When it comes to watching what has hit and missed among 2025 movie releases, it does feel like this year at the box office has continued to show a bigger tide shift among moviegoers than what we might have seen five to ten years ago. For one, a Marvel movie has yet to make cross $500 million worldwide. A Minecraft Movie gave the video game adaptation trend another huge box office hit. Oh, and a movie that was readily available on Netflix, KPop Demon Hunters, was the No. 1 movie last weekend. And, following a new study’s findings, Gen Alpha can explain this shift to some degree.
A New Study Shows That Gen-Alpha Likes Going To The Movies More Than Other Generations
Gen Alpha accounts for kids born between 2013 to 2025. While it won’t be until next year that the generation will move over into the PG-13 echelon for the first time, they are apparently way more into going out to the movie theaters than other generations currently are. In a new study by NRG (per Variety) that polled 6,100 U.S. moviegoers between the ages of 6 to 60, Gen Alpha enjoys going out to watch films. As the study’s findings pointed out:
Unlike Millennials and older Gen Z-ers, who can still remember a time when watching movies at home meant going through the hassle of buying or renting a DVD or VHS tape, Gen Alpha is growing up in a world where on-demand is the default. For them, there’s little novelty or excitement to be found in an at-home movie night. By extension, that makes the experience of physically leaving the house and going to watch a movie in theaters feel all the more special.
Oh, how the tables have turned! While one might think of the younger generations who grew up on the internet and streaming as accustomed to the convenience, 59% of those polled in Gen Alpha said they’d rather see a movie in theaters than at home, in comparison to Gen Z, Millennials and Gen X, who all polled at under 50%.
While I’m a bit surprised by the results, I’m more impressed than anything else that Gen Alpha appreciates the moviegoing experience despite them perhaps not having first-hand nostalgia for it.
While I Wouldn’t Have Guessed It Myself, The Box Office Numbers Don’t Lie
I can remember when the pandemic hit back in 2020, industry analysts projecting the end of the theatrical experience, but some of the hits this year have shown that’s very much not the case. A Minecraft Movie became the first nine-figure domestic opening of 2025 in early April and is currently the No. 3 highest-grossing movie of the year (worldwide) behind China’s behemoth Ne Zha 2 and the live-action Lilo & Stitch.
In retrospect, A Minecraft Movie was the perfect Gen Alpha play. That’s because the study also showed the franchise itself is the No. 2 most popular franchise to them behind Roblox, with other franchises in the top five consisting of all video game names, including Fortnite, Grand Theft Auto and Pokémon.
Then there’s the original IP of KPop Demon Hunters that played to the generation, which came to theaters for one weekend after being a big hit on Netflix for two months. The release making big waves in theaters shows that Gen Alpha is seeing theater outings as valuable despite the option to view this movie with a Netflix subscription.
But, perhaps my favorite finding from the study is that less than 10% of Gen Alpha apparently use their phones in theaters and think the best runtime for a movie is just over two hours. As a Millennial myself, that’s enough to know that the new generation might be better than us, and thank goodness we’re evolving! Here’s to Gen Alpha’s hopeful continued love of the magic of the movie theaters. I love to see it!