• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, 11 hours ago

While young media consumers continue to ramp up digital media usage, they are also headed out to the movies -- largely due to messaging and content on digital social-media platforms.

Nearly two-thirds, of U.S. internet consumers ages 18-24 (61%) have been to a movie theater at least once in the last six months, according to Ampere Analysis.

This is up for the same group versus the first quarter of 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic, at 58% -- and higher than the national average (52%) for all audiences.

This research comes as two recent surprise horror-film rockets to strong box-office results -- “Obsession” and “Backrooms.”

“Young people are introduced to ideas and creators on the internet, and ‘Obsession’ and ‘Backrooms’ show us that they are willing to show up to the theatre in addition to spending time on social media at home,” says Sam Nursall, research manager, Ampere Analysis.

He adds: “They are highly motivated to watch TV and films based on social media buzz.”
Ampere says 30% of Gen Zers are driven to this activity -- content based on social media -- versus 19% national average for all other audiences.

The research also found that Gen Z spends 29 minutes longer on average each day than other audiences watching videos on such platforms.

Ampere says movie theater-focused horror genre continues to be one of the most effective getting surprise hits -- and profitability - due to much lower production costs, active fanbases, and big “word-of-mouth potential.”

Looking at the broader movie theater business, older audiences have been slower to return to pre-pandemic levels than 18-24 year olds..
In the first quarter 2026, 25-54 audiences were at a 53% level when asked if they went to a theater in the past six-months. It was 58% in the first quarter 2020.

Ampere Analysis's research comes from 30 global markets, 56,000 Internet users aged 18-64.First quarter 2020 research was obtained in February 2020, prior to the start of U.S. pandemic lockdowns.