Movies like Inside Out 2, The Substance, and Wicked were huge at the box office in 2024. They were also stories that starred women that drew a wide demographic of viewers, ultimately helping achieve gender parity for protagonist representation for the first time in a long time.
The Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University released a study that said that out of the 100 top US domestic-grossing films in 2024, 42% had female protagonists, and 42% had male protagonists.
The same study found that the percentage of female characters in speaking roles increased from 35% in 2023 to 37% in 2024. The percentage of major female characters rose a single percentage point, from 38% in 2023 to 39% in 2024.
While those numbers aren’t huge, I think the parity number is actually very important.
This is a big deal because numbers have been dwindling in the past few years, as studios made fewer films.
Coupled with this study comes the annual Annenberg Inclusion Initiative study, which delivered great news that 54% of the top 100 films at the box office in 2024 featured girls and women as protagonists.
To put that into perspective, the 2023 number was only 30%. So that’s a major change.
Stacy L. Smith, founder of the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, said of the new numbers, “In 2024, three of the top five films had a girl or woman in a leading role, as did five of the top 10 films — including the number one film of the year, Disney’s ‘Inside Out 2,’” Smith continued, “We have always known that female-identified leads would make money. This is not the result of an economic awakening but is due to a number of different constituencies and efforts — at advocacy groups, at studios, through DEI initiatives — to assert the need for equality on screen.”
These changes are welcome in a world where we’re leaving money on the table, ignoring these big markets of people who want to see themselves represented on screen.
The more movies made at the box office, the better Hollywood is for everyone. It means more jobs and opportunities for people from all backgrounds.
While neither of the studies we cited focuses on streaming movies or movies outside the top 100 released, they cover the biggest movies. And that matters. These are the movies people prioritized watching, so we can see why they were smart investments.
Hopefully, this trend continues to stabilize, and we get better movies that make a ton of money for it.
Let me know what you think in the comments.
Author: Jason Hellerman
This article comes from No Film School and can be read on the original site.
