Film studios turn to Roblox and Minecraft to attract young moviegoers

Surrounded by virtual cliffs and a cascade cascade, Dragon Riders on the massive online game platform of Roblox immerses itself in a memorable scene of “How to Train Your Dragon”.

In the sequence, the young Viking hiccup handed his hand to touch toy, the black dragon with green eyes he feared.

After the players have fed enough digital fish, their avatars stretched out to caress the dragon, imitating the clip for the film Universal Pictures – a remake of the DreamWorks Animation box office. Then they jump and fly on the dragon to an island where they can look at the trailer.

For Annabelle Barone, 21, the formation of a virtual dragon is an experience that she will remember.

“It just makes me want to see [the new movie] Even more, ”said Barone, who plans to see the film with friends.

The Southern California College student expressed her enthusiasm for the franchise on the X social media site by sharing images of her avatar to caress and pilot the dragon to Roblox. Barone, known as Robuilds Online, creates YouTube videos on her Roblox experiences and has had a general public on various social media platforms and Roblox.

The game on Roblox, an online platform where people can play and create their own virtual experiences, is only a way in which film studios such as Universal Pictures, Lionsgate and Warner Bros. Reach young people such as Barone before a film arrives at theaters. By creating immersive experiences and selling cinema tickets grouped together with exclusive goods, the studios operate places where adolescents and young adults are lying online.

The game “How to Train Your Dragon” on Roblox has more than 28 million visits. During the weekend, the film collected $ 83.7 million in ticket sales in the United States and Canada, exceeding expectations. Globally, the film brought up $ 197.8 million.

“You have to combine the tactile, the emotional and the virtual,” said Paul Dergarabedian, an analyst of the senior media at the Comscre entertainment database. “This is what intelligent marketing does today to make cinema as relevant, or more relevant for young people than ever before.”

Cinema studios and cinemas have faced obstacles in recent years, including Strikes Hollywood, the Covid-19 pandemic and the rise of streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. The growing attention of consumers was added by Tiktok, YouTube and video games, including Roblox based in San Mateo, California.

The growing quantity of videos published online and other entertainment options means that it is more difficult than ever to attract people’s attention.

And yet, Gen Z leads to an impulse at the box office and was a “critical public for cinema in the past three years”, according to a report by the National Research Group, a market research company.

About 37% of generation Z has seen more than six films in the theater in the past year, compared to 29% in 2023, showed more than 3 200 American American. The group defines generation Z as people aged 12 to 27.

Barone, the Roblox player, is on the right track to see around 10 films in theaters this year, she said.

“I went alone, but it’s more fun to have a friend with you,” she said.

About 51% of the hearing to “how to train your dragon” were family groups, and 27% of moviegoers were under 13 years old, according to enttellite data.

The game is the “new youth culture center”, offering studios a way to dive fans in films before their release in the theater, said Todd Lichten, head of entertainment partnerships at Roblox. On average, Roblox users spend 2 1/2 hours on the platform per day. Roblox, a popular platform among children and adolescents, has 97.8 million users who visit it daily.

“They are not only trying to create this passive experience that they can recreate on other platforms,” ​​said Lichten. “They seek to bring our players together in a way that will be authentic [intellectual property]But also rally them around something that has a real objective of the community. »»

Sawhorse Productions, a creative agency and a production company in Los Angeles, created games for “How to Train Your Dragon”, “Wicked”, “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” and others in Roblox. He also worked on “Sinners: Survive The Night”, a game within Fortnite, another massive online game platform, based on the successful horror film.

Roblox said it was successful by reaching young cinema fans. The Roblox game based on “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” from 2024, which included a virtual fandango biennic where players could buy cinema tickets, awareness of the leaving theater and the intention to visit the theater, said a case study by Roblox.

Nic Hill, co-founder and chief of innovation at Sawhorse Productions, said that developers design games so as to return users. In the Roblox game “How to Train Your Dragon”, new challenges, dragons and virtual objects, including the Viking hats, appear before the film’s release.

“You get this longer commitment and reasons to continue to visit and commit yourself further than play it once,” he said.

Universal Pictures refused to comment.

Days before “how to train your dragon”. Minecraft I also promoted a virtual experience based on the film.

PG-classified family films were successful this year, fueling sales in the world. “A Minecraft film”, based on popular video games, exceeded $ 951 million at the world box office. Viral moments on social networks have helped stimulate the Fandom for the film. Videos of young moviegoers applauding and throwing popcorn in theaters when the term “chicken jockey” is shouted in the film accumulated millions of views on Tiktok.

The film studios turn to Tiktok for marketing purposes. Before the release of the spin-off “John Wick” “Ballerina”, Lionsgate has teamed up with the social media platform to sell tickets to the film on Tiktok Shop. Lionsgate has brought together film tickets with posters and continental pieces, promoting sales by broadcasting a “ballerina” event on social networks live.

“Tiktok is home to a dynamic community of moviegoers and cinema enthusiasts who discover and engage with new titles and cultural moments,” said Reia Davidson, vertical media and entertainment director at Tiktok, in a press release.

Tiktok users are more than 44% more likely to go to cinemas than non-users, making it another precious place for movie studios to create buzz around a film, the social media said last year.

This is not just new releases, film studios are trying to promote through games and social media. Lionsgate worked with Roblox to sell virtual film goods for one of his biggest franchises, “Twilight”. Roblox users can buy a package that includes a code to download the 2008 “Twilight” film, a digital film t-shirt and another element, such as a virtual amulet.

Jen Brown, executive vice-president of Lionsgate and chief of world products and experiences, said that young fans wanted to engage with films in different ways. Social games and media are the place where they socialize.

“While we are thinking about how we want to expand our content in the world, it is really important to be part of this community construction process, and we let fans have fun,” she said.