Should cinemas start showing "sludge content" to appeal to kids?

IDKFA

I am Become Bilbo Baggins
This isn't my idea.

My sister and my son were having this conversation last week to think of ways to get more Gen Z and Gen Alpha into cinemas.

First, if you're not aware what this is (I wasn't) sludge content is a trend where short videos on say TikTok or YT Shorts, show two things at once — like a Family Guy clip on one side and something random (like people cutting cake or playing Minecraft) on the other.

It's designed to Grab your attention quickly keep you watching longer and trigger your brain with constant stimulation

For example



It appears to be very popular with the younger generation, so my sister and my son had this "brilliant" idea to use the same trend in cinemas to get more kids in seats.

Imagine watching Oppenheimer on IMAX, and in the top half of the screen you have the film playing as normal, but in the bottom half of the screen there's a guy cutting soap or someone speed-running Minecraft. Boom — Gen Alpha locked in. Apparently, kids would be all over this and it would boost box office numbers.

I hated the idea, but they thought of a way round this to "please boomers" where there would be special Gen Aplha screenings. In this screenings as well as the sludge content, all the lights would be on, kids could use their phones, talk, scream and "rizz it up" as they please.

I think this is a step too far, but maybe I'm too old to get it and this is the way forward for the film industry. What do you think?
 
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Mike Myers No GIF
 
I will present you with an even more revolutionary idea: how about making good movies again?

Good movies are still being made.

That's not going to get Gen Alpha in cinemas. A lot of them low attention and can't focus on a film without some other engagement.

Having a Gen Alpha screening would appeal to that generation. Especially if they could talk, scream, use their phones, etc during the movie.

I wouldn't go to such a screening, but it probably would be a success
 
They are. Original movies with good acting and no hero capes present.

Guess what? No one's watching them. No one's talking about them. And kids don't care.

100% this.

Fantastic movies are coming out regularly. No one is watching them. Instead they're complaining about the new Marvel movie and then going to see it anyway.
 
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They are. Original movies with good acting and no hero capes present.

Guess what? No one's watching them. No one's talking about them. And kids don't care.

But those movies are not for kids.

My point is most blockbusters suck. And they do because they aren't "cinema", they are "products" made with a certain template to cater to that audience, precisely. They fail because even that audience can see they are shit.

Good movies are still being made.

That's not going to get Gen Alpha in cinemas. A lot of them low attention and can't focus on a film without some other engagement.

Having a Gen Alpha screening would appeal to that generation. Especially if they could talk, scream, use their phones, etc during the movie.

I wouldn't go to such a screening, but it probably would be a success

The kind of audience you are describing doesnt want to watch a movie, the same as many people dont want to read a book. I can say this as a writer myself. I dont lower the level of my craft to catter to people who are not interested in the first place. I try finding my audience by making a GENUINE good fiction. Let's stop treating people as if they were retards. They are not. Give them quality and they will appreciate it. If they dont, it's because it's not their thing and that's fine.

What you are suggesting, though in good faith, is truly disrespectful towards good and legit creators and really harmful to the industry, and it's already happening. Many scrip-writters bear that in mind and make movies for people who dont pay attention. As a result, movies are regurgitated template-tailored trash, mostly.
 
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The kind of audience you are describing doesnt want to watch a movie,

All the more reason to give them the option to watch a screening that has sludge content. They'd be interested then.


Let's stop treating people as if they were retards. They are not.

I know they're not retarded. They're just different. They consume content in a different way. I know some of my son's friends who can't watch a film without using their phone at the same time. They get too anxious. They also don't read books because it's too "hard" so ask Chat GPT to summarise the book for them.

These people need to be catered to.

What you are suggesting, though in good faith, is truly disrespectful towards good and legit creators

Wild idea here, but what if film directors also made the sludge content to go with the film?
 
Imagine watching Oppenheimer on IMAX, and in the top half of the screen you have the film playing as normal, but in the bottom half of the screen there's a guy cutting soap or someone speed-running Minecraft. Boom — Gen Alpha locked in. Apparently, kids would be all over this and it would boost box office numbers.

