Even after the success of films like Barbie and Five Nights At Freddy’s, 2024 finds women left on the side lines again.
2023 was an excellent year for women making films, as we pointed out in our 2023 recap episode of the Film Stories podcast. Not only was Greta Gerwig’s Barbie the year’s highest grossing film and the highest grossing film for a woman director ever, films such as Celine Song’s excellent Past Lives and Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla enjoyed critical acclaim. Emma Tammi’s Five Nights At Freddy’s also made an absolute killing at the box office, becoming Blumhouse’s biggest hit ever.
2024 is also shaping up to look pretty good for film fans, but a closer look reveals that it’s not looking great for women. Looking at the official 2024 release calendar, there’s a notable lack of blockbusters like Barbie being directed by female filmmakers. Sigh.
In fact, when I typed “2024 films by women” into Google, I was offered only Drive-Away Dolls. Sure, the film centres on two women, played by Margaret Qualley and Geraldine Viswanathan, but crucially, it’s directed by Ethan Coen. Double-sigh. Although, it should be noted that the film is co-written by Coen’s wife, Tricia Cooke.
Today (2nd January), Variety ran two stories on two different studies that proved that, despite the success of Barbie and Five Nights At Freddy’s, most directing gigs are still going to men.
A study by USC Annenberg’s Inclusion Initiative called the industry’s promises to support inclusivity mostly “performative” while a study conducted by the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University saw that only 16 percent of the year’s top 250 films were directed by women.
Looking at 2024, there’s a lot to get excited about initially. We’ll have new films from Ava DuVernay and Rose Glass as well the Amy Winehouse biopic helmed by Sam Taylor-Johnson. While 2024 will be a quiet year for superhero films, we do have the Dakota Johnson-starring Madame Web, directed by SJ Clarkson, to look forward to. Kelly Marcel is also in the director’s chair for Venom 3, which will see Tom Hardy back as Eddie Brock and the titular gooey monster.
After a quick count, I found 12 feature films, from major studios and/or distributors, with female directors with confirmed UK cinema release dates.
Out of the 12, two are only co-directed by women (those would be Mean Girls and Sony’s Horrorscope). This isn’t an exhaustive list, new releases will certainly be added as the year moves forward, but even so, 12 is a disappointing number after the year we’ve just had.
There will also be plenty of spectacular indie films from women, but women are clearly still pushed to the sidelines in Hollywood, even after Barbie and Five Nights At Freddy’s proved that women are capable of making hit films that bring people to the cinema. It’s almost like Hollywood didn’t get that memo.
Perhaps we’ll see a delayed response; after all, most 2024 releases will have been in the works long before Barbie smashed all expectations and box office predictions.
Disappointingly, it still seems that most blockbuster films in 2024 are made by men, even the ones that supposedly tell women’s stories. Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things follows Emma Stone’s Bella Baxter as she finds her identity and sexuality. Poor Things is one of the early Oscar-favourites and will likely bring Stone her second Best Actress Oscar for her utterly fearless turn as the childlike Bella. George Miller returns to the world of Mad Max with Furiosa, a prequel that focuses on the titular heroine’s early years.
As for franchises, Fede Alvarez takes the reins for a new Alien film, subtitled Romulus, which stars Priscilla’s Cailee Spaeny. The year’s only Marvel film will come from Shawn Levy in the form of Deadpool 3. Denis Villeneuve returns with Dune Part II and Todd Phillips tries his luck again with Joker: Folie A Deux.
Meanwhile, Kelsey Mann will helm Inside Out 2, which finds Riley struggling with new emotions brought on by adolescence, such as Anxiety. It’s hard not to be disappointed by having a male director grapple a young woman’s changing emotional landscape in a sequel to one of the most groundbreaking animated films of all time, especially after we had such intricate, insightful films about young women in 2023 such as Priscilla and Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.
As great of a year as 2023 was for films helmed by women, there were a few flops there too.
The Marvels had an abysmal time in cinemas and director Nia DaCosta came under fire for delivering a lacklustre sequel to a $1bn film. Susanna Fogel’s ambitious and bold Cat Person also failed to make a splash, with audiences and critics alike. Yet, most of the big box office disappointments of the year (Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny, The Flash, The Creator, Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom) were made by men and no one is talking about not letting James Mangold make another franchise film.
None of this is to say that we shouldn’t be excited for the many great films heading to our screens this year. It’s just to highlight that even when we exceed expectations, women are still short changed in Hollywood.
Will things ever change? I’d bloody hope so, but 2024 isn’t exactly filling me with confidence. I’m hoping I’ll end up eating my words in December 2024 and I’ll get to look back at a year where the playing field was somewhat level and fair.
I’m not holding my breath though.
