Universal Pictures
A new study has found that promises of more diversity following the racial injustice-fueled protests during the summer of 2020 made by Hollywood studios were largely empty.
In a report commissioned by the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative at the University of Southern California, claims from major Hollywood studios that they would make more projects directed by women and/or minority groups have been categorized as “performative acts” and “not real steps towards fostering change.”
The USC report found that a total of 116 directors were attached to the 100 top-grossing domestic films in 2023, but just 14 of them, or 12.1%, were women.
The study’s authors also found that 26 directors (22.4%) of the top 100 grossing movies in 2023 were from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups. That number of underrepresented directors was essentially stagnant from 2022, when the percentage stood at 20.7%. [via Variety]
In contrast to the findings of the USC study is the fact that Barbie, the highest-grossing movie of 2023, was directed by a woman: Greta Gerwig.
There’s also the fact that the reigning Best Picture winner Everything Everywhere All At Once was produced by a team made up producer team that’s 66% Asian-American (Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert, and Jonathan Wang).
Of the other top-10 highest-grossing movies of 2023, another two were directed by minorities: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers) and Elemental (Peter Sohn).