I love the enthusiasm, but...

We already have this. It's more specifically described as, "The kid in the row in front of me is scrolling [garbage-content social-media app name] with his/her phone at full brightness," while film is playing. One of the "cardinal" reasons I only go to Alamo Drafthouse to see films, at present, is: they stop that shit posthaste...usually without a comment from me. No IMAX, unfortunately, but most advertised as "IMAX" films aren't, so I'm not missing out on much.

In regard to sludge content (I did not know what this was, neither - and am not necessarily happy I now do, but thanks for the education), cinemas simply need to show more "old" movies, which cater to geezers like me. You? Me? We're the audience. I can (and will) see Jaws (1975) at Alamo (apologies for being a shill). The younger people (broad generalization incoming) are simply not interested in film/movies. I don't think theaters can fix that.

As previously mentioned, there are good films being released right now...the "sludge" kiddos are not going to propel those to success. They should stay at home.

The larger AMCs, Regals (is Regal still a thing?), and what have you just need to get more creative with their partnerships and programming. Show the season premier episode of a tv series, put football matches on the screen, etc. SERVE ALCOHOL.

Give us (the older crowd) a reason to go out. I'm not sure what you're rocking in the living room, but given home entertainment devices, pausing a movie to take a piss, and, "the beer in the fridge cost me one dollar," there's a calculus to whether "going to the movies" is even worth it. Bottom line: I think the younger generation is a lost cause in terms of this "product." It's unfortunate, but it is what it is.
 
I know they're not retarded. They're just different. They consume content in a different way. I know some of my son's friends who can't watch a film without using their phone at the same time. They get too anxious. They also don't read books because it's too "hard" so ask Chat GPT to summarise the book for them.


The problem IMO is that these behaviors should NOT be encouraged. Because they lead to losing intellectual skills. So, if some kids are showing a lack of attitudes and skills, you have to go in the opposite direction and fight against that. If my son needs a fucking AI to understand a book, sorry, the solution is not changing the publishing industry but to "make kids smart again". And for that, books or movies should be interesting.

In the gaming industry, a guy named Miyazaki proved everyone wrong when he went against every convention of his times and created the Souls subgenre. If he had come up with a similar to yours, today we would miss lot of masterpieces, just for pandering to the lowest common factor.

So, the problem is not the movies or books. The problem is a society that is messing people up by promoting a maluse of technology which is damaging mental health. We shouldn't pretend this is "the new normal" and instead fight it.
 
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I know they're not retarded. They're just different. They consume content in a different way. I know some of my son's friends who can't watch a film without using their phone at the same time. They get too anxious. They also don't read books because it's too "hard" so ask Chat GPT to summarise the book for them.
It's terrifying how fucked up this is if true.
Why on earth would you want to pander to this and just accept it?
It's really not OK.
 
they do because they aren't "cinema", they are "products" made with a certain template to cater to that audience, precisely. They fail because even that audience can see they are shit.
The primary difference between then and now is that the people who watched movies like TMNT 2/3, Spawn, Batman and Robin/Forever, Robocop 3, Space Jam, etc. grew up, so the nostalgia ran out.

I'm sure most of our parents were savvy that these movies were mediocre and were meant to sell toys and songs, same with franchises from the 2000s like Transformers, and G.I. Joe, same in the 2010s with TMNT, Jurassic World, more Transformers, same in the 2020s with Sonic, Mario, and Godzilla/Kong. It goes on and on.

The only thing I can actually credit to this generation is the insistence of recycling the same handful of I.P. ad nauseum. The rest has been business as usual. Adding any further elements to a movie, especially social-related ones, is simply an attempt to get more audiences to buy more toys because they were extremely successful in doing this years ago (and people barely realize this).
 
