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2023 Marked ‘Historic Low’ for Women in Leading Film Roles, According to New Study: ‘This Is an Industry Failure’

Despite 'Barbie's' big box office, 2023 marked a historic low for women in leading roles, according to a USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative report.

In order of box office receipts, those 14 women were: Halle Bailey (“The Little Mermaid”), Dominique Fishback (“Transformers: Rise of the Beasts”), Leah Lewis (“Elemental”), Melissa Barrera (“Scream VI”), Ariana DeBose (“Wish”), Fantasia Barrino (“The Color Purple”), Sophie Wilde (“Talk to Me”), Storm Reid (“Missing”), Salma Hayek (“Magic Mike’s Last Dance”), Lana Condor (“Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken”), Ashley Park (“Joy Ride”), Ayo Edebiri (“Bottoms”), Nichole Sakura (“Suzume”) and Greta Lee (“Past Lives”). Only 3 films featured a women 45 years of age or older in a lead or co-lead role: Keri Russell in “Cocaine Bear,” Nia Vardalos in “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” and Salma Hayek in “Magic Mike’s Last Dance,” who was also the only woman of color to make the list. Twenty-four of those parts were played by white men and 8 by underrepresented actors, including Bradley Cooper (“Maestro”), Cillian Murphy (“Oppenheimer”), Denzel Washington (“The Equalizer 3”), Harrison Ford (“Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny”), Jeffrey Wright (“American Fiction”), Keanu Reeves (“John Wick 4”), Leonardo DiCaprio (“Killers of the Flower Moon”), Paul Giamatti (“The Holdovers”), Tom Cruise (“Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning”) and Vin Diesel (“Fast X”).

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