The annual look at who went to the movies from the MPAA has been released. Here are the relevant stats. Women and men go to the movies in equal numbers. In 2010 women bought 50% of the tickets and men bought 50% of the tickets.

Breaking it down:
• 222.7 million people went to the movies at least once in 2010 (in the US and Canada)- that’s over 2/3 of the population, and the average amount of tickets purchased per moviegoer was 6.
• 35 million people make up the frequent moviegoers (which is people who go at least once a month). Men increased in all age groups of frequent moviegoers, but women still make up more of the frequent moviegoers in the 18–24 category.

This number is very important — Hollywood lives and breathes on the narrative that young men drive the box office. That is just not true. There were 4.2 million 18–24 year old female frequent filmgoers compared to 3.3 million male frequent filmgoers. Now clearly young women are going to the male centric movies because those dominate the theatres, but keep in mind that three out of the top ten grossing films of 2010 (Alice in Wonderland, Twilight Eclipse and Tangled), had a female at the center of the story.

So what do the numbers mean for women and film? Women went to the movie less in 2010 than in 2009 where they bought 55% of the tickets, but they still go in EQUAL amounts to male patrons. Numbers do not lie. Women and men buy tickets in equal amount and women made up 51% of the moviegoers in 2010 compared to 49% of men.

Other things to note:
• Total Worldwide Box Office — $31.8 billion
• US Box Office — $10.6 billion
• International Box Office — $21.2 billion
• International box office makes up 67% of the revenue.
• Boys under 17 go to the movies more than girls- no surprise. Most of the films for kids have male leads are targeted at boys.
• Women in the 25–49 categories go to the movies less than men but that shouldn’t surprise anyone because we all know who does the lion’s share of child care.
• Women and men 50 and up go to the movies almost equally.
• Women and men go to the movies by race in equal amounts except for Latinos.

Now you have the ammunition. Don’t be a part of a false narrative. Help fight the misconceptions about who goes to the movies.