The problem IMO is that these behaviors should NOT be encouraged. Because they lead to losing intellectual skills. So, if some kids are showing a lack of attitudes and skills, you have to go in the opposite direction and fight against that. If my son needs a fucking AI to understand a book, sorry, the solution is not changing the publishing industry but to "make kids smart again". And for that, books or movies should be interesting.

In the gaming industry, a guy named Miyazaki proved everyone wrong when he went against every convention of his times and created the Souls subgenre. If he had come up with a similar to yours, today we would miss lot of masterpieces, just for pandering to the lowest common factor.

So, the problem is not the movies or books. The problem is a society that is messing people up by promoting a maluse of technology which is damaging mental health. We shouldn't pretend this is "the new normal" and instead fight it.

I agree.

However, changes are already being made in other areas to accommodate for the newer generations. Colleges and universities in the US and UK (I assume other parts of the world as well) are reporting that students struggle to read a book. I read in The Times a while ago where a Oxford professor was quoted as saying that students used to be able to read three books a week, but now they struggle to read one book in three weeks!

The article is online, but locked behind a pay wall, but here is a similar article that covers the subject.


Of course, reading a book is more taxing on the brain than watching a film, but if this trend continues then I can see future generations being unable to sit through a two hour film.

Luckily my son isn't part of this group. Although he had this dumb idea with my sister, he is a regular cinema attendee and book reader, but that's only because my wife and I have brought him up like this. We're big readers and film buffs and got him into reading and films from an early age, and thankfully he still has a decent attention span........for now.

I love the enthusiasm, but...

We already have this. It's more specifically described as, "The kid in the row in front of me is scrolling [garbage-content social-media app name] with his/her phone at full brightness," while film is playing. One of the "cardinal" reasons I only go to Alamo Drafthouse to see films, at present, is: they stop that shit posthaste...usually without a comment from me. No IMAX, unfortunately, but most advertised as "IMAX" films aren't, so I'm not missing out on much.

In regard to sludge content (I did not know what this was, neither - and am not necessarily happy I now do, but thanks for the education), cinemas simply need to show more "old" movies, which cater to geezers like me. You? Me? We're the audience. I can (and will) see Jaws (1975) at Alamo (apologies for being a shill). The younger people (broad generalization incoming) are simply not interested in film/movies. I don't think theaters can fix that.

As previously mentioned, there are good films being released right now...the "sludge" kiddos are not going to propel those to success. They should stay at home.

The larger AMCs, Regals (is Regal still a thing?), and what have you just need to get more creative with their partnerships and programming. Show the season premier episode of a tv series, put football matches on the screen, etc. SERVE ALCOHOL.

Give us (the older crowd) a reason to go out. I'm not sure what you're rocking in the living room, but given home entertainment devices, pausing a movie to take a piss, and, "the beer in the fridge cost me one dollar," there's a calculus to whether "going to the movies" is even worth it. Bottom line: I think the younger generation is a lost cause in terms of this "product." It's unfortunate, but it is what it is.

Showing older films at the cinema is a great idea.

Not only would it appeal to older generations, but might appeal to younger generations as well who missed out on seeing a certain film on the big screen.

Even at the age of 40, there are many films that I missed out on at the cinema that'd I pay to see on the big screen (Godfather, Predator, Amadeus and Ran are a few that come to mind)
 
I agree.

However, changes are already being made in other areas to accommodate for the newer generations. Colleges and universities in the US and UK (I assume other parts of the world as well) are reporting that students struggle to read a book. I read in The Times a while ago where a Oxford professor was quoted as saying that students used to be able to read three books a week, but now they struggle to read one book in three weeks!

The article is online, but locked behind a pay wall, but here is a similar article that covers the subject.


Of course, reading a book is more taxing on the brain than watching a film, but if this trend continues then I can see future generations being unable to sit through a two hour film.

Luckily my son isn't part of this group. Although he had this dumb idea with my sister, he is a regular cinema attendee and book reader, but that's only because my wife and I have brought him up like this. We're big readers and film buffs and got him into reading and films from an early age, and thankfully he still has a decent attention span........for now.



