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I want to discuss accessibility because it is the most important thing for making websites. Other A List Apart articles give you innovation and insight. This article will give you homework. These are just my personal views, but they’re pretty good.

I want to start off with a couple of statements, and you will agree:

1. Designers are good people. I have never heard a designer say, “I don’t care if somebody can’t read this text”, “Not my fault if somebody can’t use this device”, or “Who cares if this is confusing?”
2. Some designs exclude people. You have seen people unable to read the text on a website or app that somebody designed. You’ve seen people unable to use a physical device that somebody has designed. You’ve seen people utterly bamboozled while trying to use a service that somebody designed.

So what?

The first question is, “Is this life-or-death stuff?” The answer is, “Yes.” In my favorite essay, This Is All There Is, Aral Balkan makes the point that pretty much everything that we design can affect life events and death events. Aral gives the example of how even a straightforward bus timetable app can affect life and death events, if we design it badly:

• somebody might miss a life event, such as their daughter’s fifth birthday party; or
• somebody might miss a death event, such as the chance to say goodbye to a dying grandmother.

The next—and frustrating—question is, “Why do some designs still exclude people?” After all, we know that:

• not everybody can see perfectly;
• not everybody can hear perfectly;
• not everybody thinks the same way; and
• not everybody moves the same way.

I think the answer is that there’s too much to recall. Consider, if you will, the wide variety of topics that A List Apart articles cover. Designers are expected to remember all of that guidance, plus all of the accessibility guidance, plus so much more. It is too much.

Recognizing accessibility issues while designing

I’d like to point toward one possible solution, starting from Jakob Nielsen’s 10 Usability Heuristics for User Interface Design. These are from the mid-1990s, and—although there’s a good chance that you, gentle reader, are a lot younger than that—please bear with me. 

Seeing as the problem is that there’s too much to recall, I want to look at heuristic № 6, “Recognition rather than Recall.” Jakob Nielsen said that for users, information required to use the design should be visible or easily retrievable when needed. I suggest we tweak that to make life easier for designers. Let’s say that the information required to produce the design should be visible or easily retrievable when needed. In other words, let’s make it easier to recognise accessibility issues while we’re designing.

How are we going to do that? I really like the book A Web for Everyone—Designing Accessible User Experiences by Sarah Horton and Whitney Quesenbery. I really like this book not only because it includes a quote from me—actually two quotes, but I don’t like to boast—but because it includes personas that are perfect for helping us to recognise accessibility issues. That’s the good news. The even better news is that these personas are available now for free on the companion website to the book What Every Engineer Should Know About Digital Accessibility, again by Sarah Horton, with David Sloan this time.

Meet your users

I’m going to introduce you to these personas now:

• Vishnu, an engineer and global citizen with low vision says, “I want to be on the same level as everyone else”, “If I can adjust my screen, I can read comfortably”, and, “Translating in my head is easier with simpler sentences.”
• Trevor, a high school student with autism, says, “I like consistent, familiar places on the web”, “When I can learn the pattern, I can find my way”, and, “Reading is hard for me”.
• Steven, a deaf graphic artist and American Sign Language speaker, says, “My only disability is that everyone doesn’t sign”, and, “Without captions, it’s meaningless to me”.
• Maria, a bilingual community health worker, says, “I love this. It’s all here … when I can find it”, “When a site is confusing, I just leave”—fair enough, Maria!—and, “When I hear and see it, health information makes more sense”.
• Lea, an editor living with fatigue and pain, says, “No one gets that this really is a disability”, “Don’t make me work so hard”—please do not bombard this lady with drop-down lists—and, “Links at the top of the page make navigation easier for me”.
• Jacob, a blind paralegal and a bit of a geek, says, “The right technology lets me do anything”, and “This makes it possible to do my job”.
• Emily, who has cerebral palsy and is living independently, says, “I want to do everything for myself”, “Simpler screens are easier screens”—hell yeah, Emily!—and, “Tell me what I need in advance”.
• Carol, a grandmother with macular degeneration which affects her sight, says, “My grandkids are dragging me into the world of technology”, “I don’t understand what the screen is saying”, and, “Why can’t the text be just a little bit larger?”

I want to throw one more persona at you now, because, well, A List Apart readers are overachievers. One of my favorite authors, Cennydd Bowles—who literally wrote the book on Future Ethics—says to create Personas Non Grata. In other words, every time we design something, we have to think about what a bad guy could do with that thing, and whom that might affect.

To actually use these personas while designing, I like what Eric Meyer and Sara Wachter-Boettcher in Design for Real Life call the Designated Dissenter: for each project that you work on, one of your teams should be responsible for asking, “Will this work for Vishnu?”, “How’s Trevor going to get on with this?”, and so on. 

