Women in lead roles were featured in more box office hits than ever last year, according to two recent studies. However, both studies found that representation of women on film is still lacking in certain areas.
One of the reports, the “Inequality Across 1,800 Popular Films” study from the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative at the University of Southern California, found that the percentage of girls and women as protagonists was at an all-time high (54%) based on 18 years of annual studies. That’s 24% higher than it was just two years ago and 34% higher than in 2007.
“We believe that this is the first-time gender equality has ever been documented across the 100 top-grossing films,” said the study authors. They defined a leading role as a “character who was the central force accomplishing the story’s purpose,” and included co-leads in their assessment.
The “It’s a Man’s (Celluloid) World: Portrayals of Female Characters in the Top Grossing U.S. Films of 2024” report from the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University also concluded that 2024 was a record-breaking year.
“For the first time in recent history, the percentage of top grossing films featuring female protagonists equaled the percentage of films with male protagonists in 2024,” said the report, which determined that 42% of films had female protagonists and 42% had male protagonists. That study defined protagonists as “the characters from whose perspective the story is told.”
Based on its data, the percentage of U.S. top grossing films featuring sole female protagonists increased from 28% (28.3%) in 2023 to 42% (41.8%) last year. From 2023 to 2024, the percentage of sole male protagonists in top grossing films dropped 20%.
Box office rankings for the Annenberg study were pulled from Box Office Mojo, which lists the top five films of 2024 as: Inside Out 2, Deadpool & Wolverine, Moana 2, Despicable Me 4 and Wicked. Out of these films, Inside Out, Moana 2 and Wicked all have female protagonists. Universal, the distributor of Despicable Me 4, was the top distributor of the year and it had the highest percentage of movies centered on girls and women at 66.7%, the Annenberg study noted.
While the studies noted that 2024 was a “step forward” for the representation of women in high-grossing films, both noted that representation fell for women over age 45. According to the San Diego State University study, most female characters were in their 20s and 30s (58%), while majority of male characters were in their 30s and 40s (56%).
“Female characters experienced a precipitous drop from their 30s to their 40s (35% to 16%),” the study said. “The percentage of male characters in their 30s and 40s actually increased from 25% in their 30s to 31% in their 40s. Male characters experienced a more dramatic decline in numbers from their 40s (31%) to their 50s (16%).
The Annenberg study found that just eight single led/co led films featured a woman 45 years of age or older at the time of theatrical release last year, while 21 featured a man in the same age bracket. Notable films led by women age 45 or older were Inside Out 2 with Amy Poehler, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice with Winona Ryder, Babygirl with Nicole Kidman and The Substance with Demi Moore.
“While established actresses over 50 played attention-getting roles in 2024 – including Demi Moore in The Substance – ageism remains an issue,” said the San Diego State University Study. “These female characters stand out, but are the exception and not the rule.”
This also means that women actors do not have the same guarantee for career longevity that men in the field have, the Annenberg study noted.
Furthermore, the San Diego State University study found that 72% of films featured more male than female characters in speaking roles and only 21% of films had more female than male characters. From 2023 to 2024, the percentage of films with speaking roles for female characters increased just 2%.
We’re not even two months into 2025, so its hard to tell if representation for women in top-grossing films will continue this year. Box Office Mojo statistics as of this Saturday showed that at least one female-led film (One of Them Days with Keke Palmer and SZA) was in the top 5 grossing films of the year so far.