Top Movie Stars Spark Gen Z Ticket Surge

Some of America's biggest movie theater operators have revealed today's most bankable stars, and some of the results may surprise you.

Variety spoke to the CEOs of B&B Theatres, Marcus Theatres, Harkins Theatres, and The Lot to find out which A-listers are driving ticket sales to cinemas as the industry still struggles to return to pre-pandemic levels.

For actresses, two names came up: Australian star and Gen Z icon . 

Daniel Fastlicht, who runs Southern California-based dine-in theater chain The Lot, cited Robbie's recent success in Wuthering Heights as proof of her power at the box office.

While Emerald Fennell's controversial take on the literary classic divided critics, the racy film raked in around $240million off an $80million budget.

Robbie also had huge success with 2023's Barbie movie, .

As for Zendaya, the 29-year-old in recent years.

Not only is she the female lead in both the Dune franchise and the Spider-Man franchise, she's also proving to be a draw in less mainstream films.

She's currently starring in The Drama with Robert Pattinson, which achieved the 3rd biggest opening ever for an A24 film and has already earned back its production budget in its first week. 

When it comes to Hollywood's leading men, theater owners cited stars like Ryan Gosling and Timothée Chalamet.

'Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio are still bringing people to the movies,' said Harkins Theatres CEO Mike Bowers.

'Ryan Gosling — look what he has just done with Project Hail Mary. I would add that the success of Marty Supreme was on Timothée Chalamet. Zendaya and Tom Holland are the next generation.'

While Gosling's projects can be hit or miss, the 45-year-old has landed major wins in recent years with both Barbie and Project Hail Mary.

Chalamet has been more successful thanks to the Dune movies, as well as Marty Supreme, Wonka, and the Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown.

Pitt's power at the box office has diminished in recent years, but the heartthrob, but he did land a much needed hit recently with the sports drama F1, which grossed over $633million. 

DiCaprio has actually been less successful, although some of that has to do with the enormous budgets of his films. 

His last two films, Killers of the Flower Moon and One Battle After Another had decent box office returns, earning $159million and $212million respectively.

However, their earnings were disappointing compared to their bloated budgets, with Killers of the Flower Moon costing $200million to make while One Battle After Another was estimated to have cost somewhere between $130million to $175million.

According to recent data, the biggest demographic going to movie theaters today is Gen Z (ages 14-29).

This has come as a surprise to analysts, given that Gen Z are the first generation raised on iPhones. 

'This is an audience we thought would be lost to the small screen and to social media and other technology,' Comscore's box office analyst Paul Dergarabedian said.

'We thought that they may shun the very analog experience of watching a movie on the big screen.'

Some major Gen Z hits in recent years include A Minecraft Movie, Five Nights at Freddy's, Challengers, and blockbusters like Spider-Man: Brand New Day.