This summer, Gen Z is trading in the small screens in their pocket for the big screen. Rather than waiting for movies to come out on streaming services, data shows younger audiences are lining up to see new movies in-person, at cinemas. Going to the movies has morphed from a rainy day activity to the must-do event of the summer.
For Broadway, that’s an encouraging shift. If Gen Z is showing up for in-person entertainment, the question isn't whether they'll leave the couch, it is: What makes them choose one in-person experience over another? This summer’s biggest films offer a few clues.
Two summer blockbusters, “Backrooms” and “Obsession,” were helmed by Gen Z directors who got their start on YouTube. Kane Parsons and Curry Barker, respectively, directed these films at only 20 and 25 years old, making them some of the youngest directors in Hollywood. Not unlike theater, the film industry consistently feels the threat of technological advancements that create instant and cheap forms of entertainment. Though Gen Z and Gen Alpha have grown up alongside short-form content and a growing multitude of new ways to consume entertainment, this summer young audiences are returning to in-person entertainment in unexpected ways. In 2026, Fandango reported that 87 percent of Gen Z had attended a movie in theaters in the last 12 months, more than any other generation.
The lesson isn’t simply that Gen Z is returning to movie theaters — it is that they will enthusiastically show up for in-person entertainment when they feel connected to it before they arrive and continue participating in it long after they leave.
