As Hollywood tries to fix many issues like lack of diversity and lack of women’s representation in films, a new study indicates that the industry has to catch up with streaming services.
The Hollywood Diversity Report released last week shows that streaming services have more females playing the leads than the ones coming from the studios.
The report also observes that studios have to be mindful of the changing demographics in the population if they want audiences to watch them.
A news report quoted Ana-Christina Ramon, director of the Entertainment and Media Research Initiative at the University of California, Los Angeles, which produces the report, as saying, “Our research shows that diversity in the movies is just good business.”
Insights from the report:
- At least one-third of streaming films had a minority actor in the lead role last year. However, only 22 percent of theatrical releases did, the report said.
- Women and men constitute equal shares of the leads of streaming films, with the split closer to 60-40 in favor of men at the cinemas.
- ‘Turning Red’ and ‘Encanto’ were both the most-streamed films of 2022 and both animated movies were about the coming of age stories about people of color.
“These films were culturally specific yet universally relatable,” said Ramo.
