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The movies are, as the kids say, so back.
The domestic box office is having its strongest year since before the Covid pandemic, with at least 14 movies so far this year topping $100 million.
They aren’t all sequels or big studio fare, either. Alongside “Toy Story 5” and “The Devil Wears Prada 2” are two breakout, low-budget horror films: “Backrooms” and “Obsession,” both directed by Gen Z filmmakers who got their start on YouTube.
“It’s a really exciting moment,” said Manohla Dargis, The New York Times’s chief film critic. “It doesn’t feel like the same-old, same-old thing.”
While she doesn’t try to predict what’s coming next in the YouTube pipeline — “that way lies madness,” she said — she tries to see as many movies as she can, hundreds per year.
In a recent conversation, she discussed what is fueling the youthquake in moviegoing and what might be coming next. These are edited excerpts from the exchange.
It wasn’t too long ago that we were hearing that Gen Z-ers didn’t want to leave their homes and see movies in theaters. What changed?
There’s an unfortunate tendency, including among members of the media, to make grand pronouncements. We’re coming off the pandemic, and it took a while for things to start to resettle. Movie theaters shutting down was a big thing — they didn’t even shut down in 1918 during the flu pandemic. It just takes a long time for things to get back to normal.
It’s not a surprise to me, though, that audiences, and particularly younger audiences, would be eager to go to the movies. It’s fun hanging out with your friends, screaming and laughing in the dark together. You have to give people something to watch, though.
There’s been a lot of discussion in the industry about how the 1970s surge in auteurs and risk-taking — known as the New Hollywood era — may be happening again, fueled by burnout with algorithm-friendly content and a desire for communal theater experiences.
I think it’s overstated to say that we’re seeing a new Hollywood. The success of “Backrooms” and “Obsession” is great, but that’s two movies. Two movies are not a trend. One of the things we know about the movie industry is that it has always resuscitated itself. It’s like a vampire, always seeking new blood.
What do you make of the surge in young filmgoers specifically?
I do think it’s part of a trend — what I think of as a kind of new or resurgent cinephilia, in which young people are just excited to be in theaters. I know, too, that younger people love going to rereleases of old movies. You would think, why would people pay to go see a movie that they could rent at home? It’s because it’s an entirely different experience to see an older movie in theaters.
The advance sales for the director Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey,” which comes out in theaters today, have certainly been impressive. Sold-out 7 a.m. IMAX screenings!
The whole “Barbie”-“Oppenheimer” thing was just wonderful, and a big shot in the arm for the industry. People like Nolan and Ryan Coogler and Greta Gerwig are great. We have to have new and younger people. The movie industry got lazy for a while and was just trying to sell the same thing.
How has your role as a critic changed in response?
It hasn’t changed at all. It’s still incumbent on me to see everything, or as much as possible.
Has it become more challenging to see everything? Are there more movies now?
When people started making movies with cheap cameras and their iPhones, that accelerated things. Historically, one of the biggest problems has been distribution, which for a long time was just in the hands of major players. Having people put stuff directly on YouTube definitely is a change.
What has surprised you about the turn moviegoing has taken?
I don’t think I’ve been surprised, per se. I’m just happy to see it. I went to a press screening of “Supergirl” at a multiplex in Burbank, Calif., recently. I walked in half an hour early, and the movie theater was humming. And it wasn’t just older people; it was couples on dates, kids, families. I thought, This is the way it’s supposed to be. I haven’t always been optimistic about the movie industry, but right now the larger picture looks pretty good, and that’s something we can all celebrate.
What’s your favorite movie so far this year?
I really like “Exit 8.” It’s a very smart way of using liminal spaces. And “Disclosure Day” is really fun. Yes, the ending doesn’t work. I don’t really care.
The post Wait, Moviegoing Isn’t Dead? Our Critic Explains. appeared first on New York Times.
