Hollywood might be obsessed with influencers, but Gen Z and Gen Alpha would prefer to watch a complete unknown on screen.
A new UCLA study found that just 16.8% of young people would cast an influencer in a movie or TV show — sorry MrBeast! Instead, nearly 40% would rather see a newcomer, like a pre-“Obsession” Inde Navarrette, above the title than even an A-lister, which might help explain why the Tom Cruise-led “Digger” dropped to 16th place in its second week in theaters.
The Center for Scholars & Storytellers’ annual Teens and Screens Report, which surveyed more than 1,500 people ages 10 to 24, offers some other potentially sobering news for Hollywood: Young audiences increasingly say YouTube, TikTok and even AI-generated content qualify as “storytelling.” In fact, YouTube ranked as their No. 1 storytelling medium at 72.9%, edging out TV shows (70.3%) and movies (70.2%).
“Young audiences want fresh faces, not familiar follower counts,” says Yalda Uhls, senior author of the study. “More would cast an unknown actor than a star, and almost none want an influencer. Our Youth Media Representation teens say it best: they want to see themselves, not the same celebrities on repeat.”
Still, reports of cinema’s death may be greatly exaggerated. For the third straight year, seeing a new movie in a theater was respondents’ top choice for a weekend activity, if money and logistics weren’t an issue.
As for what teens want to see once they hit the multiplex? Apparently, less romance. More than 57% want greater representation of platonic relationships, while 56.8% said they’d like to see opposite-gender friends remain friends rather than inevitably hook up.
Hopeful stories about people beating the odds topped the wish list. (That’s good news for next month’s “I Play Rocky”!) That theme was followed by friendships and characters with relatable lives. Superheroes ranked fifth, while partying, drugs and drinking finished dead last. (This summer’s “Supergirl” managed to mash up teens, superheroes, partying and drinking in an ill-advised cocktail.)
Meanwhile, 55% want more neurodivergent characters onscreen. Studios may want to up their game on that front considering that only 2.8% of speaking or named characters in the top 100 movies of 2025 had a disability. And the Dustin Hoffman “Rainman” casting no longer flies with teens. Only 22.7% of respondents believe that current media portrayals of neurodivergence “ring true to real life” most of the time.