Gender-Balanced Films Are More Profitable Than Those With Mostly Men, ReFrame Study Finds
According to Sundance and WIF's ReFrame study out Wednesday, movies that feature gender-balanced casts and crews are more profitable than those that just employ mostly men.
However, only 30 of the 100 most popular films of 2024 actually meet the criteria for a ReFrame Stamp based on gender-balanced production, per IMDbPro data.
'Since the brief climb captured in the first few years of the report between 2017 and 2019, progress for parity in feature films has stalled, with 30% or fewer projects receiving the ReFrame Stamp for the past five years,' the study shared. 'Despite their smaller share across the Top 100, Stamped films over-index on profitability, comprising half of the 10 top-grossing films in 2024, with 'Inside Out 2' following in 'Barbie's' footsteps as a Stamped film with a female lead that topped both the year's domestic and worldwide box offices.'
'Stamped films also receive lower budgets overall, but on average, Stamped theatrical releases within the Top 100 earned more than double their non-Stamped counterparts at the worldwide box office ($293.9MM for Stamped films compared to $117.8MM for non-Stamped films),' ReFrame continued. 'Stamped films garnering awards recognition also remains consistent, with three of the 10 films nominated for Best Picture at the 97th Academy Awards meeting ReFrame Stamp criteria: 'The Substance,' 'Wicked' and 'Emilia Pérez,' which tallied 26 nominations and five wins between them. Stamped films have accounted for three Best Picture nominations each year since the expansion to 10 nominees in 2022.'
Additional statistics revealed in the 2024 ReFrame Report on Gender and Hiring in Film include, and quote:
Films with larger budgets are less inclusive: over the last three years, the proportion of Stamped films at the highest budget level ($100M or more) is about half that of the lowest budget level ($15M or less).
The average budget for a Stamped film fell $18M (from $63M in 2023 to $45M in 2024) while budgets for non-Stamped films decreased $8M (from $76M in 2023 to $68M in 2024).
The number of women directors represented in the Top 100 films of 2024 fell from 2023 (20 to 14), and there were zero transgender or nonbinary directors and only five women of color (down from nine in 2023).
Lead acting roles reached parity, with 51 films starring women including one transgender woman. Of those 51 women, 17 were women of color.
Co-leads (the four largest supporting roles) frequently include women, with 97/100 films including a qualifying candidate. This year, four of 100 films include a nonbinary or transgender performer in a supporting role. However, ethnic diversity for co-lead performers dropped nearly a quarter (24.1%) from last year's 58 to 44.
Numbers for women screenwriters also fell 23.3% from 30 in 2023 to 23 in 2024, with steeper declines for women of color (eight last year and three this year).
Directors of photography, composers and visual effects supervisors remain three of the positions most lacking in representation, with women holding fewer than 10% of each role. In 2024, women accounted for three directors of photography, six visual effects supervisors and eight composers within the Top 100 films.
Direct-to-streaming releases comprised 21 of the Top 100 films and included more than 50% (11) Stamped films, while theatrical releases were only 30.7% Stamped (16/52) and limited theatrical releases were 37.5% Stamped (3/8).
You can find the full report by clicking here.
The post Gender-Balanced Films Are More Profitable Than Those With Mostly Men, ReFrame Study Finds appeared first on TheWrap.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Fast Company
a day ago
- Fast Company
Leading with Imagination: Lessons in Creativity from Pixar
In 1995, Pixar released Toy Story and set a new standard for animated films. Fast-forward 30 years, and the celebrated studio continues to redefine itself—and break box-office records with hits such as Inside Out 2. As Pixar gears up to release its next original film, Elio, hear from the chief creative officer, Pete Docter, on how the studio is innovating through industry challenges and how they've built a culture of creativity.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Disney Has Another Huge Hit at the Box Office. Is It Finally Time to Buy?