Then, once you’ve used the personas to recognise the accessibility issues, you can look up the guidelines for whichever platforms you’re designing for: 

• Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2
• Accessibility designing — Material Design 3
• Accessibility — Windows apps
• Accessibility | Apple Developer Documentation
• Check your interface for accessibility (Ubuntu)

Your mission, should you choose to accept it

I told you in the introduction of this article that I would give you homework. You thought I was joking. So, here’s your homework: I want you to grab the personas from the Know About Accessibility website, and use them throughout every design project to help you recognise accessibility issues while you work—and reclaim design for everyone.

NOTE: This article is based on “Recognise,” my five-minute presentation from Interaction Design Association (IxDA) Dublin’s Defuse (Design for Use) event in 2025.

7 Steps to Small Business Marketing Success – Episode 1 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing

Catch the Full Episode   Overview Most small business owners blame their marketing when growth stalls. They hire a new agency, rebuild the website, launch another campaign — and six months later, nothing has changed. In this solo episode, John Jantsch makes the case that the real problem lives upstream of tactics: it lives with […]

7 Steps to Small Business Marketing Success – Episode 2 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing

Catch the Full Episode

Overview

Most small business owners are not failing at marketing because they lack effort. They are failing because they lack a foundation. In this solo episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, John Jantsch breaks down the second step in his seven-part framework for small business marketing success: diagnosing and solving the “random acts of marketing” problem that keeps businesses busy but stuck.

John walks through the three core elements of a Strategy First approach: defining your ideal client, identifying your true differentiator, and crafting a clear core message. He then ties it all together with the Marketing Hourglass, Duct Tape Marketing’s model for the full customer journey. This episode is built for small business owners, consultants, and marketers who feel like they are doing everything but seeing none of it add up.

Whether you are chasing every new tactic, working with vendors who all have different plans, or generating leads that never convert, this episode gives you a practical framework to stop guessing and start building a marketing system that works.

Key Takeaways

• Random acts of marketing are not a budget or effort problem. They are a foundation problem rooted in the absence of a clear strategy.
• Strategy must come before tactics. Every tactic should connect back to a central plan the business actually owns.
• An ideal client profile is not just demographics. It is defined by the specific problem you are uniquely suited to solve, the attitude of the client, and the profitability of the relationship.
• Niching down is less about picking an industry and more about owning the problem you solve better than anyone else.
• Differentiators like “quality,” “service,” and “experience” are not differentiators. They are claims anyone can make. Real differentiation lives in the voice of your actual customers.
• Customer reviews, Reddit threads, and organic feedback are underused goldmines for discovering how customers actually describe the problem you solve.
• A core message is one sentence: customer language, clear, different, and credible. It is not a tagline and it is not a list of services.
• The Marketing Hourglass maps seven customer behaviors: know, like, trust, try, buy, repeat, and refer. All seven require intentional activation.
• Post-purchase experience matters as much as acquisition. Turning customers into advocates is a planned marketing activity, not an accident.
• The companion workbook for this series is available at dtm.world/sevensteps and is designed to turn this framework into action.

Great Moments

[00:01] Introduction to the seven-step series and what to expect from Episode 2

[02:23] Reframing random acts of marketing as a systems problem, not a character flaw

[03:10] The Strategy First philosophy and why it has anchored 30+ years of work

[04:00] Breaking down the ideal client profile: beyond demographics to the problem you solve

[06:58] How to find your real differentiator in the voice of the customer

[08:00] What a core message actually is (and what it is not)

[09:21] Introducing the Marketing Hourglass and the seven buyer behaviors

[11:00] Your homework: define your ideal client, the problem you solve, and your core message

Memorable Quotes

“Strategy needs to come before tactics. That’s really been the basis of my body of work.”

“We’re doing a lot of things, but it’s not adding up. Every vendor has a different plan; they’re all executing the way they want to execute rather than around a cohesive plan that the business is directing.”

“Quality, service, experience: those aren’t differentiators. Even if it’s not true, it’s pretty easy for somebody to claim.”

“A core message is not about here’s what we do. It says: this is who we serve, this is the problem we solve for them, and this is how we solve it.”

“After they become a customer, what are we going to do to surprise and delight them and turn them into advocates? Those are intentional marketing activities.”

There are plenty of cars that are legendary, at least for our own cultural standards, because of their classic look, feel and style. Such a legacy attracts people wanting to build their own tale from that base, so enthusiasts all over the world grab these classics and make them wholly different.

Most modifications involve chasing more horsepower, improving handling, personalizing the appearance, or building something entirely unique. These cars offer the perfect combination of performance potential, aftermarket support, affordability, or cultural significance. These are the models people can’t stop tinkering with.

The post The 15 Most-Modded Classic Cars appeared first on Den of Geek.

