Gen Z is Obsessed with Movies, Why Not Broadway?
Gen Z was obsessed with Obsession. Is there a takeaway here for Broadway?
Obsession took the cinematic box office by storm earlier this year, becoming one of the only movies to ever gross over $400 million against a budget of less than $1 million. This follows the success of another similarly low-budget film, Backrooms, which similarly grossed over $350 million.
These shows aren’t featuring any major, marketable stars. They’re not based off of a widely recognizable IP (Backrooms is based on the web-series of the same name, but its Box Office . Both of the aforementioned films are notable partially because they are helmed by Gen Z directors, Curry Barker and Kane Parsons. And both films had relatively slow starts at the box office, both of which improved for consecutive weekends after word of mouth took off, both pushing past initial box office projections by over $100 million.
Fandango recently released a study finding that Gen Z is going to the movies at the highest rate of any surveyed generation, with 87% of respondents saying they had seen a movie in theatres in the past 12 months.
Gen Z is an odd group of people. They dominate online spaces, getting the majority of their news and information from social media (this is now true of most people, but it has always been true of Gen Z). They are also the most anti-AI generation by most accounts, in spite of being one of the most likely generations to willingly use it. They are one of the most anti-social generations, but they also put immense value on live events and experiences. So Broadway feels like a natural outlet for them.
In some ways, Broadway has been starting to get younger. Zhailon Livingston is the youngest director to win the Tony Award for Best Director of a Musical in history, and one of the youngest directors on Broadway, period. And he (in addition to Bill Rauch), created one of the most universally loved productions of a show that has proved divisive in recent years. Unfortunately, this show, in its Broadway run, was not a commercial success and will be closing next month, although it found immense success during its Off-Broadway run, 2 years ago.
Danya Taymor is another example of a director who is much younger than many of her peers, and yet she has found immense success with shows such as The Outsiders and John Proctor is the Villain. Both of which were hugely successful with younger audiences– John Proctor is the Villain, though it did not recoup its investment, had a larger social media following than any other show to open that season, and they might have recouped their investment had their run not been cut short.
No Guarantees Productions, who are the lead producers behind Schmigadoon! among others, has sponsored many studies suggesting that Broadway is undervalued in the minds of many, particularly younger, consumers. Their most recent study suggested that Gen Z and Millennial theatregoers would be willing to pay 3x the average Broadway ticket price, over $500 per seat. That is Taylor Swift Era’s Tour money, to put things into perspective. But the only way that world comes to fruition is if the industry dissolves the idea of people seeing shows multiple times, or even seeing more than one show per year.
That Fandango study found that the primary driver of Gen Z and Millennials to the cinematic box office was value. A $15 movie ticket is something accessible to friends and family– the barrier of entry is much lower. 87% of Gen Z have gone to the movies in the past year. But how many Gen Z adults living in New York City have gone to a Broadway show in the past year? Less than 20%.
There are many challenges associated with capturing that audience, no doubt. Creating “event theatre” has been one of the strategies used by many producers, but the reality is there are only so many George Clooney’s you can put into shows. Take this year for example. Fewer star-driven plays this year made money compared to last year, in spite of having actors who are academy award winners, the MCU, and Hidden Figures. There’s a cost problem there for sure, but the bigger issue this year is people aren’t spending the money and buying tickets. And, younger audiences are more likely to see a musical than a play. Creating a musical that fits the bill of “event theatre” is difficult- but event theatre is not the road to long-term success anyways. Events end relatively quickly, but Broadway musicals need to sustain high grosses for several months if not years to have a shot at profitability.
If Broadway is only interested in extracting as much wealth as possible until there is, the event economy is a good place to remain. But that sponge can only be squeezed so tightly. Cost accessibility, but maybe more importantly perception of cost inaccessibility, is alienating potential ticket buyers away before they’ve even had a shot of considering purchasing tickets. Broadway has to diversify its audience and expand its horizons to avoid major industry setbacks. Maybe Gen Z is a good place to start.
Photo Credit: Nina Westervelt
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