Key Points
- Gen Z’s return to movie theaters points to a hunger for shared, embodied experiences in a screen-heavy age.
- Convenience can be helpful, but it cannot fully replace presence, community, and gathering with others.
- God created people for relationship, not isolation, and shared experiences can remind us of that design.
- Stories experienced together can help us laugh, grieve, empathize, wonder, and pay attention more deeply.
- Christians can respond by practicing presence, creating opportunities for connection, and making room for beauty and wonder.
Why Is Gen Z Returning to Movie Theaters?
According to Cineplex’s CEO, Ellis Jacob, Gen Z is tired of small screens and ready to return to theaters; young people are craving embodied, communal experiences in a digital age. Though streaming and phones may offer convenience, they cannot fully replace the joy of gathering with others, paying attention together, and being swept into a story on a larger scale. Especially as Christians, what does our need for presence, community, beauty, and shared wonder reveal about God's creation of us for one another? Maybe we’re tired of watching (and living) alone?
After seeing substantial profits and higher overall revenues from box-office hits like The Odyssey and Michael, Jacob believes Gen Z is returning to physical theaters because they’re tired of consuming entertainment on phones, laptops, and screens. “They’re tired of looking at the small screen. They’re going out on a social basis and having a good time, and that to me is very positive,” Jacob told The Hollywood Reporter.
While streaming devices at home or on the go are still convenient, relatively inexpensive, and available 24/7, something else happens when people leave their homes, go out, and experience a physical setting. Strangers laugh together, audiences gasp, everyone temporarily puts their phones away (or for the most part), and hundreds of people focus on one story at the same time. But maybe the appeal isn’t the movie they’re watching, but that they’re sharing a moment in time with others. And could that hint at a deeper importance for how God made us?
Why Were We Never Designed to Live in Isolation?
As much as I love my alone time, or introverts enjoy moments of solitude, God didn’t create us to do life alone. Even when Adam enjoyed time with God in the Garden, we can trace our need for companionship back to Genesis 2:18. Looking around, we see that everything God created was good. And yet, when he saw that not one was exactly like Adam, he said, “It’s not good for the man to be alone.” That’s not because God made a mistake, but because He provided exactly what we lacked.
From the beginning, God created humanity for relationship. Not because all isolation and time alone is bad, but because when endured for too long, it goes against something fundamental about our design. Sadly, technology has made it possible to experience nearly everything in this life without physically ever being near someone. Just look around.
We can watch movies, order food, shop online, and communicate without ever seeing someone face-to-face. This is a great convenience, but it can also remove what once nourished us: connection through relationships and community. Getting online is easy, but is it really the same thing as being physically present with someone else in the room?
What Happens When We Experience a Story Together?
In Romans 12:15, we read: “Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.” What I love about this passage is that we, as humans, have been uniquely created to respond naturally to others' situations and emotions. By design, God comforts us so we can, in turn, comfort others (2 Corinthians 1:4). Watching a movie in a theater is just one example that illustrates this principle well.
As we sit back in our comfy chairs and gaze at the screen before us, the presence of others provides a shared emotional occasion. We can hear people laughing and sniffling away their tears. We can feel their energy when suspense rises, or when something scares us. Even an entire room full of chatter grows quiet as something profound hits us. But this is why storytelling matters so much.
While each of our lives tells a story, how much more impactful is that story when we share it with others? Through these accounts, we learn to empathize, respond, laugh, and cry. We grieve and rejoice. We see someone else’s response and point of view. Life is felt much more deeply when we don’t experience it in isolation.
Do Our Phones Keep Us from Being Fully Present?
Over the last two decades, technology, phones, and streaming devices have given us remarkable opportunities to grow, learn, adapt, and do more than we ever could have imagined. It’s quick, convenient, and flexible. We have so many reasons to be thankful!
However, technology, like any other good gift, must be exercised with caution. Constant digital consumption doesn’t just consume us; it can train us to always be on, to continuously multitask, scroll, or check notifications while doing other tasks, and to have a low tolerance for silence. Watching a movie in a theater is just one example of something that asks us to do something different.
Instead of multitasking, we’re forced to zoom in. Instead of scrolling or looking at our phone during commercials, we’re present with those around us. Not only do we receive a story more fully, but we also share that experience with someone besides ourselves. When was the last time you gave something, someone, or even God your full attention without simultaneously checking something else?
Why Does Gathering Still Matter for Christians?
While the Scriptures don’t always give us exact advice for modern-day questions like these, they do remind us of biblical practices that are still relevant.
In Hebrews 10:24-25, we see that gathering with others is considered a great way to share the fellowship of Christ: “Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together.”