Showing older films at the cinema is a great idea.

Not only would it appeal to older generations, but might appeal to younger generations as well who missed out on seeing a certain film on the big screen.

Even at the age of 40, there are many films that I missed out on at the cinema that'd I pay to see on the big screen (Godfather, Predator, Amadeus and Ran are a few that come to mind)

Shit, dude if they did weekend screenings of the OT Star Wars Trilogy that alone would probably be novel enough to garner a steady cash flow, if only for a period of time.
 
Showing older films at the cinema is a great idea.

Not only would it appeal to older generations, but might appeal to younger generations as well who missed out on seeing a certain film on the big screen.

Even at the age of 40, there are many films that I missed out on at the cinema that'd I pay to see on the big screen (Godfather, Predator, Amadeus and Ran are a few that come to mind)
Not sure where you live but there are Matinee theaters around that do this. Some of them still have the old school 'movies listed on the building' design along with interiors that look retro (these are just sample pictures but they look like the below):


k05ow6qjf78f1.jpeg

going-to-cinemark-theaters-v0-9jeahz1x09yb1.jpg
 
Not sure where you live but there are Matinee theaters around that do this. Some of them still have the old school 'movies listed on the building' design along with interiors that look retro (these are just sample pictures but they look like the below):


k05ow6qjf78f1.jpeg

going-to-cinemark-theaters-v0-9jeahz1x09yb1.jpg

UK

Cineworld (chain of UK cinemas) sometimes throw on a classic film, but it's very rare.

It's something that needs to happen more often. Either that or we need to see a rise in Indy cinemas that show a lot of older films.
 
UK

Cineworld (chain of UK cinemas) sometimes throw on a classic film, but it's very rare.

It's something that needs to happen more often. Either that or we need to see a rise in Indy cinemas that show a lot of older films.

March Climber March Climber

I take it back.

Just had a look at the Cineworld website and this month they are going all out.

They have all the Xmen movies, all of Nolan's films (including the Dark Knight Trilogy) and Jaws for the 50th anniversary.

Booking tickets for Logan and Interstellar now!
 
I know some of my son's friends who can't watch a film without using their phone at the same time. They get too anxious. They also don't read books because it's too "hard" so ask Chat GPT to summarise the book for them.

These people need to be catered to.
That's indicative of a much deeper problem that needs to be corrected, not coddled. Having your brain unable to concentrate without a steady flow of noise pumped into it is going to cause major issues down the line.
 
No one would deny that motion pictures, or colloquially "movies", will be the primary visual art form for eternity. This is exactly the next evolution of it. Kids are going to find a ride to that dark movie theater, pile into the seats and put their phones away to watch that sludge content, deftly curated by middle aged women in California. Huzzah to another centennial of film!
 
No one would deny that motion pictures, or colloquially "movies", will be the primary visual art form for eternity. This is exactly the next evolution of it. Kids are going to find a ride to that dark movie theater, pile into the seats and put their phones away to watch that sludge content, deftly curated by middle aged women in California. Huzzah to another centennial of film!

In all seriousness, if you're going to mix a film with sludge content then you might as well allow the kids to use their phones, talk, "rizz" and whatever else they want to do. Make it a free for all. Allow everything except violence, drinking, smoking and drug taking. Besides that the screening is a free for all.

They tried this with the Minecraft movie. In normal screenings, kids were going wild at some scene with a chicken jockey (have I got that right?) and during this scene they stood up screaming threw popcorn and drinks in the air, crawled around the theater shouting, thrashed in their seats foaming at the mouth etc.

Rather than discourage this behaviour, some chains understood this was the new norm and embraced the chaos with special "Chicken Jockey" screenings. People were allowed to turn up dressed as their favourite Minecraft characters, shout, yelp, bark, scream, run around, dance in their seats etc.


That's something that cinemas need to embrace now with special Gen Alpha screenings of films.
 
