Finally, some encouraging stats for women and people of color in film. After concluding, in an earlier 2019 report, that the number of women directors hadn’t budged in 12 years, Dr. Stacy L. Smith and the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative found that onscreen gender and racial representation has improved in popular movies.
According to a research brief, the Inclusionists analyzed the leads and co-leads of the most popular films from 2007-2018 for its latest study, “Inequality Across 1,200 Popular Films.” Last year 40 top-grossing films were led or co-led by women, as compared to 2017’s 32. That’s double the number of the 2007 films featuring women leads or co-leads (20). Eleven of 2018’s top 100 movies included a female lead or co-lead of color, almost three times as many as in 2017. The authors also report “a significant increase” in the number of films with leads or co-leads from underrepresented racial/ethnic groups. 2018 saw 28 films starring or co-starring people of color, versus 2017’s 21 and 2007’s 13.
“2018 offers hope that industry members have taken action to create content that better reflects the world in which we live, and the box office seems to have rewarded them for it,” said Dr. Smith. “This data shows us that it is possible for change to be achieved — companies must not grow complacent but continue the progress they have made in 2019 and in the years to come.”
She continued, “It is encouraging that 2018 brought a 12-year high in the number of films with a female lead or co lead driving the action. Perhaps most notably, we witnessed gains for women of color as leads or co leads.” Smith stressed, “While there is still a significant amount of change to be accomplished, this represents a step in the right direction toward intersectional inclusion in storytelling.”
The gains are exciting — there’s no doubt about that. But we should keep in mind that women and POC film leads are still the exception and not the rule. Only 28 percent of the top 1,200 films from the past 12 years were led by women. People of color led just 15.5 percent. Most egregious is the number of pics featuring women of color as leads or co-leads: four percent.
“Inequality Across 1,200 Popular Films” also examines onscreen representation by distributor. Universal had the highest number of women-led or co-led releases across the past 12 years: 59. At 56 films, Sony Pictures was a close second. In last place is Paramount Pictures with 26 films. Universal and Sony, alongside Lionsgate, distributed the most POC-starring or co-starring films. Sony released 39 and Universal and Lionsgate tied at second place with 28 pics each. Walt Disney Studios fared worst with 13 films featuring underrepresented leads or co-leads. Most of the WOC-starring titles came from Sony or Lionsgate. Respectively, they released 14 and nine films featuring a woman lead or co-lead of color. Paramount and Warner Bros. were the least impressive with three WOC-led movies each.
In partnership with Time’s Up, the Inclusionists launched the #4PercentChallenge at Sundance last month. It pushes studios, producers, actors, and others to commit to announcing a woman-directed project within the next 18 months. Paramount (Paramount Pictures, Paramount Animation, and Paramount Players), Universal Filmed Entertainment Group (Universal Pictures, Focus Features, and Dreamworks Animation), STX Entertainment, and MGM Studios are among the studios that have accepted the challenge. Individuals such as Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Lopez, and Tessa Thompson have also come aboard. The challenge was inspired by a recent Inclusion Initiative study, which found women helmed only four percent of the top 1,200 films from 2007-2018.
Check out the entire “Inequality Across 1,200 Popular Films” research brief here.