The kids are alright, at least as far as the movies are concerned. After years of speculation that too many video games and internet videos would make them disinterested in the theatrical experience, it turns out that Generation Z loves the movies, and movies on the big screen, in particular.

Case in point: the appeal that Tom Holland made to users of Letterboxd, the film-rating social media platform popular among teens and 20-somethings. Holland appeared to urge viewers to see the Christopher Nolan movie The Odyssey in different formats and to record their experience on the app. “For the first time ever on Letterboxd, you’ll be able to track and share the way you experience the film with a brand new digital punch card,” Holland declared, reading the site’s marketing copy, before issuing a challenge. “All of the formats for all your watches and rewatches—bragging rights fully unlocked.”

To celebrate the forthcoming release of Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, Tom Holland announces a special treat for the Letterboxd community.

The Odyssey is in theaters worldwide July 17. pic.twitter.com/78FG5Z5QJU

— Letterboxd (@letterboxd) June 8, 2026

To be completely clear, Holland is fundamentally pitching a product here, not unlike when George Clooney flashes a smug smile talking about food delivery or Matthew McConaughey purrs about luxury cars. That’s nothing new.

What is new is the product being sold: going to the theater and watching The Odyssey in multiple different formats. Letterboxd knows that there is a market for people who not only want to see a movie on the big screen, but they want to see it in the best possible format. Moreover, they want to talk about it with their friends.

The choice of Holland as a pitch man is also interesting. Holland isn’t the star of The Odyssey; he plays Telemachus, son of the protagonist Odysseus (Matt Damon) and Penelope (Anne Hathaway). Yet, Letterboxd chose him, in part, over other big names like Damon, Hathaway, Charlize Theron, and Lupita Nyong’o because Holland is a Gen Z movie star, less like those elders and more like Zendaya and Robert Pattinson, who also appear in The Odyssey.

This trio is hardly alone. Long after Marvel and franchise films seemed to kill the movie star, replacing big names with recognizable characters, Holland, Zendaya, Pattinson, Timothée Chalamet, and Florence Pugh draw crowds on their names alone, a quality shared with the big names of earlier, healthier days of the movies.

The same is true of production companies and distributors, especially A24 and Neon. In the same way that MGM and Warner Bros pictures carried a certain pedigree in the Golden Age of the studio system, and that Miramax and New Line Cinema had in the ’90s, A24 and Neon have a cultural cache that gets attention, sometimes more than the stars or plot.

Even better, one look at the current box office shows that Gen Z isn’t just watching movies. They’re making their own, with Obsession putting new spins on old material and Backrooms bringing their interests to the screen. While The Mandalorian and Grogu, Mortal Kombat II, and Masters of the Universe—IP movies more associated with Gen X and Millennials—have all struggled to find an audience, Obsession and Backrooms are exceeding all expectations.

Of course, The Odyssey goes back far further than any of these generations, and director Christopher Nolan sees himself working in a classical tradition. But Holland’s plea shows that as long as Hollywood makes interesting movies with compelling ideas, Gen Z will show up.

The post Tom Holland’s The Odyssey Plea Is Gen Z’s Latest Attempt to Save Cinema appeared first on Den of Geek.

While there certainly are some arcades left in the world, the boom of ‘arcade life’ was, without a doubt, the 1980s. Kids and young adults would gather at these establishments and enjoy the wonderful pastime of video games, one quarter at a time.

There was a social aspect that was lost with time, particularly with the advent of the home console. Now, games are certainly social, but they don’t connect you as much with local communities. Going to the arcade was meeting like-minded individuals in your area, and these are the pictures that reminds us of the best of those days.

The post Classic Photos of Peak Arcade Life from the 1980s appeared first on Den of Geek.

The kids are alright, at least as far as the movies are concerned. After years of speculation that too many video games and internet videos would make them disinterested in the theatrical experience, it turns out that Generation Z loves the movies, and movies on the big screen, in particular.

Case in point: the appeal that Tom Holland made to users of Letterboxd, the film-rating social media platform popular among teens and 20-somethings. Holland appeared to urge viewers to see the Christopher Nolan movie The Odyssey in different formats and to record their experience on the app. “For the first time ever on Letterboxd, you’ll be able to track and share the way you experience the film with a brand new digital punch card,” Holland declared, reading the site’s marketing copy, before issuing a challenge. “All of the formats for all your watches and rewatches—bragging rights fully unlocked.”

To celebrate the forthcoming release of Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, Tom Holland announces a special treat for the Letterboxd community.

The Odyssey is in theaters worldwide July 17. pic.twitter.com/78FG5Z5QJU

— Letterboxd (@letterboxd) June 8, 2026

To be completely clear, Holland is fundamentally pitching a product here, not unlike when George Clooney flashes a smug smile talking about food delivery or Matthew McConaughey purrs about luxury cars. That’s nothing new.

