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.

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