Women-Led Films in Hollywood Earn More Than Ones Starring Men: Study

Gone are the days when a film's success depended on its male casting. Women, across film industries, have been performing remarkably well, helming films solely on their shoulders, and giving good business as well. Of course, we don't need researches to prove that, but if we look at the statistics, we'll know that the present and the future belongs to women. Coming to Hollywood, a recent study showed that women-led films earn much more than the ones starring men.

Films starring women are good for business

According to a study by the Creative Arts Agency and the digital strategist Shift7, which was documented by the NY Times, the top films from 2014 to 2017 starring women earned much more than those starring men. This study involved movies across budgets: those made for less than $10 million (indies) or for movies over $100 million (blockbusters).

The analysis, which evaluated 350 films -- 105 led by women and 245 led by men -- broke down the final results by the size of their budgets for a level comparison. Another significant finding was that films that also passed the Bechdel test (a sign that two or more female characters talk about something than a man) outperformed those that didn’t pass it.

When we talk about female-led films, last year’s blockbuster Wonder Woman tops the charts with its $820 million global box office collection

Hits like Beauty and the Beast, Ocean’s 8, and Moana have done economically well and shown the economic viability of female-led movies. Look at some of the films which made tremendous headlines with their versatile genres - Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, Crazy Rich Asians, A Star Is Born - all hugely dominated by women.

Now, the study doesn't even account for all other digital spaces, outside of the theatre, that people watch movies on - Netflix, Prime Video, Hotstar etc. Hands down, Netflix's original To All the Boys I've Loved Before made for one economically viable treat, so much so that its sequel is on the way. This, and more such films showed how people truly love watching films about women, regardless of the platform.

This study's report comes as a part of a broader effort in the age of the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements. This is an effort to help get more women and people of colour on board for Hollywood films.

However, despite the terrific results, statistics show that women accounted for only around a quarter of the sole protagonists in the top films of 2017, also only playing about a third of major characters. Clearly, there's more work and effort required to make film industries, across the world, platforms with equal opportunities and, thus, equal pay and results.

Also Read: Bollywood Films This Year That Gave Out Strong Messages

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