What is new is the product being sold: going to the theater and watching The Odyssey in multiple different formats. Letterboxd knows that there is a market for people who not only want to see a movie on the big screen, but they want to see it in the best possible format. Moreover, they want to talk about it with their friends.

The choice of Holland as a pitch man is also interesting. Holland isn’t the star of The Odyssey; he plays Telemachus, son of the protagonist Odysseus (Matt Damon) and Penelope (Anne Hathaway). Yet, Letterboxd chose him, in part, over other big names like Damon, Hathaway, Charlize Theron, and Lupita Nyong’o because Holland is a Gen Z movie star, less like those elders and more like Zendaya and Robert Pattinson, who also appear in The Odyssey.

This trio is hardly alone. Long after Marvel and franchise films seemed to kill the movie star, replacing big names with recognizable characters, Holland, Zendaya, Pattinson, Timothée Chalamet, and Florence Pugh draw crowds on their names alone, a quality shared with the big names of earlier, healthier days of the movies.

The same is true of production companies and distributors, especially A24 and Neon. In the same way that MGM and Warner Bros pictures carried a certain pedigree in the Golden Age of the studio system, and that Miramax and New Line Cinema had in the ’90s, A24 and Neon have a cultural cache that gets attention, sometimes more than the stars or plot.

Even better, one look at the current box office shows that Gen Z isn’t just watching movies. They’re making their own, with Obsession putting new spins on old material and Backrooms bringing their interests to the screen. While The Mandalorian and Grogu, Mortal Kombat II, and Masters of the Universe—IP movies more associated with Gen X and Millennials—have all struggled to find an audience, Obsession and Backrooms are exceeding all expectations.

Of course, The Odyssey goes back far further than any of these generations, and director Christopher Nolan sees himself working in a classical tradition. But Holland’s plea shows that as long as Hollywood makes interesting movies with compelling ideas, Gen Z will show up.

The post Tom Holland’s The Odyssey Plea Is Gen Z’s Latest Attempt to Save Cinema appeared first on Den of Geek.

When adapting a story, it makes sense to alter details here and there, particularly if you want it suitable for children. Some stories need more editing than others, but once you know the depths of how different Disney stories are to their original counterparts, you start to wonder what’s even left of the real tale.

We will always remember a story from its most iconic rendition, or at least for the one we witnessed first. In both cases, the answer to that question tends to be ‘the Disney version,’ but we need to remember there was an original out there, with an intention. These are the stories Disney changed the most, and not always for the better.

The post 14 Classic Stories That Disney Got Completely Wrong appeared first on Den of Geek.

The kids are alright, at least as far as the movies are concerned. After years of speculation that too many video games and internet videos would make them disinterested in the theatrical experience, it turns out that Generation Z loves the movies, and movies on the big screen, in particular.

Case in point: the appeal that Tom Holland made to users of Letterboxd, the film-rating social media platform popular among teens and 20-somethings. Holland appeared to urge viewers to see the Christopher Nolan movie The Odyssey in different formats and to record their experience on the app. “For the first time ever on Letterboxd, you’ll be able to track and share the way you experience the film with a brand new digital punch card,” Holland declared, reading the site’s marketing copy, before issuing a challenge. “All of the formats for all your watches and rewatches—bragging rights fully unlocked.”

To celebrate the forthcoming release of Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, Tom Holland announces a special treat for the Letterboxd community.

The Odyssey is in theaters worldwide July 17. pic.twitter.com/78FG5Z5QJU

— Letterboxd (@letterboxd) June 8, 2026

To be completely clear, Holland is fundamentally pitching a product here, not unlike when George Clooney flashes a smug smile talking about food delivery or Matthew McConaughey purrs about luxury cars. That’s nothing new.

What is new is the product being sold: going to the theater and watching The Odyssey in multiple different formats. Letterboxd knows that there is a market for people who not only want to see a movie on the big screen, but they want to see it in the best possible format. Moreover, they want to talk about it with their friends.

The choice of Holland as a pitch man is also interesting. Holland isn’t the star of The Odyssey; he plays Telemachus, son of the protagonist Odysseus (Matt Damon) and Penelope (Anne Hathaway). Yet, Letterboxd chose him, in part, over other big names like Damon, Hathaway, Charlize Theron, and Lupita Nyong’o because Holland is a Gen Z movie star, less like those elders and more like Zendaya and Robert Pattinson, who also appear in The Odyssey.

This trio is hardly alone. Long after Marvel and franchise films seemed to kill the movie star, replacing big names with recognizable characters, Holland, Zendaya, Pattinson, Timothée Chalamet, and Florence Pugh draw crowds on their names alone, a quality shared with the big names of earlier, healthier days of the movies.

