Well, well, well: who says ladies don’t want superhero thriller movies and science fiction action-comedies? The long-held line by many a studio has been thusly for awhile now — despite all us lady nerds yelling out otherwise. But now we’ve finally got some numbers to back up our claims, thanks to a heck of a lot of you going to see Guardians of the Galaxy.
According to exit polling done at screenings of the film this weekend — you know, the weekend the film destroyed the previous record for an August weekend box office? — and as it stands, a whopping 44 percent of attendees were women. Fourty four percent!
You do realize this is a big deal, yes? If not, allow us to tell you that it is, in fact, pretty cool. Previously, the biggest share of female viewership in the Marvel Cinematic Universe was a high of 40 percent when The Avengers came out. A huge uptick it is not, but it should also be noted that it is proof that the time for a female superhero film is nigh.
Or, you know, in the very least it should force marketers to realize that women want to see these sorts of films so maybe forgoing marketing (and products! #WheresGamora?) to half of the population isn’t exactly the best strategy. Not anymore (nor has it really been the case for a while now).
Overall it’s a pretty exciting bit of numerical information that we really, really hope the suits over at Marvel (and any other movie studio for that matter) are taking note on.
Did you see Guardians of the Galaxy this weekend? What’d you think? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
I saw it this weekend and loved it. I always have gone to / loved marvel movies and cartoons. My favorite character was Groot.
It was perhaps cheesy and awful, but I was way into the CW “Birds of Prey” series and a little heartbroken when it was canceled.
Saw it TWICE! in three days (no shame). I actually didn’t go for Pratt, I went because it looked awesome and funny. I am seriously ticked about the lack of Gamora merch because she’s truly awesome. Can’t even buy a simple mug at Walmart without the female lead being left off. #WheresGamora indeed.
I went to see it with my son. We loved it. My daughter would love it but she is only 3 and isn’t quite ready for the movie theater.
I went and absolutely loved it! It is definitely my favorite Marvel movie and am planning on paying to see it a few more times!!
I went with a friend & my 2 boys. We loved it, would have been better if some people hadn’t talked through it. As usual, myself, my friend, my oldest & other scattered fans were laughing at certain parts that the rest of the crowd didn’t get or knew nothing about. Enjoyed it enough to see it 2ce.
My friends and I all went to see the premiere and were reading comics in line and were still asked if we were only there for Chris Pratt. It’s kind of shocking that no matter how much women can literally yell about how much they love comic books and superhero movies and we only get told that we like them because of the hot lead. Chris Pratt (and the other attractive Marvel men) are just a really nice bonus!
Meant to add that I totally get women who do go to movies for the guys. We shouldn’t be condemned for why we choose to go to movies.
Women have always been big fans of sci-fi fiction in all genres. Good to see that the movie companies are gearing their promotion though not just to the guys out there…
I went with my girlfriends on opening night. It’s a pretty simple reason: the film looked awesome ^_^
It looked really funny and seemed to be different from the other usual Marvel films, so we watched and we weren’t disappointed.
Girls LOVE ROCKET and THE GROOT, because its FREAKIN CUTE!!!!!!!!!!! “WE ARE GROOT” XDD
Girls didn’t go see this because of gamora…. We went because Chris Pratt looks fucking hotttt without a shirt 😉 he was totally worth seeing. We totally love hot heroes <3
We don’t, strictly speaking, need a female lead superhero film. We need to have female actresses in roles that could be played by either gender for the purposes of showing a more inclusive world. The more we are exposed to men and women in the similar roles, doing similar things and being treated equitably, the more we are willing to accept that that is an acceptable world view and the sooner it will happen.
I would love to have a *really good* superhero film with a female lead, but please do not rush to make just any old piece of garbage film and slap T&A in the title role. That will simply tick a bunch of people off and is a recipe for disaster.
We as an audience are ready to consume a female superhero film, now we just need the studios to be ready to make one that is on par with the previous MCU films.
Gina Davis wrote a piece for THR back in December 2013: “Two Easy Steps to Make Hollywood Less Sexist…” In it, she very succinctly identified the first step that exactly relates to your point:
“Step 1: Go through the projects you’re already working on and change a bunch of the characters’ first names to women’s names. With one stroke you’ve created some colorful unstereotypical female characters that might turn out to be even more interesting now that they’ve had a gender switch. What if the plumber or pilot or construction foreman is a woman? What if the taxi driver or the scheming politician is a woman? What if both police officers that arrive on the scene are women — and it’s not a big deal?”
Of course, this doesn’t exactly apply to characters that already exist in comic or literary cannon, but it does offer a path forward that creates diversity while not relying on gender stereotypes.
It really makes me sad when people say there doesn’t need to be a female superhero. If nothing else, think about the little kids who look up to superheroes as role models. By excluding heroes like Ms. Marvel and Spiderwoman, you’re telling little girls that they can’t be superheroes. By continuing to avoid releasing a movie starring a female hero as the main character, you’re telling little girls (and, yeah, older ones too) that they aren’t good enough to be the main character in their story. Marvel’s doing a decent job making women into real characters instead of love interests with Black Widow, but they could do more. Like, a lot more.
Related true story: I was volunteering at Legoland with their full scale Lego X-Wing, and we lady pilots comprised about half the folks in orange that weekend. One little girl, after seeing us, turned to her brother, punched him in the arm, and said, “See? I TOLD you girls can fly X-Wings!” This stuff matters! Kids notice these things, and having more female superheroes would mean the world to a lot of little girls.
you and me both!
anonaly: Taking it on faith that the Bechdel test works or matters in any practical way is just as illogical as buying into false stereotypes. Today’s idea of social insight consists of an abstract concept being grasped at by an absurd number of obtuse individuals. The Bechdel test is a silly anti-intellectual prefabricated buzz-magnet topic invented by a pseudo-academic “artist” in an effort to further her career, plain and simple.
Saying a film has a negative impact regardless of context is downright stupid. If there are evils perpetrated by men, the Bechdel test would have you ignore them in favor of empowering women to be just as evil.
If you’re goin to movies to “oogle the ladies” you’re doing it wrong. Don’t know if you read this article or not but I don’t see where it said anything about dudes thinking fan girls specifically wanting anything.. That’s not why I go. I rarely go out to theaters. Though next on my list is the DBZ film.
To each their own and if that is your reasoning, good for you. However, I don’t go to see movies of any kind to simply oogle the lead. I go to be entertained by hopefully a good story and characters. I love the action, and in this case the comedy, of a superhero adventure. I want to see a kick ass female led movie, because I enjoy kick ass female led movies. I will continue to go and see the male leads and the ensemble casts. I saw GotG three times this past weekend. I also want to see a powerful and just as well represented female lead though.
Yeah, Chris Pratt is hot, but I don’t go to the cinema simply because the guy is hot (Thor aside…). If I want to watch hot guys… well, let’s just say my computer can accommodate quite well for that.
Hahaha
I do. I love a movie with a strong female action lead. Things like Kill Bill. I don’t think I can explain why. I just love seeing women being represented a just as strong and capable. I don’t want to be catered to for the sake of being catered to, but I do want to see more female led action films because I genuinely enjoy them and with all the amazing super-heroines out there, why not. I’d love to see Captain Marvel or She-Hulk on the big screen because I love those characters.
You’re so right. Like last week I asked three people if they liked jelly tots and three of them said yes. Therefore, everyone likes jelly tots.
That’s only in the comics.
there was 3 blade movies and nick fury in avengers, but i agree they should add a more diverse superhero in the mix