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In all seriousness, if you're going to mix a film with sludge content then you might as well allow the kids to use their phones, talk, "rizz" and whatever else they want to do. Make it a free for all. Allow everything except violence, drinking, smoking and drug taking. Besides that the screening is a free for all.

They tried this with the Minecraft movie. In normal screenings, kids were going wild at some scene with a chicken jockey (have I got that right?) and during this scene they stood up screaming threw popcorn and drinks in the air, crawled around the theater shouting, thrashed in their seats foaming at the mouth etc.

Rather than discourage this behaviour, some chains understood this was the new norm and embraced the chaos with special "Chicken Jockey" screenings. People were allowed to turn up dressed as their favourite Minecraft characters, shout, yelp, bark, scream, run around, dance in their seats etc.


That's something that cinemas need to embrace now with special Gen Alpha screenings of films.
They had teenage dance clubs when I was a kid. Was always a problem because of parking lot creeps, even though adults weren't allowed in. Same shit when they tried to reopen the roller rink a few years ago here. Couple months of weekend teen nights and the parents had pitchforks and molotovs ready. It's a tough business.
 
It's terrifying how fucked up this is if true.
Why on earth would you want to pander to this and just accept it?
It's really not OK.

I think the example of the Minecraft movie above kinda shows how cinemas are willing to embrace it if it means more money in their pocket.
 
I agree.

However, changes are already being made in other areas to accommodate for the newer generations. Colleges and universities in the US and UK (I assume other parts of the world as well) are reporting that students struggle to read a book. I read in The Times a while ago where a Oxford professor was quoted as saying that students used to be able to read three books a week, but now they struggle to read one book in three weeks!

The article is online, but locked behind a pay wall, but here is a similar article that covers the subject.


Of course, reading a book is more taxing on the brain than watching a film, but if this trend continues then I can see future generations being unable to sit through a two hour film.

That was an interesting article. The most shocking thing however was a related fact the author commented on:

But it's not clear that instructors can foster a love of reading by thinning out the syllabus. Some experts I spoke with attributed the decline of book reading to a shift in values rather than in skill sets. Students can still read books, they argue—they're just choosing not to. Students today are far more concerned about their job prospects than they were in the past. Every year, they tell Howley that, despite enjoying what they learned in Lit Hum, they plan to instead get a degree in something more useful for their career.

The same factors that have contributed to declining enrollment in the humanities might lead students to spend less time reading in the courses they do take. A 2023 survey of Harvard seniors found that they spend almost as much time on jobs and extracurriculars as they do on academics. And thanks to years of grade inflation (in a recent report, 79 percent of Harvard grades were in the A range), college kids can get by without doing all of their assigned work.

Today's students find it impossible to finish books, can only manage shorter texts and articles, are constantly distracted, have a lower reading comprehension, a smaller vocabulary and yet manage to leave college with higher grades than they ever did before. No wonder kids today are the dumbest, worst educated and at the same time the most entitled ones.
 
We had a Friends movie, which made people stupid, Snow White, Joker: Folie à Deux, and they were all garbage. Why damage the brain more?


I'll say it without meaning to offend, but films from Russia, South Korea and Japan are more beautiful and have good values.
 
Sounds like the younger generation is a lost cause if they need this to stay engaged with a movie. Do all kids have autism now?!

They're not autistic, but Gen Z and Alpha are having a massive influence on the world.

Brainrot slang is now mainstream (did you know Rizz was the Oxford University word of the year in 2023?)

Education is adapting to accommodate the lower attention spans. Schools are breaking lessons into short, bite-sized content (think TikTok-style slides).

Entire conversions are being held with emojis, TikToks, memes, or 7-second videos.

They don't wait for elections. They mobilise via trends, memes, and mass unfollows and vibe checks.

Like it or not, these kids are the future and arguably on track to be the most influential generations in history.
 
They're not autistic, but Gen Z and Alpha are having a massive influence on the world.

Brainrot slang is now mainstream (did you know Rizz was the Oxford University word of the year in 2023?)

