11 Mar WHY FEMALE-LED FILMS EARN MORE AT THE BOX OFFICE
There’s a huge untapped audience hungry for movies with a fresh point of view and female-led films are the ticket to great box office results.
Female-led films and box office success go hand in hand. This trend was highlighted in the L.A. Times article Films Starring Women Earn More Money Than Male-Led Movies, Says New Study. One of the authors, CAA agent Christy Haubegger offered her insight. She said, “ Women make up more than half the movie-going audience and only a third of the protagonists.” This creates a built-in bonanza for innovative films — like female-led films — which stand out in a crowded marketplace.
FRESH STORIES MEANS BIGGER BOX OFFICE
The audience is tired of rehashed stories. So when a new hero — a woman — comes on to the scene — the audience laps it up. Thus a bigger box office result. And not just the female audience. The article also said that “The thing that surprises people is that films with female characters appeal certainly to women, but to everybody. Thus people are simply seeking innovations of stories they haven’t seen yet.”
FEMALE-LED FILMS EARN MORE BOX OFFICE
In the blog post, Sex, Lies and Why We Need Female Films, the author makes it clear producers would be smart to hire more female writers. The article How Media Portrayal Affects Women, And What Geena Davis Is Doing About It said “One factor that increased the number of prominent female characters: female writers and directors. Women comprised 45 percent of protagonists in films with at least one woman writer and/or director, but just 20 percent of protagonists in movies written and directed exclusively by men.”
High or low-budgeted films, female-led films earn more box office. The article Female-Led Films Perform Better at the Box Office reported that “The top movies starring women earned more at the box office than male-led films, where they were made for less than $10 million or for $100 million or more.”
The article said that “The research also found that films that passed the Bechdel test — which measure whether two female characters have a conversation about something other than a man- outperformed those that flunked it”.
FAR REACHING EFFECTS BEYOND BOX OFFICE
Christy Haubegger, the study’s co-author said “Female leads are marketing assets”. Female-led films are hitting it big at the box office. But there are far-reaching effects more than box office receipts. The article Study Confirms Young Girls Need to See More Female Superheroes In Movie and TV claims “With greater representation of female heroes in the sci-fi and superhero genre, we can help superpower the next generation of women.”
In the article Women’s Media Center President Julie Burton said in a statement, “Our research found that female sci-fi and superhero characters help bridge the confidence gap for girls, making them feel strong, brave, confident, inspired, positive, and motivated.”
PRODUCERS: QUESTION “CONVENTIONAL WISDOM”
However, despite the numbers, many producers blindly follow conventional wisdom that erroneously believes female-led films don’t make money. And besides — it’s just a movie or TV show. Right? Wrong. Haubegger contends that having female-led content “…changes what we see in ourselves and what we see in other people. You can’t be what you can’t imagine. So let’s look at films on their merit and quality and use real comps, not assumptions. I mean it’s show business, not show art!”
SUMMARY
Above all, get the facts ( look at the box office numbers). Yes, female-led films do make money and in most cases — more than male-led films. Being inclusive, female-led films and diverse casting will add to your bottom line. Inclusion = innovation. And there’s an audience hungry for innovative stories.
NOW WHAT?
Marvel doesn’t have a monopoly on strong female characters. And if your film wants to get a piece of their pie — add some strong female characters to your film. Give Marvel a run for their money.
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