Host: Paul McIntyre, Editor-At-Large

Ryan Gosling is not a goose - at least on which feature films to front. His new movie, Project Hail Mary, from Amazon-owned Hollywood studio MGM, has blasted to this year’s best opener at the Australian box office at the time of its release.

It’s pulling mum, dad, kids and even the grandparents into a co-viewing experience they no longer do much of but want - more than brands imagine. Yes, even the kids are saying that.

How weird.

Social researcher Matt Sandwell from The Owl Insights argues the potent and polarising forces of personal device proliferation, shrinking shared living spaces in homes (down 10 per cent collectively in a decade) and killer kids schedules – three-in-four kids under 10, have before or after school activities – has thrust shared family moments into “rarefied air”. And that’s before the uncertainty and craziness of multiple geopolitical flashpoints and civic restlessness is accounted for.

The irony in Sandwell’s latest research is that every generation wants more shared family moments but struggle to land them – 16-year-olds may be a global exception.

Mid-teen angst aside, it’s a serendipitous trendline for Val Morgan cinema boss Guy Burbidge. “This will be our fastest growing audience segment this year,” he says. “Last year has seen some huge numbers off the family unit coming back into cinema. Five of the top 10 titles at the box office last year were “all family” he says and family co-viewing experiences at the movies will lift 25 per cent in 2026 because Hollywood has clocked the sentiment and a string of top family viewing franchises are slated for the coming 12 months and beyond – think Super Mario, Minions, Toy Story and some.

Val Morgan commissioned Sandwell to go deep on the qualitative aspects of shared family moments – and he unearthed some gold in collective sentiment.

“So, the kind of big moral of the story for us in the research is these moments are harder to get than ever but the desire for them is greater than ever and cinema is one of the last and best places where people can get it. They recognise the benefits of connection, immersion and that kind of emotional depth that comes with the family.”

Burbidge is already seeing huge upside for some brands starting to tap the social need – retail, consumer goods and auto among them. But there’s still a lag for a market at large now hitched to “blunt reach, high level demographics [i.e. grocery buyers] and cost conversations,” Burbidge says. “At the moment, the market on the family trend is probably not thinking as deeply as we need to. They are bankable moments that the family understands. It’s providing some confidence and security in the world of algorithms about what is trusted. We’re seeing that audience on fire.”

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