Female-led films outperform male ones

Female-led films have consistently outperformed male-led movies at the box office, according to a study initiated by Time’s Up, the organization formed by prominent women in the entertainment industry to promote gender equality.

The study analyzed the 350 top-grossing films worldwide released between January 2014 and December 2017. Researchers found that in films with small, medium and large budgets, all averaged better global grosses when a woman was listed as the lead star.

Conducted by the talent agency Creative Artists Agency and the tech company shift, the study found that films that passed the Bechdel test do better, too. The Bechdel test, an invention of the cartoonist Alison Bechdel, rates whether a movie features two female characters having a conversation about something other than a man.

Researchers found every $1 billion film at the box office — including films like “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” “Jurassic World” and “Beauty and the Beast” — passed the Bechdel test. Among films that cost more than $100 million to make, the ones that passed the Bechdel test grossed on average $618 million worldwide, while those that didn’t averaged $413 million.

“Women comprise half the box office, yet there has been an assumption in the industry that female-led films led were generally less successful,” CAA agent Christy Haubegger, who participated in the research, said in a statement. “We found that the data does not support that assumption.”

For budget data and determining lead actor, researchers depended on data from the Nielsen’s box-office data collection company Gracenote. Gracenote’s Studio System defines a “female lead” as a woman who is listed first in official press materials.