Obsession Star Says Gen Z Wants Movies Without the Sales Pitch

Inde Navarrette, one of the stars of the horror film Obsession, has a message for Hollywood: stop selling to young audiences inside the movie. Speaking on The Kyle Buchanan Show, she said Gen Z wants to go to the cinema without feeling like it is being sold to, Variety reported.

Navarrette said the generation is tired of adverts appearing in films and of product placement, the practice of putting real brands on screen, often in return for payment. She said Gen Z wants original stories. She also pointed to the commercials it grew up with, such as the State Farm and Aflac ads, which young people still quote. Living with technology, she added, does not stop people from living a human life or having human experiences.

Obsession is a horror film released by Focus Features. It stars Navarrette and co-star Michael Johnston. Variety reports that the film grossed $522 million worldwide and was produced for less than $1 million. It has also earned more at the box office for four consecutive weekends.

The audience argument has numbers behind it. A Fandango study found that 87% of Gen Zers and 82% of millennials saw at least one movie in a cinema over a year. The figures for Gen Xers and baby boomers were 70% and 58%. Gen Z and millennials averaged about seven cinema visits a year, ahead of Gen X at 6.1 and baby boomers at 5.7.

The same study noted that Gen Z spends more per visit on snacks and drinks, and on premium-format screens such as Imax. That spending is one reason studios pay close attention to what the youngest adults want from a night out. Navarrette's comments put that attention on the film itself, not only on the ticket.

For a studio, the lesson she describes is simple, if not easy. Fewer brand messages on screen and more new stories is the request. Whether studios act on it is a question for the studios, and for now the box-office figures for Obsession are the clearest sign of what audiences have chosen to pay for.