Education is adapting to accommodate the lower attention spans. Schools are breaking lessons into short, bite-sized content (think TikTok-style slides).

Entire conversions are being held with emojis, TikToks, memes, or 7-second videos.

They don't wait for elections. They mobilise via trends, memes, and mass unfollows and vibe checks.

Like it or not, these kids are the future and arguably on track to be the most influential generations in history.
Excuse me while I go seek out canadian health care
 
When this actually comes to pass you know that society is doomed.

Excuse me while I go seek out canadian health care

I think you're both being dramatic.

It would be optional.

You could still have the normal "old school" screenings where the lights are off, no phones allowed and just the movie plays on the screen.

But then there would be the separate Z/Alpha screenings with the sludge content, lights on and no rules except no violence, drugs, smoking and drinking
 
You are wasting your time, people born after a certain time likely grew up never having to invest into a lot of things.Enticing young people to go to the theater is no different than enticing them to go into a record store to buy music. It's going to be hard to put value back into these experiences after they have been made so frivolous.
 
First, if you're not aware what this is (I wasn't) sludge content is a trend where short videos on say TikTok or YT Shorts, show two things at once — like a Family Guy clip on one side and something random (like people cutting cake or playing Minecraft) on the other.

So that's why I see this absolutely retarded shit on my Facebook videos now. These kids are fucking retarded.
 
Imagine watching Oppenheimer on IMAX, and in the top half of the screen you have the film playing as normal, but in the bottom half of the screen there's a guy cutting soap or someone speed-running Minecraft. Boom — Gen Alpha locked in. Apparently, kids would be all over this and it would boost box office numbers.
So this is absolutely revolutionary application of multitasking to content? We were doing it 10 years ago with phone + TV combo. Also, it's fucking stupid (as is multitasking) so...

Happy The Thing GIF
 
Nope.

We do need to find some way to improve the relationship with our digitale devices and social media. That should be one of the major political topics. We need far more restrictions, as these devices slowly unravel the fabric of our societies.
 
It wouldn't surprise me to see it happen, unfortunately. Or that they start making (and specifically editing) films to provide more stimulation. These days a lot of people's attention spans are absolutely shot and it's not just the case for young people.

I think there's a lot of reasons why cinema attendance is down but that one is that for a lot of people sitting in a room for a few hours, focusing on one thing and not regularly checking their phone is an uncomfortable prospect.

Even at the age of 40, there are many films that I missed out on at the cinema that'd I pay to see on the big screen (Godfather, Predator, Amadeus and Ran are a few that come to mind)
You're in the U.K. too, right? Amadeus recently got a re-release with a 4k restoration. My local independent cinema was showing it. From a look around there are some places across the U.K. showing it today and in the coming days. You could check and see if one near you is. I also saw a screening of Ran about a month or so ago. It was incredible to see it on the big screen.
 
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I probably haven't been to a movie theater in over a decade. I own a large OLED with a decent surround sound system. There's zero reason for me to go to an overpriced cinema, buy overpriced food, and sit in an uncomfortable seat when I can watch a movie in the comfort of my own home, even if it means waiting a couple of weeks/months to see a new movie.

I don't think my opinion is uncommon.

Cinemas are dead; they just don't know it yet.

As for "sludge" content, we should reject that trash on every level and ridicule anyone who watches it, and especially people who create it.
 
Nope.

We do need to find some way to improve the relationship with our digitale devices and social media. That should be one of the major political topics. We need far more restrictions, as these devices slowly unravel the fabric of our societies.

I agree with this. We need to stop brainrot, but that's easier said than done. How do you solve the problems caused by social media and smart phones? Ban kids from using them?

Regardless, cinema chains will do whatever it takes to get bums in seats and I can see sludge content being an optional screening soon. I can also see them trying out other methods like allowing phones in certain screenings, and showing a screening not of a film, but a full NPC live stream.



Cinemas already screen music concerts and opera, so this seems like the next logical step to appeal to the younger generation.
 
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