Gen Z has rediscovered the joy of going to the movies | Hacker News Reader

Gen Z has rediscovered the joy of going to the movies

economist.com

19 pointsedward20 comments

Maybe because they are finally making good movies again? Up to the mid 2010s you could just decide to go to the movies and there would at least be one movie you wanted to watch. Last five years have been there is a movie a month at most.

I agree with this. I used to go to the theaters at least 4 or 5 times a year with my wife. Nowadays we rarely see anything come out we're interested. Maybe one big movie a year between 2020 and now.

This year maybe three times

We're a bit pickier because it's much more expensive to go now, but it feels like not much is worth seeing these days

It's funny to think back to some of the stronger predictions that were made in the covid era about how changes in the world were going to be permanent. Such as that movie theaters were finished. No, there was demand before covid and there's demand now. Most people don't want to sit in their house all day. There's a whole world out there.

The biggest movie releases like The Odyssey and Spider-Man: Brand New Day drive huge turnout, including domestic US moviegoers.

When we compare with flops like the Moana remake it really demonstrates that people who love going to the movies are discerning and demand authentic films, which often includes practical effects.

When a movie mostly consists of actors standing around motionless in front of a 360 degree screen stage or a green screen with cheap, rusher AI, people notice and they don’t recommend the movie to their friends.

Unrelated, I wonder if there’s still potential for movie rental shops in more dense urban areas. I think the concept could be more reimagined and focused on a third space, events, maybe involve a coffee shop or similar routine-worthy purchase.

I think the main barrier is that many people don’t have players anymore.

If people really were discerning, stuff like Spiderman and the Super Mario Galaxy movie wouldn't have been big hits. There's demand for slop and demand for good blockbusters like The Odyssey and demand for indie horror.

Video games remain underserved. Video gamers do want movies, even if it's just slop.

In a few years probably not. Pokemon Pikachu and the Sonic movies were way better than Mario. And I think Zelda needs to be WAY better than Mario to get a real audience.

But Hollywood is so bad with video games that "Mario with proper sound effects" is currently the bar. Like it's either Mario or Mortal Kombat for recent video game movies and somehow the Mario and Minecraft movies are objectively better.

There are “high art” blockbusters and then there are crowd pleasers.

Super Mario Galaxy is not what I would call slop. Is it a good movie for typical movie-going adults? No, but it satisfies its target audience (kids) and has a 87% audience score on rotten tomatoes.

The difference between that movie and the Moana remake is that the Moana remake doesn’t have an audience that it satisfies.

> movie rental shops

Libraries have stepped in to full this gap. Most have very decent selections of blu-ray and DVDs as long as you aren't looking for a very recent release. Although it's hard to say how much longer physical discs will still be made.

I think it's mainly because this year has been unusually good with original movies worth watching.

I think this year is actually the final nails in the argument that people are desperate for "original" films. The top ones this year are Spider-Man and an adaptation of a literal ancient story. Followed by a fifth Toy Story, a Michael Jackson biopic, a Mario film, the Devil Wears Prada 2 and Project Hail Mary. Only Michael and PHM are arguably non-franchise films, and PHM wasn't one of the ones that grossed over a billion.

And the next expected major films this year that will pull in audiences are Dune 3 and Avengers: Doomsday.

It's looking like franchises are what are reliably bringing people in. They just want quality stories and not a deluge of committee-designed experiences. The new Spider-Man film was good because it gets Spider-Man and what audiences like about the character.

Agreed. Not to say there is no such thing as franchise fatigue, but fundamentally it’s about quality. The large studios expect us to just gorge ourselves on anything with a favorite logo or name on it like it’s a brand loyalty thing, but movies are about storytelling and emotional resonance. Odyssey made me feel things, so did Spider-Man, so did Obsession. Supergirl did not. Simple as that.

Last time I heard this much discussion about movies in theaters was Barbenheimer, which was three years ago.

Previous discussion (3 days ago): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49266879

My submission got flagged, so may the odds be in your favor!

I think it is an interesting story.

Is that because this is the last chance before Hollywood and movie theaters go under?

Didn't read because paywall, but why is everything always about gerational preference shifts?

Why can't it be the much simpler explanation: movies have sucked, so no one went to see them? Recently good movies came out, so ... more people are going to the theater.

It isn't. It's about convicting generational groups, particularly the younger ones that don't know any better, that they have specific preferences.

People are tribal, and these days the tribes seem to be generational

> movies have sucked, so no one went to see them?

This is why I haven't gone to see as many in the past few years, for sure

> why is everything always about gerational preference shifts? I noticed that too, it’s usually pushed to create a herd mentality, then a trend about something, and obviously there’s a direct or indirect outcome, here, it’s movies revenue. So if you are a xyz gen, you will fear to miss out what all of your other peers are doing.

I stopped caring for a couple of years during the Marvel slop era. Lately me and my girlfriend have gone to watch movies like the Backrooms, Obsession, and that has reignited my interest in movie theaters. Even though the food is really overpriced, it's fun to watch a good film, eat some popcorn.

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