Post by jakir12 on Feb 15, 2024 1:09:09 GMT -6
What really sells at the movie box office? For years, the answer for movie studios, distributors and executives has been clear: a white male lead. However, according to a new study conducted by the University of Southern California (USC), this long-held belief could be called into question. The report from the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative , led by communications professor Dr. Stacy L. Smith, suggests that the identity of protagonists has little to do with success at the box office. The finding opens the conversation about the biases that persist in the film industry, and questions the implications of the lack of representation of other characters in film narratives.
Box office success The USC Annenberg study examined a sample of 126 top-grossing live-action films from the years 2021 and 2022, focusing on the factors that contributed to their box office success. They specifically focused on films with single protagonists, excluding remakes or plots with co-stars or ensemble casts. The study's most significant finding Italy Email List was that films with male or white leads did not perform better theatrically than films led by female characters or underrepresented groups. In other words, there is no "significant benefit" to having a white male lead in a leading role. However, there lies a deeper systemic problem here. Theatrical support for films with such protagonists remains significantly higher than for films with other protagonists.
Women consistently receive fewer resources for the production of their films. Films with white male leads or underrepresented male leads have higher promotional budgets than those with white or underrepresented female leads. Professor Smith put it clearly: “Films about white male characters are still being released more frequently by studios and distributors. The system was built to favor the narrative about one group: white men. "It's the way executives support movies about white men that drives their success, not the protagonists themselves." Other conclusions of the study reveal a similar bias. More than half of the films with the highest budgets ($100 million or more) in the two-year period had white male leads. Meanwhile, 15.8 percent featured a white protagonist, and only 10.5 percent had an underrepresented female protagonist.
Box office success The USC Annenberg study examined a sample of 126 top-grossing live-action films from the years 2021 and 2022, focusing on the factors that contributed to their box office success. They specifically focused on films with single protagonists, excluding remakes or plots with co-stars or ensemble casts. The study's most significant finding Italy Email List was that films with male or white leads did not perform better theatrically than films led by female characters or underrepresented groups. In other words, there is no "significant benefit" to having a white male lead in a leading role. However, there lies a deeper systemic problem here. Theatrical support for films with such protagonists remains significantly higher than for films with other protagonists.
Women consistently receive fewer resources for the production of their films. Films with white male leads or underrepresented male leads have higher promotional budgets than those with white or underrepresented female leads. Professor Smith put it clearly: “Films about white male characters are still being released more frequently by studios and distributors. The system was built to favor the narrative about one group: white men. "It's the way executives support movies about white men that drives their success, not the protagonists themselves." Other conclusions of the study reveal a similar bias. More than half of the films with the highest budgets ($100 million or more) in the two-year period had white male leads. Meanwhile, 15.8 percent featured a white protagonist, and only 10.5 percent had an underrepresented female protagonist.