Episode
These Movies Finally Got Gen Z Into Theaters
- Podcast
- The Journal.
- Published
- Jun 12, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 1255
- Processing state
not_requested- Canonical source
- https://pdst.fm/e/traffic.megaphone.fm/WSJ4913618520.mp3
Actions
POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-journal-547598/episodes/backrooms-turns-an-online-obsession-into-box-office-gold/transcription-requests
Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-journal-547598/backrooms-turns-an-online-obsession-into-box-office-gold.md
Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.
Summary
Two scrappy horror films are taking Hollywood by surprise. “Backrooms” and “Obsession” have wildly exceeded expectations at the box office. Both spring from internet culture and have brought an unprecedented numbers of Gen Z-ers into theaters. WSJ's Ben Fritz explains what this new wave means for the movie business. Jessica Mendoza hosts. Further Listening: - Why Hollywood Can't Find Good Scripts - Hollywood Jobs Are Disappearing Sign up for WSJ’s free What’s News newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices