Out of the top 100 movies in 2024, more than half featured a story centered on a female actor as a lead or co-lead, the first time representation has been above the US Census where girls and women comprise 50.5 per cent of the population, a 2025 report from the University of Southern California found.
However, representation fell for people of color in film, the report said.
The USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative examined 1,800 top-grossing films from 2007 to 2024 and assessed the gender, race and ethnicity as well as the ages of the leading and co-leading actors for each movie.
“This is the first time we can say that gender equality has been reached in top-grossing films,” said Dr Stacy L Smith, founder of the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative.
“This is not the result of an economic awakening, but is due to a number of different constituencies and efforts – at advocacy groups, at studios, through DEI initiatives – to assert the need for equality on screen,” Smith added.
Films like “Wicked” with lead Cynthia Erivo, “Anora” with lead Mikey Madison and Anya Taylor-Joy in “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” set the stage for these gains in Hollywood gender equality.
Out of the 100 top-grossing films of 2024, 54 featured a girl or woman in a lead or co-lead role, the USC report said.
This reflects an increase from 2023, when only 30 movies featured a female-identified protagonist.
Over half of the films distributed by Universal Pictures (66.7 per cent), Warner Bros. Pictures (55.6 per cent)and Lionsgate (54.5 per cent) featured a female actor as the lead or co-lead of the story, the report found.
About 40 per cent or more of films were centered on a female lead or co-lead at Paramount Pictures (44.4 per cent), Walt Disney Studios (40 per cent) and Sony Pictures Entertainment (38.5 per cent).
However, leads and co-leads from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups have declined significantly, as only 25 of the top 100 films featured a lead of color in 2024, a decrease from 2023, when 37 leads or co-leads were people of color.
A third of all Paramount Pictures films released in 2024 featured a lead or co-lead of color, with Lionsgate (27.3 per cent) and Universal Pictures (26.7 per cent) having similar demographics.
Walt Disney Studios (20 per cent), Sony Pictures Entertainment (15.4 per cent) and Warner Bros. Pictures (11.1 per cent) reflected even lower numbers.
In 2024, no distributors reached proportional representation with the US Census (41.6 per cent).
“This downturn signifies a lack of investment in storytelling that reflects the audience as a whole,” Smith said.
“The reality is that audiences want to see stories about women and people of color — studios and filmmakers do not have to choose between the two,” she added.
Thirteen films in 2024 had a woman of color lead or co-lead, which is similar to USC’s 2023 report and higher than the 2007 report.
“While this year’s findings mark a historic step towards proportional representation for women there is still work to be done for women of color,” said Katherine Neff, the study’s lead author.
