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Can Gen Alpha Save the Box Office?

According to a new study from NRG, the under-15 crowd loves movie theaters, which represent an exotic and alluring escape to a generation whose upbringing has taken place entirely in front of screens and devices, and whose socialization metric has never been anything other than digital.

Kpop Demon Hunters
This NRG report on Gen Alpha suggests that movie theaters represent an exotic and alluring escape to the generation whose upbringing has taken place entirely in front of screens and devices, and whose vehicles for socialization have largely been digital. Photo: Roy Rochlin/Getty Images for Netflix
Matthew Belloni
August 29, 2025

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Netflix co-C.E.O. Ted Sarandos has been waiting years for validation in the movie business. He has spent hundreds of millions of dollars chasing an elusive Oscar for best picture. (He’s in Venice this week to launch the latest campaigns.) He joined the board of the Academy Museum despite the fact that, last time I was there, it didn’t seem to honor a single movie that debuted on TV or home video. Unlike his streaming rivals, Sarandos has released viewership data so that we can all see that his movies are popular. And he has continued to authorize projects—first via film chief Scott Stuber and now Dan Lin—that will have no meaningful impact on Netflix viewership, but may boost the artistic cachet of the service. This week, Netflix bought a documentary short about the childhood bedrooms of school-shooting victims—a worthy subject, of course, but also another obvious play for an Oscar nomination.