The same is true of production companies and distributors, especially A24 and Neon. In the same way that MGM and Warner Bros pictures carried a certain pedigree in the Golden Age of the studio system, and that Miramax and New Line Cinema had in the ’90s, A24 and Neon have a cultural cache that gets attention, sometimes more than the stars or plot.

Even better, one look at the current box office shows that Gen Z isn’t just watching movies. They’re making their own, with Obsession putting new spins on old material and Backrooms bringing their interests to the screen. While The Mandalorian and Grogu, Mortal Kombat II, and Masters of the Universe—IP movies more associated with Gen X and Millennials—have all struggled to find an audience, Obsession and Backrooms are exceeding all expectations.

Of course, The Odyssey goes back far further than any of these generations, and director Christopher Nolan sees himself working in a classical tradition. But Holland’s plea shows that as long as Hollywood makes interesting movies with compelling ideas, Gen Z will show up.

The post Tom Holland’s The Odyssey Plea Is Gen Z’s Latest Attempt to Save Cinema appeared first on Den of Geek.

Pokemon has been around for a while now, and with ten generations strong, there are a lot of creatures to choose from. Between starters, legendaries and godlike entities, finding your favorite Pokemon is not an issue. Finding the worstly designed ones is, sadly, just as easy.

Granted, you can still have fun with these little creatures, and they are likely someone’s favourite. Don’t let our opinion detract from your personal enjoyment. But there’s no denying that, compared to other creatures, these few lack some proper work.

The post 15 Questionable Pokemons Suggesting They’ve Run Out Of Ideas appeared first on Den of Geek.

The kids are alright, at least as far as the movies are concerned. After years of speculation that too many video games and internet videos would make them disinterested in the theatrical experience, it turns out that Generation Z loves the movies, and movies on the big screen, in particular.

Case in point: the appeal that Tom Holland made to users of Letterboxd, the film-rating social media platform popular among teens and 20-somethings. Holland appeared to urge viewers to see the Christopher Nolan movie The Odyssey in different formats and to record their experience on the app. “For the first time ever on Letterboxd, you’ll be able to track and share the way you experience the film with a brand new digital punch card,” Holland declared, reading the site’s marketing copy, before issuing a challenge. “All of the formats for all your watches and rewatches—bragging rights fully unlocked.”

To celebrate the forthcoming release of Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, Tom Holland announces a special treat for the Letterboxd community.

The Odyssey is in theaters worldwide July 17. pic.twitter.com/78FG5Z5QJU

— Letterboxd (@letterboxd) June 8, 2026

To be completely clear, Holland is fundamentally pitching a product here, not unlike when George Clooney flashes a smug smile talking about food delivery or Matthew McConaughey purrs about luxury cars. That’s nothing new.

What is new is the product being sold: going to the theater and watching The Odyssey in multiple different formats. Letterboxd knows that there is a market for people who not only want to see a movie on the big screen, but they want to see it in the best possible format. Moreover, they want to talk about it with their friends.

The choice of Holland as a pitch man is also interesting. Holland isn’t the star of The Odyssey; he plays Telemachus, son of the protagonist Odysseus (Matt Damon) and Penelope (Anne Hathaway). Yet, Letterboxd chose him, in part, over other big names like Damon, Hathaway, Charlize Theron, and Lupita Nyong’o because Holland is a Gen Z movie star, less like those elders and more like Zendaya and Robert Pattinson, who also appear in The Odyssey.

This trio is hardly alone. Long after Marvel and franchise films seemed to kill the movie star, replacing big names with recognizable characters, Holland, Zendaya, Pattinson, Timothée Chalamet, and Florence Pugh draw crowds on their names alone, a quality shared with the big names of earlier, healthier days of the movies.

The same is true of production companies and distributors, especially A24 and Neon. In the same way that MGM and Warner Bros pictures carried a certain pedigree in the Golden Age of the studio system, and that Miramax and New Line Cinema had in the ’90s, A24 and Neon have a cultural cache that gets attention, sometimes more than the stars or plot.

Even better, one look at the current box office shows that Gen Z isn’t just watching movies. They’re making their own, with Obsession putting new spins on old material and Backrooms bringing their interests to the screen. While The Mandalorian and Grogu, Mortal Kombat II, and Masters of the Universe—IP movies more associated with Gen X and Millennials—have all struggled to find an audience, Obsession and Backrooms are exceeding all expectations.

Of course, The Odyssey goes back far further than any of these generations, and director Christopher Nolan sees himself working in a classical tradition. But Holland’s plea shows that as long as Hollywood makes interesting movies with compelling ideas, Gen Z will show up.

