Comment: studios should strive to make this generation’s ‘The Matrix’

Five years on from the pandemic and change continues to rock the exhibition sector in much of the world.

As many of its leading lights gather in Las Vegas this week for CinemaCon, Screen International explores the topics leading the discussion in the pages of our annual exhibition-focused April 2025 issue, from the rising importance of premium screen formats in attracting audiences, to the $2.2bn investment commitment by US theatre chains to improve cinemas, to a variety of other shakeups and challenges.

While audiences are back in many ways, numerous markets are still struggling to regain their post-Covid footing, and spotty release schedules aren’t helping. In some markets, local-language releases are striking gold — see our feature on Vietnam’s cinema success story — a relative newcomer in exhibition terms. Elsewhere, other markets are stalling. Saudi Arabia, for example, is looking like a case of ambition outstripping reality judging by the decline in attendances there over the last two years.

But there is always optimism in this industry, and kindling the interest of younger audiences to embrace the cinemagoing experience is something it has been working hard at – and not without success. Recent independent productions like Anora, The Brutalist and Flow were not only walking off with the biggest prizes of the awards season, they’re engaging with a younger demographic of cineastes in a way that hopefully inspires long-term interest in cinema­going as a crucial part of their cultural experience.

Companies and studio divisions such as Searchlight, Neon, A24 and Mubi continuing to nurture this space by supporting ambitious storytelling and bold filmmakers is crucial to keep this next generation of moviegoers coming back.

Count in this group as well Focus Features, which is coming off a phenomenal box-office result with Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu – currently $180m worldwide, it’s the company’s second biggest all-time hit – and has been led by respected chairman Peter Kujawski for the past nine years. Check out our interview with Kujo, as he’s known by many in the industry, and hear his views on how to foster theatrical success and how he works in tandem with his boss Donna Langley, chairman, NBCUniversal Entertainment and Studios.

But while it’s important to continue growing youth audiences’ appetite for indie and arthouse films, I can’t help feeling that the studios need to step up and deliver this generation their own Star Wars or The Matrix – a galvanising cinema epic that connects at a core level and gets them hooked on the big screen for life. That kind of deep-impact release isn’t going to come from the superhero franchises or any sequel – it’s going to require a visionary new voice who can get big backing for a generation-­defining vision.

Not too much to ask for, is it?