a time of great uncertainty, he said.

“Covid uprooted all of their plans,” Dorsey said. “They were going to school, going to college … everything got turned upside down and it lasted for a long period of time. So, we see them much more fiscally conscious. I’ll say it generally, like they’re really conservative with their money in general, much more thrifty than we would expect for somebody at their age.”

This has led a significant portion of Gen Z to opt for loyalty programs at movie theaters, like AMC’s A-list, Regal Unlimited and Cinemark’s Movie Club, that reward them for money spent or allow them to see multiple films a month for a subscription fee.

“Gen Z over-indexes in the AMC A-List tier, and their participation has grown triple since the pandemic,” Trotter said, noting that AMC’s program also allows customers to book tickets for other loyalty members that are part of their friend group.

“We’re trying to make it as frictionless as possible so we can encourage as much moviegoing and this social atmosphere,” she said.

At Rutgers Cinema in Piscataway, New Jersey, general manager Alex DelVecchio is keeping ticket prices low for the the students at nearby Rutgers University. Students who show a school ID pay just $5 for matinee screenings and $9.50 for all other general admissions. That’s quite a bit cheaper than the nationwide average of nearly $13.50, according to EntTelligence.

“We try to keep it as cheap as we can,” DelVecchio said.

But it’s not all about affordability. DelVecchio said he also runs promos like free slushies on Wednesdays and looks for ways to engage his predominantly college-age consumer.

For the release of Warner Bros.’ “It: Chapter One” in 2017, DelVecchio said the company put a clown in every theater, posted red balloons all over campus and had a staff member wear a yellow jacket and play with a paper boat outside to mimic iconic scenes from the movie.

“We started selling everything out,” he said. “And, then, once you get the momentum you can keep it as long as you keep playing what they want.”

While Gen Zers are selective about their spending, they are willing to shell out for experiences, particularly social activities they can do with their friends that give them an excuse to disconnect from their phones.

“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. “But also there’s a little bit of FOMO [fear of missing out], like they want to be part of the excitement and their fandom of that fuels their desire to be the first to see these movies and be part of the conversation as it’s happening.”

And while Gen Z enjoys staying off their phones during the movie, they still use social media to share their thoughts on films and see what others think of new and old titles.

Letterboxd, an online platform where moviegoers can track movies they’ve watched and post reviews, has become so ubiquitous with this generation that Hollywood has come to refer to Gen Z interchangeably as the Letterboxd generation.

The site currently has more than 29 million users, with more than half of that base under the age of 35. Through Letterboxd, Gen Z is relying more on community reviews than those of official movie critics when choosing what movies to see in theaters.

Of course, Gen Z has some genre-specific preferences, and Hollywood appears to be playing to them.

Similar to their elders, this age group often flocks to cinemas for horror films and R-rated fare. But they diverge from previous generations in their interest in anime and video game adaptations based on games they played growing up. Gen Zers have also shown a penchant for older, rereleased titles, leaning into the nostalgia of moviegoing.

In 2025, “A Minecraft Movie,” based on the popular online game, was the most attended film by Gen Z, according to data from EntTelligence. The Warner Bros. film generated more than $424 million domestically during its theatrical run, the second-highest take of the year, and tallied $960 million globally.

Meanwhile Sony and Crunchyroll’s “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba — The Movie: Infinity Castle” saw the largest percentage of Gen Z in its audiences, with 42% of tickets being sold to this members of the generation.

So far in 2026, Universal’s “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” is the most attended film by Gen Z. It’s secured $425 million domestically, the highest-grossing film of the year so far, and $982 million globally. 

Box office analysts expect films like Disney and Pixar’s “Toy Story 5,” Universal’s “Minions & Monsters,” Sony’s “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” and Marvel’s “Avengers: Doomsday” to see a significant portion of ticket sales from Gen Z audiences.

“I think theaters have a real opening right now to be that in-person social experience for Gen Z,” Dorsey said. “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.”

Disclosure: Versant is the parent company of Fandango and CNBC.