The post Tom Holland’s The Odyssey Plea Is Gen Z’s Latest Attempt to Save Cinema appeared first on Den of Geek.

A first trailer for The Bear’s final season has arrived, and it sees our flat-broke gang fighting back a flood of biblical proportions in the restaurant as Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) gets ready to depart and find out who he is when he’s not cooking. If a flooded eatery isn’t enough to handle, Uncle Jimmy […]

The post Things Get Biblical in The Bear Season 5 Trailer appeared first on Den of Geek.

The kids are alright, at least as far as the movies are concerned. After years of speculation that too many video games and internet videos would make them disinterested in the theatrical experience, it turns out that Generation Z loves the movies, and movies on the big screen, in particular.

Case in point: the appeal that Tom Holland made to users of Letterboxd, the film-rating social media platform popular among teens and 20-somethings. Holland appeared to urge viewers to see the Christopher Nolan movie The Odyssey in different formats and to record their experience on the app. “For the first time ever on Letterboxd, you’ll be able to track and share the way you experience the film with a brand new digital punch card,” Holland declared, reading the site’s marketing copy, before issuing a challenge. “All of the formats for all your watches and rewatches—bragging rights fully unlocked.”

To celebrate the forthcoming release of Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, Tom Holland announces a special treat for the Letterboxd community.

The Odyssey is in theaters worldwide July 17. pic.twitter.com/78FG5Z5QJU

— Letterboxd (@letterboxd) June 8, 2026

To be completely clear, Holland is fundamentally pitching a product here, not unlike when George Clooney flashes a smug smile talking about food delivery or Matthew McConaughey purrs about luxury cars. That’s nothing new.

What is new is the product being sold: going to the theater and watching The Odyssey in multiple different formats. Letterboxd knows that there is a market for people who not only want to see a movie on the big screen, but they want to see it in the best possible format. Moreover, they want to talk about it with their friends.

The choice of Holland as a pitch man is also interesting. Holland isn’t the star of The Odyssey; he plays Telemachus, son of the protagonist Odysseus (Matt Damon) and Penelope (Anne Hathaway). Yet, Letterboxd chose him, in part, over other big names like Damon, Hathaway, Charlize Theron, and Lupita Nyong’o because Holland is a Gen Z movie star, less like those elders and more like Zendaya and Robert Pattinson, who also appear in The Odyssey.

This trio is hardly alone. Long after Marvel and franchise films seemed to kill the movie star, replacing big names with recognizable characters, Holland, Zendaya, Pattinson, Timothée Chalamet, and Florence Pugh draw crowds on their names alone, a quality shared with the big names of earlier, healthier days of the movies.

The same is true of production companies and distributors, especially A24 and Neon. In the same way that MGM and Warner Bros pictures carried a certain pedigree in the Golden Age of the studio system, and that Miramax and New Line Cinema had in the ’90s, A24 and Neon have a cultural cache that gets attention, sometimes more than the stars or plot.

Even better, one look at the current box office shows that Gen Z isn’t just watching movies. They’re making their own, with Obsession putting new spins on old material and Backrooms bringing their interests to the screen. While The Mandalorian and Grogu, Mortal Kombat II, and Masters of the Universe—IP movies more associated with Gen X and Millennials—have all struggled to find an audience, Obsession and Backrooms are exceeding all expectations.

Of course, The Odyssey goes back far further than any of these generations, and director Christopher Nolan sees himself working in a classical tradition. But Holland’s plea shows that as long as Hollywood makes interesting movies with compelling ideas, Gen Z will show up.

The post Tom Holland’s The Odyssey Plea Is Gen Z’s Latest Attempt to Save Cinema appeared first on Den of Geek.

Back in the 1990s, films often found their audiences on home video. That was certainly the case for Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion, which didn’t do much in the way of business at the box office and wasn’t particularly well received by critics at the time either. Nevertheless, people eventually discovered the movie, and […]

The post Romy and Michele 2 Deserves a Theatrical Release appeared first on Den of Geek.

The kids are alright, at least as far as the movies are concerned. After years of speculation that too many video games and internet videos would make them disinterested in the theatrical experience, it turns out that Generation Z loves the movies, and movies on the big screen, in particular.

Case in point: the appeal that Tom Holland made to users of Letterboxd, the film-rating social media platform popular among teens and 20-somethings. Holland appeared to urge viewers to see the Christopher Nolan movie The Odyssey in different formats and to record their experience on the app. “For the first time ever on Letterboxd, you’ll be able to track and share the way you experience the film with a brand new digital punch card,” Holland declared, reading the site’s marketing copy, before issuing a challenge. “All of the formats for all your watches and rewatches—bragging rights fully unlocked.”

To celebrate the forthcoming release of Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, Tom Holland announces a special treat for the Letterboxd community.

