***Spoiler Alert!!!! This post contains plot details for several recent films. As with all media, I recommend you do your research on ratings and content to decide what you're comfortable watching.***
At first blush, a mega-hit, a niche film, and a kids' movie might not seem to have much in common, or even much to offer an audience. Top Gun: Maverick has corny lines, a Star Wars-eque plot, and is a sequel over thirty years late. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is a silly heist/adventure story based on-- wait for it-- a tabletop role playing game. The Super Mario Bros. Movie is a thinly plotted animated romp based on a 1980s video game.
In a world growing weary of monolithic superhero stories and the endless parade of IP cash grabs, you'd think audiences would snub theaters for these films too. Not to mention, one might argue that streaming can offer the same but better at home: cheaper tickets, endless bathroom breaks, and yes, fresh hot-buttered popcorn if you're willing to make it yourself. No need to sit in chilly theatre for three hours with all those strangers. The coughing, the cross-talk, the cell phones! Hard pass, yes?
And yet, the box office tells a different story.
In 2022, Top Gun: Maverick earned a record-breaking $718,732,821 in the US domestic box office, and according to Steven Spielberg may have "saved the theatrical industry" from post-COVID collapse, Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves has earned $83,674,202 domestic since its release on March 31, 2023 (as of 4/28/2023) and outperformed John Wick 4 on its debut weekend, despite alienating its core fan base only months earlier in the OGL "One DND" controversy. The Super Mario Bros. Movie has grossed $447,048,155 domestic since opening April 5, 2023 (as of 4/28/2023) and set records for the "largest global opening ever for an animated film" according to ABC news.
It's no secret that the economy is in rough shape. Inflation is sky-high, supply chains are clogged, and the world seems like a dangerous place. Why are people willing to fork over their hard-earned cash to go see a movie in a theatre, sometimes for repeat viewings, especially now?
THE SET-UP: ESCAPE
And what, exactly, is now?
According to Generations and The Fourth Turning by William Strauss and Neil Howe, our current time period is a Crisis Era (2008-present), the fourth "turning" or season of the revolving generational saeculum that occurs throughout American History. By Strauss and Howe's reasoning, we can look at previous iterations of the Crisis Era to learn about our own. And what was the most recent Crisis Era? The Great Depression and World War II, from 1929-1946.
It's interesting to look at the Great Depression's parallels to today, especially since those were the core years of the Golden Age of Cinema. Studios and theaters were in upheaval as their customer bases shifted and their corporations were restructured (sound familiar?). And yet, people still found enough change in their pockets to see a movie (for the warmth, the company, and maybe even the free dishes), and studios figured out how to tell stories that kept them coming, week after week.
So what sort of stories resonated with the Great Depression audience? According to Britannica and Best Movies by Farr, it was musicals, romances, and screwball comedies, many of which gave a voyeuristic but ironic glimpse into the lives of the rich. Lush productions with sumptuous visuals and set pieces captured the imagination and allowed a brief escape from the harsh realities of Hard Times. It's no wonder that the thrill of flying in a fighter jet with Maverick, beating up bad guys and casting magic spells with your favorite D&D avatars, or driving over the Technicolor rainbow with Mario and Princess Peach on a Dorothy-in-Oz adventure brings people back to the theatre. And with plenty of laughs and a happy ending comes hope for the self and a better future, something everyone wishes for now more than ever.
THE CONFRONTATION: RELATE
Gen X nostalgia cannot be overestimated. Given the chance to relive their adolescence from the 1970s to the 1980s, these middle-aged adults, who are now in their prime earning years, will slide a quarter in the slot every time. But nostalgia is a complex thing; it's both a form of grieving for the past and a way of handing down values to the next generation. That’s why each of these films is precisely calibrated to speak to Generation X and its successors.
The first thing these films do well is respect the audience. From cameos and deep cuts in Top Gun: Maverick to an 80s top hits soundtrack in The Super Mario Bros. Movie, the message is clear: these films will never shame Gen X for loving their past. Even Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves gets a perfectly unironic treatment as a play-worthy campaign that honors its nearly 50 years of lore and rewards fans of the 1980s cartoon with a sweet Easter egg.
Second, the films have speak to generational archetypes. Generation X (NOMAD archetype) characters Maverick and Penny deal with loneliness and a risk-taking past; Edgin and Holga face the price of ambition and addiction. Millennial (HERO Archetype) characters deal with their conflicting competitive/team driven nature (Hangman, Phoenix) and overly conservative instincts (Rooster), or alternately demonstrate their need to prove themselves (Simon) and protect the environment (Doric). Meanwhile, Homelander/Gen Z (ARTIST archetype) characters are either precious, hidden, and silent (Kira), or plucky and ready for adventure even while working a full time vocational job (Mario and Luigi).
And finally, what’s the most remarkable is what these films aren’t: vulgar, highly sexualized, gratuitously violent, or full of woke-scold virtue signaling. Instead, Top Gun: Maverick actually *gasp* makes the American military look like heroes. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves allows the boy to court the girl. The Super Mario Bros. Movie lets the bad guy go to jail. For an audience that’s been told patriotism is evil, the male gaze is dangerous, and criminal prosecution is unjust, these films' outcomes actually seem radically old-fashioned.
THE RESOLUTION: LEARN
In Meet Me By The Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall, author Alexandra Lange traces the history of the shopping center to the 1950s, the era of sleek post-war suburban developments with paved roads, little box houses, and picket fences. These subdivisions were lovely, new, and modern, but they lacked one thing: a place to gather. In Lange's words, "Something essential to human nature had been missed: People love to be in public with other people" and the shopping mall was "the only structure designed to fill that need." (p. 4). I believe that this applies not only to malls, but to theaters.
If Lange is correct that shopping is more than a mere distraction and holds deep social meaning for humans, I think we can say the same for storytelling. Films are not simply entertainment; they are a method of transmitting the values and wisdom that shape a culture. They are a public performance intended as a group viewing, just like the stage plays and fireside tales that have preceded them. The filmmakers who brought Top Gun: Maverick, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, andThe Super Mario Bros. Movie to the screen seem to understand that their message and delivery need to be desirable to a Gen X audience as the core, but also palatable for the extension of Gen X: their children.
That’s why family, found or biological, plays such a big part in each of these stories. Maverick and Penny form a finally lasting bond that will include Penny's daughter Amelia, and Maverick steps into the surrogate father role for Rooster. Bard Edgin is able to get back his daughter Kira and save her surrogate mother, Holga the Barbarian. Mario and Luigi save Brooklyn, the Mushroom Kingdom, and their plumbing business, not as individuals but as brothers. The message is clear: we need each other, not just to win, but to live.
It’s almost as if, in a world of burgeoning AI and isolation, these filmmakers have stumbled across an old truth: “It is not good for the man to be alone.” And the good news about truth is this: it brings life, hope, and freedom. The question is, are we willing to accept the truth and the responsibilities that come with it?
It’s a question only you can answer for yourself.