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The Hollywood sign appears March 6 near the Dolby Theatre, site of Sunday’s 96th Academy Awards in Los Angeles.
Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP
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Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP
The Hollywood sign appears March 6 near the Dolby Theatre, site of Sunday’s 96th Academy Awards in Los Angeles.
Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP
Ahead of Hollywood’s biggest night, UCLA released a new study Thursday analyzing diversity within the film industry.
It found that people of color made gains in major categories in 2023: movie leads, total actors, directors and writers. However, women suffered losses in the acting and writing categories. According to the study, both groups remain underrepresented in all major job categories.
Hollywood was in a difficult situation in 2023, still recovering from the pandemic and suffering from strikes by the Writers Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild. But movies like Barbie and The Hunger Games: The Ballad of the Songbirds and the Snakes helped boost the box office, according to the study, which examined domestic and global revenue from theatrically released films.
The study found that in 2023, films with casts made up of 31 to 40 percent people of color earned the highest average box office receipts globally, while films with casts made up of 11 percent of people of color had the worst results. The study also found that female moviegoers bought the majority of domestic opening weekend tickets for three of the top 10 films in 2023.
The studio noted that franchise films posted the highest profits of their film series when they embraced greater diversity. Examples included movies like Creed 3, Shout 6and John Wick: Chapter 4which featured lead actors of color and casts with 50 percent or more actors of color.
“Films that embrace diversity are more likely to resonate with audiences, leading to box office success and ultimately the long-term sustainability of the industry,” Darnell Hunt wrote in a statement. Hunt is the executive vice chancellor and provost of UCLA, and a co-founder of the report.
Behind the scenes, representation of lead actors, total actors, directors and writers of color reached 11-year highs. Additionally, top films with more than 50 percent cast diversity outperformed less diverse films. But the study warns that these figures are likely a reflection of decisions made in 2020, after the murder of George Floyd. “The question is whether this upward diversity trend will continue,” Hunt wrote.
According to the study, women did not make any progress in top Hollywood jobs in 2023. The only category in which they remained stagnant was directing, where 1.5 in 10 theatrical film directors were women. Films directed by white women were found to be most likely to have the lowest budgets, despite the enormous success of Barbiewhich grossed more than $1.4 billion worldwide.
While this study only examined theatrical releases, a separate study looking at the streaming industry will be published later this year.