The Odyssey is in theaters worldwide July 17. pic.twitter.com/78FG5Z5QJU

— Letterboxd (@letterboxd) June 8, 2026

To be completely clear, Holland is fundamentally pitching a product here, not unlike when George Clooney flashes a smug smile talking about food delivery or Matthew McConaughey purrs about luxury cars. That’s nothing new.

What is new is the product being sold: going to the theater and watching The Odyssey in multiple different formats. Letterboxd knows that there is a market for people who not only want to see a movie on the big screen, but they want to see it in the best possible format. Moreover, they want to talk about it with their friends.

The choice of Holland as a pitch man is also interesting. Holland isn’t the star of The Odyssey; he plays Telemachus, son of the protagonist Odysseus (Matt Damon) and Penelope (Anne Hathaway). Yet, Letterboxd chose him, in part, over other big names like Damon, Hathaway, Charlize Theron, and Lupita Nyong’o because Holland is a Gen Z movie star, less like those elders and more like Zendaya and Robert Pattinson, who also appear in The Odyssey.

This trio is hardly alone. Long after Marvel and franchise films seemed to kill the movie star, replacing big names with recognizable characters, Holland, Zendaya, Pattinson, Timothée Chalamet, and Florence Pugh draw crowds on their names alone, a quality shared with the big names of earlier, healthier days of the movies.

The same is true of production companies and distributors, especially A24 and Neon. In the same way that MGM and Warner Bros pictures carried a certain pedigree in the Golden Age of the studio system, and that Miramax and New Line Cinema had in the ’90s, A24 and Neon have a cultural cache that gets attention, sometimes more than the stars or plot.

Even better, one look at the current box office shows that Gen Z isn’t just watching movies. They’re making their own, with Obsession putting new spins on old material and Backrooms bringing their interests to the screen. While The Mandalorian and Grogu, Mortal Kombat II, and Masters of the Universe—IP movies more associated with Gen X and Millennials—have all struggled to find an audience, Obsession and Backrooms are exceeding all expectations.

Of course, The Odyssey goes back far further than any of these generations, and director Christopher Nolan sees himself working in a classical tradition. But Holland’s plea shows that as long as Hollywood makes interesting movies with compelling ideas, Gen Z will show up.

The post Tom Holland’s The Odyssey Plea Is Gen Z’s Latest Attempt to Save Cinema appeared first on Den of Geek.

The kids are alright, at least as far as the movies are concerned. After years of speculation that too many video games and internet videos would make them disinterested in the theatrical experience, it turns out that Generation Z loves the movies, and movies on the big screen, in particular. Case in point: the appeal […]

The post Tom Holland’s The Odyssey Plea Is Gen Z’s Latest Attempt to Save Cinema appeared first on Den of Geek.

The kids are alright, at least as far as the movies are concerned. After years of speculation that too many video games and internet videos would make them disinterested in the theatrical experience, it turns out that Generation Z loves the movies, and movies on the big screen, in particular.

Case in point: the appeal that Tom Holland made to users of Letterboxd, the film-rating social media platform popular among teens and 20-somethings. Holland appeared to urge viewers to see the Christopher Nolan movie The Odyssey in different formats and to record their experience on the app. “For the first time ever on Letterboxd, you’ll be able to track and share the way you experience the film with a brand new digital punch card,” Holland declared, reading the site’s marketing copy, before issuing a challenge. “All of the formats for all your watches and rewatches—bragging rights fully unlocked.”

To celebrate the forthcoming release of Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, Tom Holland announces a special treat for the Letterboxd community.

The Odyssey is in theaters worldwide July 17. pic.twitter.com/78FG5Z5QJU

— Letterboxd (@letterboxd) June 8, 2026

To be completely clear, Holland is fundamentally pitching a product here, not unlike when George Clooney flashes a smug smile talking about food delivery or Matthew McConaughey purrs about luxury cars. That’s nothing new.

What is new is the product being sold: going to the theater and watching The Odyssey in multiple different formats. Letterboxd knows that there is a market for people who not only want to see a movie on the big screen, but they want to see it in the best possible format. Moreover, they want to talk about it with their friends.

The choice of Holland as a pitch man is also interesting. Holland isn’t the star of The Odyssey; he plays Telemachus, son of the protagonist Odysseus (Matt Damon) and Penelope (Anne Hathaway). Yet, Letterboxd chose him, in part, over other big names like Damon, Hathaway, Charlize Theron, and Lupita Nyong’o because Holland is a Gen Z movie star, less like those elders and more like Zendaya and Robert Pattinson, who also appear in The Odyssey.

This trio is hardly alone. Long after Marvel and franchise films seemed to kill the movie star, replacing big names with recognizable characters, Holland, Zendaya, Pattinson, Timothée Chalamet, and Florence Pugh draw crowds on their names alone, a quality shared with the big names of earlier, healthier days of the movies.

