It’s no exaggeration to say that streaming and the COVID-19 pandemic both changed the entertainment industry forever. This is uniquely true for movie theaters, whose attendance rates have yet to rebound to pre-2020 levels, let alone the peak from way back in 2002. Still, moviegoing is steadily coming back, and not just among those who can remember renting VHS tapes. Gen-Zers are more likely to go to the movies in person at least once a month compared to older generations. So what’s behind this return to the big screen? We used our social listening and analytics solution to learn more.
What makes consumers decide to see movies in theaters?
According to social media conversation it’s all about the overall magical experience of seeing movies on the big screen, not just the movie itself. Our social listening analysis found that attending movies in person is a hot topic, having been mentioned more than 600,000 times from February 15, 2024 to February 15, 2025. And while the conversation ranged from topics like theater seating etiquette to nostalgia for the pre-streaming services era of movies, many of the most engaging posts celebrated the overall magic of going to the movies, especially alone.
For example, mentions in the second half of that 12-month period we analyzed were about 12% higher than in the first half, thanks in large part to an X post about going to the movies solo that went viral on November 20, just two days before the highly anticipated premiere of Wicked. That day, the going to the movies conversation spiked 20 times higher than average as people engaged with this post on X:
The take on the then-popular “chill guy” meme generated more than 190,000 engagement actions as other X users shared their own opinions about the experience of going to the movies alone and with others, with a telling 99% of non-neutral mentions being positive. The post (which IMAX jumped on with a simple but authentic reply that has since attracted about 16,000 views) was just one of multiple social media posts celebrating seeing movies alone that have gone viral over the past year.
Learn more about how to successfully jump on internet trends with our Ultimate Guide to Trendjacking.
Meanwhile, the second-largest spike in the past year of going-to-the-movies conversation was generated by none other than actor Kevin Bacon.
His post on X celebrating the experience of going to the movies featured a video of himself recounting all the films he had recently seen in theaters. It generated about 27,600 engagement actions and inspired thousands of comments and quote reposts from users sharing more about their own emotional connections to movies and nostalgia about past movie-going experiences.
While the magic of the movies keeps audiences going back to theaters for more, the price of the experience is also a significant consideration. For example, there were about 10,900 mentions of “cost” and about 8,000 of “price” in the conversations analyzed, with one highly engaged post breaking down the charges for a night at the movies for four people. Meanwhile, r/AMCsAList, a subreddit dedicated to the AMC theater chain’s membership program, was the third most popular Reddit community for moviegoing conversations, pointing to its popularity.
Could price sensitivity be a factor in the growing conversation about going to the movies alone? Perhaps! Though blockbusters like Barbie, Beyoncé’s Renaissance, and Wicked stand apart for having become occasions for groups of friends to dress up and see the movies together. In either case, going to the movies has seemingly become more of a special occasion for some consumers. So while streaming has given audiences more options for seeing their favorite films, it has yet to become a replacement for theater experience. In fact, it has only made the “in real life” option that much more purposeful.
Takeaways for marketers
Emotional engagement is key. For movie lovers, the theater is a portal to another realm where nostalgia or much-needed breaks from the world outside are crucial parts of the appeal. Marketers for brands in and around the movie theater world should engage with those emotional, immersive elements that can’t be replicated in front of the screen at home.
Dig into the ripple effects of price sensitivity. Concerns about cost aren’t going anywhere and they’re having major impacts on how consumers think about their leisure activities. Marketers and brands in any sector should dig further into conversations about cost to learn more about how the cost-of-living crunch is reshaping consumer considerations about everything from seeing movies to shopping to rewards programs and more.
Interested in digging deeper into what entertainment consumers want these days? Learn how with a personalized demo of the Meltwater Suite.
