The Producer’s Guild of America recently released a “toolkit” containing a slew of data regarding female-led movies in an attempt to get Hollywood executives to change their tune regarding the profitability of said movies. So basically, they’re releasing data about things that you and I already knew about.
The toolkit (read: study), contains a heap of information regarding the success of movies that feature either female protagonists, female directors, or stories simply tailored to a female audience. For example:
The first installment of the Hunger Games franchise grossed over $152 million on opening weekend, and its audience was made up of 61% women and 39% men. Catching Fire, its sequel, earned over $158 million opening weekend, and this time around, women accounted for 49% of moviegoers. The third installment, Mockingjay–Part 1, landed the biggest domestic box office weekend of 2014, with women comprising 60% of the audience. Catching Fire and Mockingjay– Part 1 were the first and second top-grossing domestic movies in 2013 and 2014 respectively. Prior to 2013, a female-led film had not topped the box office in 40 years since The Exorcist. Female audiences and protagonists have become powerful catalysts in achieving box office success.
The PGA Women’s Impact Network, a group of female filmmakers within the guild, created the toolkit with the hope that “producers and filmmakers will use these statistics as ‘tools’ when creating financing proposals to counter those who see gender as limiting.” Armed with this kit and these statistics, the hope is that those who pitch and create these stories now have the information they need to argue and fight back against stuffy execs who don’t understand that hey we have money to spend, too, jerks.
(via The Hollywood Reporter)
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