The same is true of production companies and distributors, especially A24 and Neon. In the same way that MGM and Warner Bros pictures carried a certain pedigree in the Golden Age of the studio system, and that Miramax and New Line Cinema had in the ’90s, A24 and Neon have a cultural cache that gets attention, sometimes more than the stars or plot.

Even better, one look at the current box office shows that Gen Z isn’t just watching movies. They’re making their own, with Obsession putting new spins on old material and Backrooms bringing their interests to the screen. While The Mandalorian and Grogu, Mortal Kombat II, and Masters of the Universe—IP movies more associated with Gen X and Millennials—have all struggled to find an audience, Obsession and Backrooms are exceeding all expectations.

Of course, The Odyssey goes back far further than any of these generations, and director Christopher Nolan sees himself working in a classical tradition. But Holland’s plea shows that as long as Hollywood makes interesting movies with compelling ideas, Gen Z will show up.

The post Tom Holland’s The Odyssey Plea Is Gen Z’s Latest Attempt to Save Cinema appeared first on Den of Geek.

I always felt bad for Larry, Josef Sommer’s character in Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). In Steven Spielberg’s magnum opus about UFOs and the governments who cover them up, Larry is a true believer that, like Richard Dreyfuss’ Roy and Melinda Dillon’s Jillian, traveled all the way to Devils Tower in Wyoming, sneaking […]

The post Disclosure Day Review: Steven Spielberg’s Coda to a Lifetime of Alien Movies appeared first on Den of Geek.

The kids are alright, at least as far as the movies are concerned. After years of speculation that too many video games and internet videos would make them disinterested in the theatrical experience, it turns out that Generation Z loves the movies, and movies on the big screen, in particular.

Case in point: the appeal that Tom Holland made to users of Letterboxd, the film-rating social media platform popular among teens and 20-somethings. Holland appeared to urge viewers to see the Christopher Nolan movie The Odyssey in different formats and to record their experience on the app. “For the first time ever on Letterboxd, you’ll be able to track and share the way you experience the film with a brand new digital punch card,” Holland declared, reading the site’s marketing copy, before issuing a challenge. “All of the formats for all your watches and rewatches—bragging rights fully unlocked.”

To celebrate the forthcoming release of Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, Tom Holland announces a special treat for the Letterboxd community.

The Odyssey is in theaters worldwide July 17. pic.twitter.com/78FG5Z5QJU

— Letterboxd (@letterboxd) June 8, 2026

To be completely clear, Holland is fundamentally pitching a product here, not unlike when George Clooney flashes a smug smile talking about food delivery or Matthew McConaughey purrs about luxury cars. That’s nothing new.

What is new is the product being sold: going to the theater and watching The Odyssey in multiple different formats. Letterboxd knows that there is a market for people who not only want to see a movie on the big screen, but they want to see it in the best possible format. Moreover, they want to talk about it with their friends.

The choice of Holland as a pitch man is also interesting. Holland isn’t the star of The Odyssey; he plays Telemachus, son of the protagonist Odysseus (Matt Damon) and Penelope (Anne Hathaway). Yet, Letterboxd chose him, in part, over other big names like Damon, Hathaway, Charlize Theron, and Lupita Nyong’o because Holland is a Gen Z movie star, less like those elders and more like Zendaya and Robert Pattinson, who also appear in The Odyssey.

This trio is hardly alone. Long after Marvel and franchise films seemed to kill the movie star, replacing big names with recognizable characters, Holland, Zendaya, Pattinson, Timothée Chalamet, and Florence Pugh draw crowds on their names alone, a quality shared with the big names of earlier, healthier days of the movies.

The same is true of production companies and distributors, especially A24 and Neon. In the same way that MGM and Warner Bros pictures carried a certain pedigree in the Golden Age of the studio system, and that Miramax and New Line Cinema had in the ’90s, A24 and Neon have a cultural cache that gets attention, sometimes more than the stars or plot.

Even better, one look at the current box office shows that Gen Z isn’t just watching movies. They’re making their own, with Obsession putting new spins on old material and Backrooms bringing their interests to the screen. While The Mandalorian and Grogu, Mortal Kombat II, and Masters of the Universe—IP movies more associated with Gen X and Millennials—have all struggled to find an audience, Obsession and Backrooms are exceeding all expectations.

Of course, The Odyssey goes back far further than any of these generations, and director Christopher Nolan sees himself working in a classical tradition. But Holland’s plea shows that as long as Hollywood makes interesting movies with compelling ideas, Gen Z will show up.

The post Tom Holland’s The Odyssey Plea Is Gen Z’s Latest Attempt to Save Cinema appeared first on Den of Geek.