Girls achieved gender parity on the large display in 2024 for the primary time within the US, in accordance with two new research.
Out of the 100 top-grossing movies of final 12 months, girls led 42% of the movies, the identical share as their male counterparts, with 16% led by ensembles. This was in accordance to Dr Martha Lauzen’s annual It’s a Man’s (Celluloid) World report. Lauzen stated that 2024 “supplied one of many richest slates of movies that includes feminine protagonists in current reminiscence”.
An ongoing examine by the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative additionally discovered that 54% of movies final 12 months have been led or co-led by girls, up from 30% the earlier 12 months.
“Now we have all the time identified that female-identified leads would earn cash,” stated Dr Stacy L Smith, head of the examine. “This isn’t the results of an financial awakening, however is because of a variety of completely different constituencies and efforts – at advocacy teams, at studios, by means of DEI initiatives – to claim the necessity for equality on display.”
Current main hits led by girls included Depraved, Inside Out 2, The Substance, Moana 2, Imply Women and It Ends with Us.
However Smith’s examine additionally discovered that whereas there was a notable improve for feminine leads, leads and co-leads of color noticed a decline. In line with her findings, 25% of the movies final 12 months have been led by an individual of color, down from 37% the 12 months earlier than. “The truth is that audiences wish to see tales about girls and other people of color – studios and film-makers should not have to decide on between the 2,” Smith stated.
There additionally stays a niche in how girls over the age of 45 are represented in comparison with males. Out of the 12 months’s 100 high movies there have been eight led by an older lady in comparison with 21 that have been led by an older man. “The implications of an absence of illustration don’t solely have cultural significance – they’re an financial actuality for girls as effectively,” Smith stated.
Final month additionally noticed one other report from Lauzen that confirmed that feminine illustration behind the scenes stays low. In 2024, 70% of the top-grossing movies had 10 or extra males in key off-screen positions in comparison with simply 8% for girls.
This 12 months’s upcoming female-led movies hoping to attain massive on the field workplace embrace the John Wick spin-off Ballerina with Ana de Armas, the horror sequel M3gan 2.0, the comedy sequel Freakier Friday, Maggie Gyllenhaal’s horror reinvention The Bride! and the much-anticipated musical Depraved: For Good.
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