Female Led-Films Earn More Than Male Ones, Study Finds

Nagini Shree |Dec 12, 2018

A new study that analyzed four years’ worth of films found that female-led movies have consistently outperformed those in which men get top billing.

Gal Gadot in and as Wonder Woman. Image from Facebook/@wonderwomanfilm — Gal Gadot in Wonder Woman.

According to a new study, researchers found out that those films star women in the lead roles regardless of small, medium or large budget earn average grosses on the global scale better than male-led films. This research analyzed more than 350 top-grossing movies all over the world dated back January 2014 to December 2017.

Carried out by the Creative Artists Agency and technological company Shift7, the research showed the films that passed the Bechdel test. Bechdel test or called "Bechdel–Wallace test", giving three basic requirements for a movie; Have at least two women in it, talk to each other, and have to discuss something besides a man.

They found that $1 billion smash-hit films between 2014 & 2017 including Beauty and The Beast, Jurassic World and Star Wars: The Force Awakens, all passed the Bechdel test and no film has made $1 billion without the above test.

Christy Haubegger said:

As for determining main actors and budget data, researchers collected data from Nielsen’s box-office data collection company Gracenote. A film that lists a woman first in the official press materials is considered as a female-led one, according to Gracenote’s Studio System.

The result showed that of all 350 films analyzed, 105 were led by women and 245 by men, but the largest gap lies in the budget size. Specifically, in films made for more than $100 million, there were 75 male-led films and 19 female-led films.

Although half of movie tickets sold goes to women, the greater success of films starring women and people of color can be attributed to a thirst for fresh storylines, Haubegger said.