Walt Disney released a strong second-quarter report last month. Its newest film release, the live-action "Lilo and Stitch," just broke the record for the highest-grossing four-day Memorial Day opening weekend, It has five of the top-10 highest-grossing films domestically this year. 10 stocks we like better than Walt Disney › Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS) might be the top name in entertainment, but that doesn't automatically mean its stock is always in good shape. It's taken a pounding over the past few years as the company goes from one problem to the next, and it's down 44% from its all-time highs. Are things starting to stabilize? The company reported solid results for the 2025 fiscal second quarter (ended March 29), and its newest film release, the live-action Lilo and Stitch, had a fantastic opening weekend. Is now the time to buy on the rebound? Disney is a huge media and entertainment giant with many working pieces. Today, it divides its business into three segments: entertainment, sports, and experiences. Entertainment covers its content, including streaming, film releases, and network TV. Sports is its sports-related content, and experiences covers parks, as well as other experiences like cruises and resorts. When everything goes well, Disney is an unmatched powerhouse. But with so many moving parts, the whole gets weighed down by any disruption. Fortunately, in the most recently reported quarter, there was success all around. Total revenue was up 7% year over year, with increases in all three segments. Operating income more than doubled to $3.1 billion, driven by increases in streaming, which had been holding back profits for too long. Streaming subscriptions increased by 2.5 million from the previous quarter, and Disney+ is now firmly profitable and growing. Even linear networks, the traditional TV channels that are on the decline, managed a small operating profit increase in the quarter, and the weakest segment was sports, which reported a drop in operating income. Disney is still figuring out the sports piece as it transitions from a cable focus to a streaming one, and it recently said that it's offering ESPN as a full, direct-to-consumer offering starting this fall. It was just announced that Disney is acquiring popular sports show Inside the NBA, and it's aiming to keep its go-to status and attract paid viewers to the new venture. Disney felt some pressure with the Hollywood strikes two years ago, pushing back film production and delaying some releases. It bounced back last year, ending 2024 with the highest-grossing film worldwide, Inside Out 2, as well as the No. 3 spot, Moana 2, and the No. 6 spot, Mufasa: The Lion King. It's doing incredibly so far in 2025, with exactly half of the top 10 highest-grossing films domestically. The most recent release, Lilo and Stitch, came out on Memorial Day weekend and is already the second-highest-grossing film of the year, with $279 million in domestic box office sales. It shattered records to take in the highest four-day Memorial Day weekend sales ever, and it's already picked up more than $600 million in sales worldwide. Like Lilo and Stitch, many of the recent hits and upcoming releases depend on the well-worn Disney model of creating franchises and churning out content based on beloved characters. Every single one of its top 10 releases so far this year is a remake or sequel of sorts. Disney has another six films set to come out this year, of which only one is a new franchise. The other five include the third installment in the Avatar movies, and the first two Avatar movies hold the No. 1 and No. 3 spots for highest-grossing films ever. Incidentally, the No. 2 spot, Avengers: Endgame, belongs to a Disney franchise, too. Disney has many films already slated for release in 2026 and further out, including the fourth Avatar film, the next Frozen film, etc. These are almost guaranteed to be huge box office hits, and the creative teams spin these franchises into more content for streaming, as well as for use in products and theme parks. Disney is in a good place today, with a profitable streaming business, hit films, and an upcoming sports launch. It just announced a new round of layoffs, and although that could contain a warning, the market usually greets layoffs enthusiastically, since a leaner organization typically leads to a stronger bottom line. I wouldn't put too many eggs into Disney's basket yet, but where it's holding today, Disney looks like it's staged for a comeback, and its stock should reflect that. Before you buy stock in Walt Disney, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Walt Disney wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $656,825!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $865,550!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 994% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 172% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of June 2, 2025 Jennifer Saibil has positions in Walt Disney. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Walt Disney. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Disney Has Another Huge Hit at the Box Office. Is It Finally Time to Buy? was originally published by The Motley Fool
Gizmodo
3 days ago
- Gizmodo
The Final ‘Life of Chuck' Trailer Is Heavy on Critical Acclaim, and Rightfully So
Fifteen out of 16 is pretty good odds, right? Let me just do the math here… yes. That's like 94%. So if something happened 15 out of 16 times, including the 12 prior times, you'd have to say there's a very good chance something is going to happen again. What the hell am I talking about? Well, The Life of Chuck, the new Mike Flanagan film based on a novella by Stephen King, won the prestigious 'People's Choice Award' last year at the Toronto Film Festival. Fifteen of the last 16 films to win that award were nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards and it's happened the previous 12 times. Oh, and five of them have won. So yeah, Neon has every right to be confident about the film, which opens in limited release Friday and goes wide June 13. We'll have a full review later this week but, spoiler alert, we agree that it's fantastic—and in this final trailer for the movie, which is very, very spoiler free, you'll see the chorus of praise being heaped on it. What great about that trailer (If you can really even call it a 'trailer' at a whopping 75 seconds) is that it doesn't tell you anything about the movie except 'it's really freaking good.' What The Life of Chuck is actually about is right there in the title. It's the story of a man, played by Tom Hiddleston and others, who we watch live a life that seems relatively normal on the surface, but goes beyond in other places. It's so close to release, it would be a sin to spoil much more than that but it's told in reverse order as three separate, but related, stories, and as those critics say, it's wonderful. It also has an incredible cast, which is led by Hiddleston, but also has Mark Hamill, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Karen Gillan, Mia Sara, Matthew Lillard, Carl Lumbly, Harvey Guillén, Kate Siegel, Nick Offerman, David Dastmalchian, Rahul Kohli, Heather Langenkamp, and others. Everyone wanted to be a part of this one, and it's better off for it. Again, written and directed by Mike Flanagan based on a story by Stephen King, The Life of Chuck opens in limited release June 6 and everywhere on June 13. And, odds are, it's one that you'll have to see for those Oscar polls later this year.
