--- title: 'Maleficent,' 'X-Men' and 'Neighbors': How to Attract Women to Movies description: Want your summer movie to have a big opening weekend? Adding a female protagonist will help canonical: https://time.com/2811177/maleficent-female-summer-blockbusters/ author: Eliana Dockterman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-06-03T14:52:13.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:42:57.019Z og:title: 'Maleficent' and the Art of Attracting Women to Blockbusters og:description: Want your summer movie to have a big opening weekend? Adding a female protagonist will help og:url: https://time.com/2811177/maleficent-female-summer-blockbusters/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9f8852f5b816fa06/698690efcd6848d757094d34/tout12803.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1280 og:image:height: 720 og:image:alt: Maleficent Tells Her Story og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 'Maleficent' and the Art of Attracting Women to Blockbusters twitter:description: Want your summer movie to have a big opening weekend? Adding a female protagonist will help twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9f8852f5b816fa06/698690efcd6848d757094d34/tout12803.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How Hollywood Can Get More Women to See Movies > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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Worth Your Time is TIME's culture newsletter, published Tuesdays and Saturdays to 40,000 subscribers as of August 2026. #### Who writes TIME's culture recommendations? Culture editor Eliza Berman writes Worth Your Time, drawing on TIME's critics and culture desk. #### Is Worth Your Time free? Yes. It is a free newsletter available at time.com/newsletters.  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Jun 3, 2014 2:52 PM UTC  The Queen of Mean gets to tell her side in Disney's Maleficent The Queen of Mean gets to tell her side in Disney's Maleficent Walt Disney Pictures  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Jun 3, 2014 2:52 PM UTC Traditionally summer blockbusters are created for, marketed to and star men. And most major movies this summer fit that mold, including _Godzilla_, _The Amazing Spider-Man 2_ and _X-Men: Days of Future Past_. But _Maleficent_, a film starring a woman — and an evil woman at that — cast a spell on audiences with a $70 million opening weekend, hitting the high end of its prerelease expectations. Why is the Disney film doing so well? The answer is women: 60% of the movie’s over-25 audience was female. Which means the other 51% of the population _does_ matter when it comes to creating a box-office hit. Earlier this year, an analysis by Vocativ found that [movies with strong female roles make more money](http://entertainment.time.com/2014/01/03/movies-with-strong-female-roles-make-more-money/). This means movies that pass the Bechdel test — a simple evaluation that questions whether two women spoke to each other in the movie about something other than a man — score higher numbers at the domestic box office. And yet, 2013 was a dismal year for women in film: of the top 100 grossing films in 2013, women made up only 15% of the protagonists, 29% of the major characters and only 30% of all speaking characters, according to the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University. That trend seems to [slowly be changing](http://variety.com/2014/film/news/angelina-jolie-emily-blunt-shailene-woodley-break-up-summer-movie-boys-club-1201195772/). _The Heat_, _Frozen_ and _The Hunger Games_ were some of the industry’s biggest hits last year. This summer things look even better: Angelina Jolie, Emily Blunt, Shailene Woodley, Jennifer Lawrence, Cameron Diaz and Rose Byrne are all featured on the silver screen — along with a brood of male superheroes and a giant green lizard ([who we’ll call genderless](http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2014/05/16/godzilla%5Fmale%5For%5Ffemale%5Fwhat%5Fgender%5Fis%5Fthe%5Fmovie%5Fmonster.html)). Studios are finally catching on. Unsurprisingly, movies with the most robust roles for women drew the highest percentage of females: _The Other Woman_’s audience was 75% female; _Maleficent_’s 60%; and _Neighbors_’ 53%. The first film stars three actresses ([though their dialogue may be problematic](http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2014/04/24/306437557/the-other-woman-when-terrible-movies-happen-to-funny-actresses)), the second centers on [superstar Angelina Jolie](http://time.com/2812017/maleficent-angelina-jolie-best-paid/), and the third film actually lets Rose Byrne deliver almost as many jokes as co-stars Zac Efron and Seth Rogen.  Rose Byrne in Neighbors Universal (A word on the sneaky feminism of _Neighbors_: as he promotes the movie, screenwriter and star Seth Rogen has spoken about consciously subverting Hollywood’s gender stereotypes. “That actually became the most exciting idea of the movie to us,” Rogen [told Studio360](http://www.studio360.org/story/seth-rogen-grows-up-and-critics-with-attitude/#). “That we could portray a couple where the wife is just as fun-loving and irresponsible as the guy, and they get along really well. In a comedy that’s almost nonexistent.” _Neighbors_ features a fantastic scene in which married couple Rogen and Byrne debate who gets to be the irresponsible one in the relationship. He says she has to be because she’s the woman and the woman is always the wet towel. She says that’s not fair and refuses to act as his babysitter. Keep writing dialogue like this, Rogen!) Meanwhile, movies with less interesting parts for women didn’t pull as many ladies into theaters. _X-Men: Days of Future Past_ counts Jennifer Lawrence, Halle Berry and Ellen Page among its stars, but Berry is given little to do except look worried and Page — whose character goes back in time in the comic books — spends the whole movie massaging Wolverine’s head while he takes her place as all-important time traveler. Lawrence gets plenty of screen time, but her character is a clear bid for young men’s tickets sales — the Oscar winner is covered in blue body paint for most of the film. So only 44% of _X-Men_‘s audience was female. _Godzilla_ and _The Amazing Spider-Man 2_, both of which offer pretty female flimsy roles, clock in at 42% female and 39% female, respectively. These movies still did well at the box office, but would more women have seen _X-Men_ if Kitty Pride (Page) was the character going back in time? My guess is yes. The theory will continue to be tested this week when two more movies with strong female protagonists — _The Fault in Our Stars_, starring Woodley, and _Edge of Tomorrow_, co-starring Blunt along with Tom Cruise — open in theaters. The takeaway? Getting a lot of women to see your movie is not _essential_ to its success. Superhero and monster movies will continue to draw big crowds: _Spider-Man_, _X-Men_ and _Godzilla_ all had at least $90 million opening weekends. But courting more women certainly doesn’t hurt. 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