"...in the 1980s,...the [film] industry concentrated more on young adult dramas than ever before. The most likely factor contributing to this was the emergence of another icon of youth independence, the shopping mall. The mall becaome a scene of teen congregation where arcades and food courts replaced the pool halls and soda fountains of the past. Furthermore, since the '70s, following the dramatic decline of American movie theaters, Hollywood had come to rely on the centralization of multiple theaters in large retail centers....Thus the multiplex was born. With the relocation of most movie theaters into or near shoping malls in the 1980s, the need to cater to the young audiences who frequented those malls became apparent to Hollywood, and those audiences formed the first generation of multiplex moviegoers." (6)

(Shary, Timothy. Generation Multiplex: The Image of Youth in Contemporary American Cinema Austin: University of Texas Press, 2002. Print.)