Gen Z's 'Obsession' with the movies makes perfect sense | Opinion

This spring, I visited Italy with my college rugby team. We saw Pompeii and the Colosseum, but the most striking thing was watching Italians simply … relax. Starting in the late afternoon and going long into the night, they filled cafés, city squares and local bars. They talked, played cards and danced like their lives depended on it.

Sociologists call this a "third place" – Ray Oldenburg's term, from his 1989 book "The Great Good Place," for any space outside the home and the workplace where people gather freely.

Since COVID-19, Gen Z has been starving for one. And nothing shows that better than what's been happening at the box office.

'Obession' was a blockbuster from nowhere

The 2025 film "Obsession" has taken over my social media feed. And not without good reason. The brainchild of 26-year-old YouTuber Curry Barker, it has made more than $425 million off a budget of $750,000, a level of profitability unseen since the 2007 "Paranormal Activity" and "The Blair Witch Project" of 1999.

Why? For starters, it was great. My sister called it "a mix of classic '80s whimsy with psychological horror."

" 'Big' mixed with 'Hereditary'?" I offered.

In a rare showing of sibling love, we enthusiastically high-fived.

But the real story is bigger than one film. "Backrooms," directed by 21-year-old Kane Parsons, has made $301 million since A24 released it May 29, on a $10 million budget.

Gen Z is running the box office. Audiences are voting with their bank accounts, and it's clear they want to hear from young, exciting voices with something to say.

I saw it for myself. I happened to be in New York City visiting my siblings when "Obsession" opened. Walking into the theater, the scent of popcorn hit me immediately. The seats were packed with people my age. I settled in as the lights dimmed, and the 1980s synth of the opening scene transported the audience to another world. For the next two hours, no one looked away.

I watched through a crack in my hands, squirming. I gasped – audibly, to my brother's dismay. My sister laughed in terror. During the tense scenes, you could hear a pin drop.

The entire audience was in that film together.

Later that night, my brother took me to an arthouse theater called Metrograph. It had a bar upstairs, retro-branded popcorn and a theater ripped straight out of the 1960s. All around, young people discussed the films on the docket, laughing and enjoying each other's company. There was a palpable feeling of community.

It was the Italy café, the third place.

And that's why "Obsession" has struck such a chord. Films like this create an environment for conversation and culture.

Gen Z dominates the box office

But isn't Generation Z, born from 1997 to 2012, supposed to be the doomed generation, cursed to be forever antisocial by the pandemic?

There's something to that. We grew up with screens in our faces, and at the height of our formative years, we were forced indoors.

A Screen Australia study shows the toll: In 1976, 94.4% of people ages 14-24 went to the movies. By 2021, that number had fallen to 48.8%.

And yet Gen Z still dominates movie theater attendance: 87% saw at least one film in the past 12 months, compared with 82% of millennials, 70% of Gen Xers and 58% of boomers. We were never the antisocial generation. We just needed a push.

After the pandemic, that push came from social media, which is exactly how "Obsession" and "Backrooms" spread. But social media was always a temporary third place. Virtual reality is, at its core, not reality.

The pandemic is over. Gen Z is starving for a new third place. With the advent of this new age of cinema, one that boasts films made by and for Gen Z, that pushes our culture forward, the answer is clear.

It's time we go back to the movies.

Luca DeSanto is the editor-in-chief of the Michigan Review at the University of Michigan and an intern with USA TODAY.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Gen Z's 'Obsession' with the movies makes perfect sense | Opinion

Reporting by Luca DeSanto , USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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This story was originally published July 15, 2026 at 3:07 AM.