This passage is specifically about Christian communities and not movie theaters, but the principle is the same. God doesn’t intend for us to practice our faith alone.
Church does obviously give us something that a movie theater screen can’t: we’re ushered into the physical presence of shared worship, encouragement, love, prayer, and care. Our relationships and community go beyond the two hours of a film. While a movie theater isn’t church, both spaces encourage us to seek our deeper human need for connection. And when we connect over shared wonder, from church pews to movie theater chairs, these things are good for our souls.
Philippians 4:8 says it this way: “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things” (NIV).
As God’s creation, all of us have the capacity to appreciate beauty. The question is whether we’re taking time to be aware of it. From art to music, storytelling, nature, and creativity, we can consider what we’re allowing to shape our imagination. Is what we’re consuming (or not consuming) making us more attentive to what’s true, lovely, pure, and admirable, or further away from those qualities?
Why Do Shared Experiences Help Us Feel Like We Belong?
Beyond entertainment, the return to theaters shows us a deep hunger: We all just want to belong. To share memories and this life with someone special. We wish to hold memories and share traditions. To invest in deep conversations and be part of something bigger than ourselves.
Things like going to the movies with friends, hosting a family movie night, or even listening to a friend deep in conversation are all great ways to connect. But how can we as Christians go one step further? What can we learn and apply from the desire to gather?
If you’re itching to make a difference in your community, try creating more opportunities for connection. Instead of waiting for them to come to you, go to them. Invite people over. Host a movie night. Take a walk with a friend. Go to church. Invest in those around you.
Then, remember to put the phone away. I’m not saying it has to be all the time, but practice being fully present. When others are talking, when you’re doing a simple task, or even when you’re just by yourself. It’s good to practice mindful awareness not because phones are bad, but because people deserve our attention.
Next, choose to share your experiences. Instead of just sending texts or reels, personally reach out and strive to make a connection. Offer to watch a movie together, or do something in person. Turn consumption into connection.
Finally, make room for wonder. Instead of filling every space with noise or your phone's entertainment, go outside. Look at the sky. See a play. Watch a movie. Walk through a museum. Pay attention. And thank God for the beauty around you. Be more aware. Stop multitasking and do one thing at a time.
These steps can’t guarantee that you’ll build community, but they show us that to expect change, we have to be willing to show up. Seeing movies in the theater is a great way to start this cultivation, but what if we took it one step further?
How Can Christians Choose Presence Over Convenience?
You and I were made to experience this life together, far beyond the temporary entertainment of movie theater screens.
We can stream shows in our leisure, communicate online, and carry music in our ears, but remember to take time to gather. What we desire can only be found and fulfilled through true connection with God and others. So laugh with others. Be moved by a story together. Share and create memories.
Convenience will always be there. But presence gives us one another. Scripture reminds us that’s by design. We don’t need to abandon technology. We just need to remember what it teaches us. Maybe our hunger for something more is just a reminder that the God who created us made us not just for consumption but for experience, together.
Prayer
Dear Jesus, thank you so much for creating us for community. Please forgive us when we try to trade this gift for the convenience and ease of distraction. Please show us how to connect with those around us and give us hunger for a meaningful satisfaction that lasts. Teach us to notice the beauty around us and give us your wisdom. We love, praise, and thank you, Jesus. Thank you that we don’t have to do this life alone. Amen.
Agape, Amber
Frequently Asked Questions about Gen Z, Movie Theaters, and Shared Experience
- Why is Gen Z returning to movie theaters?
Cineplex CEO Ellis Jacob says Gen Z is tired of small screens and is returning to theaters for social, shared, and larger-than-life entertainment experiences. - What do movie theaters offer that streaming cannot fully replace?
Movie theaters offer embodied presence, shared attention, communal reactions, and the experience of being swept into a story with others. - Why do Christians care about shared experience?
Christians care about shared experience because God created people for relationship, community, fellowship, worship, and life together rather than isolation. - Are phones and streaming bad?
No. Phones and streaming can be useful gifts, but they should not replace presence, attention, worship, friendship, hospitality, and embodied community. - How can Christians practice presence in a distracted age?
Christians can practice presence by putting phones away, gathering with others, inviting people in, sharing experiences, noticing beauty, and giving full attention to God and neighbor.
For Further Reading
- Why Is it Not Good for Man to Be Alone? (Genesis 2:18)
- What Does the Bible Say about Community?
- 6 Reasons Community Is Vital in Every Christian Life
- Phone-Free Concerts and Being Present
- How to Guard Your Mind in the Digital Age
Photo Credit: Getty Images/Jacob Ammentorp Lund
