It’s about time.
In 2024 the percentage of top-grossing films featuring female protagonists matched the percentage of films with male protagonists for the first time in recent history. According to the latest installment of Dr. Martha Lauzen‘s annual It’s a Man’s (Celluloid) World report, 42% of the 100 top-grossing films domestically had female protagonists while another 42% had male protagonists. Of the remainder, 16% featured ensembles.
But will it last?
For the purposes of the study, protagonists are the characters from whose perspective the story is told. Whether the achievement will be lasting or only a blip on the continuum of Dr. Lauzen’s two-plus decade survey remains to be seen.
In 2023, 28% of the 100 top-grossing films were told from a female perspective. That was down from 33% in 2022 and 31% in 2021.
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Given the percentages are taken from a fairly small sample size of 100 films, small fluctuations alter the number dramatically from year to year.
In contrast, the percentages for all speaking characters and major female characters are calculated on over 2,000 characters, rendering them more stable.
The percentages of female characters in speaking roles increased only 2 percentage points from 35% in 2023 to 37% in 2024. The percentage of major female characters rose a single percentage point, from 38% in 2023 to 39% in 2024.
“2024 offered one of the richest slates of films featuring female protagonists in recent memory. These fictional women railed against unsatisfying personal relationships and discriminatory work environments. Films such as The Substance pushed back hard against a culture that considers women disposable,” said Lauzen, who is founder and executive director of the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University. “While the number of films with female protagonists rose to a historic high in 2024 after a dismally lean 2023, the percentages of women in the more stable categories of major and speaking roles reflected only minor gains.”
Established actresses over 50 played attention-getting roles in 2024, including Demi Moore in The Substance. However, ageism remains an issue, with men garnering a much larger percentage of roles as the ages of characters increase.
“These female characters are the exception, not the rule,” observed Lauzen. “Age is a foundational characteristic. If we limit the age of female characters on screen, we limit the kinds of experiences and lives we see them live. Our films largely fail to take advantage of the depth of character that comes from women’s lived experiences and the added dramatic push characters confront when they know they’re in their third act.”
The percentage of female characters plummeted from 35% in their 30s to 16% in their 40s. In stark contrast, the percentage of male characters increased as they moved from their 30s (25%) to their 40s (31%). More than twice as many male characters as females were 50 and older.
Overall, 72% of films featured more male than female characters in speaking roles. Only 21% of films had more female than male characters, and 7% of films featured equal numbers of female and male characters.
Now in its 23rd year, It’s a Man’s (Celluloid) World is the longest-running and most comprehensive project examining women’s representation in film available. Between 2002 and 2024, the project has analyzed the representation of more than 31,000 characters.
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