{
  "id": 6476172,
  "title": "Hollywood’s ‘new business model’ comes into view as Gen Z shows a moviegoing taste that combines ‘fast food and fine dining’",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/09/hollywoods-new-business-model-comes-into-view-as-gen-z-shows-a",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-09-09T20:56:49.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Fortune",
    "slug": "fortune",
    "url": "https://fortune.com/2026/09/09/hollywood-new-business-model-gen-z-movie-tickets/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The movie industry has achieved its largest summer box office ever, generating $4.765 billion in ticket sales across the U.S. and Canada from May 1 to Labor Day. However, adjusted for inflation, this summer's box office remains 17% below 2019 levels, and theaters sold nearly 249 million fewer tickets during the same period than in 2019. Paul Dergarabedian, head of marketplace trends at box-office analytics firm Rentrak, suggests that the more instructive baseline is 2020, when theatrical attendance collapsed to nearly zero. This emerging post-pandemic business model relies on higher prices and premium screenings to generate more revenue from fewer customers, leading to questions about the long-term sustainability of a business built on $20 tickets and a handful of event films. Hollywood is evolving, with filmmakers and studios thinking outside the box, inspired by trends in other industries, such as vegetarianism. Gen Z moviegoers are seeking a mix of \"cinematic fast food\" and \"cinematic fine dining,\" with their tastes different from previous generations. High-profile films like \"Odyssey\" and \"Spider-Man\" have each grossed over $1 billion worldwide, accounting for nearly one-third of the summer box office. Cinemark's success story shows how theaters are leveraging premium large-format screenings and increasing concession revenue to boost profitability, even with fewer theatrical releases and the growing availability of movies through streaming.",
  "summary": "Theaters sold nearly 249 million fewer tickets than in 2019 but still set a $4.7 billion summer record. It’s not 2019 anymore.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}