Peter Gold has always loved making films. While attending film school in New York, he became involved with a film called Our Hero Balthazar, directed by Oscar Boyson, known for his work as an executive producer on Uncut Gems.
Gold instantly knew the film was something special. He also knew it would be tough to find distribution in today’s theatrical marketplace.
The dramedy, starring Jaeden Martell as a wealthy New York City teenager Balthazar Malone, who, eager to impress his activist crush, follows an online connection (Asa Butterfield) to Texas where he believes he can stop an act of violence, was passed over by A24 and Neon.
So Gold, 26, decided to launch his own distribution company, WG pictures, financed through outside investors, with film producer Brad Wyman to make sure it saw theatrical release.
“Filmmaking and storytelling are the heart of my passion. Getting into distribution really came from a place of frustration with the state of independent cinema,” Gold told Fast Company. “So many movies, including my own, were being overlooked by existing distributors and weren’t being given the opportunity they deserved.”
Our Hero Balthazar opened March 27 at Regal Union Square as the number 2 film in the theater, generating $33,138 opening weekend gross, second only to Project Hail Mary. The film’s budget was under $2 million. The film opened sold-out in LA on April 4 and is now expanding across the country.
Hollywood should take note. The amount WG Pictures has spent on distribution is less than $1 million. WG Pictures pulled off the feat without spending a single dollar on paid media and instead relied entirely on social media to drive awareness.
From TikTok fan edits to Letterboxd influencers, social media has proven a boon for cinema. With it, a new kind of showmanship-based marketing has emerged. Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande mastered the art of going viral on social media during the Wicked press tour. Timothée Chalamet appeared on a Wheaties box and hosted a table tennis tournament to promote his most recent project, Marty Supreme.
“Honestly, I thought A24 did an interesting job with Marty Supreme, but they have Timothée Chalamet,” said Gold. “We don’t have Timothée Chalamet. We have to work with what we have.”
Gold worked with the filmmakers closely to come up with a social media strategy driven by the characters and the story. They started by creating an Instagram account for the film’s protagonist, with the handle @bboymalone212, that has since amassed more than 72,000 followers.
One post on the Instagram page features a custom starter pack meme inspired by the character of Balthazar, with performative male staples like a New Yorker tote bag, Lorde album cover and wire headphones. Another post features an Erewhon haul of coconut matcha cold foam and Lemme Purr vaginal probiotic gummies, touching on the film’s themes of exhibitionism in the social media age.
“We’re telling the story of this character and building awareness around the movie without just running a trailer with paid ad spend,” said Gold. The social media generation no longer wants to be marketed at, Gold understands, they want to feel like an active participant.
The Instagram account’s most viral post tapped content creator Caleb Simpson, who on his own has more than 2.8 million followers with his viral street series where he asks strangers, and more recently celebrities, “How much do you pay for rent?” and follows it up with, “Can I get a tour of your apartment?”.
Simpson and Martell, in character as Balthazar, joined up for the Instagram Reel, touring the 80th floor New York City apartment overlooking Central Park, which was also a set in the film. “I try not to focus too much on money,” says Martell as Balthazar in the clip. “I’m more focused on making a change.” The comments are a mix of those in on the joke and bemused onlookers, none the wiser. “That was the first time Caleb had ever done a fictional person,” says Gold.
WG Pictures also took advantage of the impressive social media following of those involved in the film, including actress and singer Halsey and actor Noah Centineo, boasting a combined 40 million followers. Each pulled their weight with non-stop posting about the film in the run up to its release, culminating in more than 30 million organic social impressions. Gen Z and Millennials say social media is the number one form of discovery for films, according to a new Fandango study.
Higher ticket prices, the rise of streaming platforms and worsening theater etiquette, have all contributed to deflated box office numbers. A survey from October shows that overall cinema attendance has remained flat since 2019, but the percentage of frequent movie-goers has dropped from 39% to 17% in 2025.
In 2025, 780 million people actually went to the movies according to EntTelligence’s annual report, down from 820 million in 2024. Over the same period, ticket prices jumped 5.7%. Between 2005 to 2019 – before the Pandemic shuttered screens and accelerated a shift towards streaming – the industry averaged well over 1B tickets sold annually.
While Hollywood has expressed its fears that the streaming era and smartphones will stop the social media generation from leaving the house and going to watch films the old fashioned way, in a dark room filled with strangers, the opposite is proving true.
Gen Z is now the most active cinemagoing demographic, according to Fandango, having seen seven films on average in 2025, compared to 5.3 for the general population.
And while millennials mainly treat moviegoing as an escape from daily grind, Gen Z sees it primarily as a social activity. Gen Z also attributes a better selection of movies and the appeal of leaving the home as key motivators for going to the movies.
In the US, 95% of Gens Y and Z are now interested in exploring their online interests through in-person events, according to Eventbrite data. Both Gen Z and Millennials also prefer to extend moviegoing beyond the screen, pairing it with dining and drinking, according to Fandango.
Gold and WG pictures are meeting that audience where they are at. Opening weekend for Our Hero Balthazar, WG pictures hosted a rave at the Museum of Sex in New York City. “I felt like that was something Balthazar would have thrown himself,” says Gold. To gain access, attendees needed a ticket stub for the film. A slightly less extreme marketing stunt than film distributor, Focus Features, who only permitted fans with bald heads (there was a barber in the foyer for those ‘willing to become bald’) for an early screening of sci-fi comedy film Bugonia.
WG Pictures also hosted an immersive gallery experience with visual artist Jet Le Parti, where they created original artwork inspired by the film and the issue of gun violence, reflects WG’s broader strategy of eventizing cinema. They also hosted an event with Third Space–hosted event, designed to convert awareness into active participation and, subsequently, ticket sales.
This social driven strategy is a shift for what has, and still is, a mostly solitary experience. When the lights dim and the film starts rolling, talking or, worse, scrolling, is strictly forbidden. And yet, Gold is banking on community being the next big drive getting Gen Z to the box office. “It’s not just cinema in a crowded theater,” as Gold sees it. “It’s an opportunity to connect with the community.”
The success of platforms like Letterboxd and WG picture’s IRL marketing strategy is a testament to that. “Someone said to me after one of the screenings at Roxy Cinema that this is a movie that starts after it’s over,” he explains. “In terms of the conversation it provokes.”
For Gold, the biggest challenge isn’t getting Gen Z to the cinema, it’s finding the right movies. “We’re working on Toad, which is a stoner comedy, and looking at some really interesting documentaries,” he said of future releases. “But it’s really just about finding the next exciting movie and continuing to distribute films theatrically.”
Find the right movie, market it right, and Gen Z will come.
