Female-led Hollywood films outperformed movies fronted by men, study proves

Women stars may still be fighting for pay-parity and inclusivity in Hollywood but a new study has revealed that the films fronted by them are better earners at the box office than those led by men.

The study, conducted by talent agency Creative Artists Agency (C.A.A) and tech company shift7, analysed a sample of 350 movies from 2014 to 2017, out of which 105 were led by women while 245 featured male stars.

The films which passed the Bechdel test ( which measures whether two female characters have a conversation other than a man) were better at the box office than those which failed the test, the New York Times reported quoting the study.

"The perception that it’s not good business to have female leads is not true. They’re a marketing asset," said Christy Haubegger, a C.A.A. agent who was part of the research team.

The study by C.A.A is part of an effort to pressure Hollywood into putting more women and people of colour onscreen and behind the scenes, with proponents arguing that greater diversity improves the bottom line.

The recent success of diverse projects such as "Wonder Woman", "Big Sick", "Get Out", "Black Panther" and "Crazy Rich Asians" has made the studios sit up and take notice of the saleability of such projects.

The new study was created in conjunction with a working group from Time’s Up, an organisation fighting workplace sexual harassment; the working group aims to improve the portrayal of women onscreen.

The parameters for judging a film were strict as the report listed films using information from Gracenote, a data and technology provider owned by Nielsen.

Both "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" and “Star Wars: The Last Jedi" were categorised as male-fronted films despite actor Daisy Ridley's major presence but “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles", led by Megan Fox, Trolls” by Anna Kendrick and "Wonder Woman" (starring Gal Gadot), made the cut.

The data was further broken down by budget size, from USD 10 million to USD 100 million and in each bracket, the average earnings for female-led films surpassed those of their male-led counterparts.

(With inputs from agencies.)