Hollywood sees setback in industry representation

LOS ANGELES — Film studios have largely retreated from diversity in casting and creative roles despite evidence that movies with diverse casts perform better at the box office, according to the latest Hollywood Diversity Report from University of California, Los Angeles.

The 12th annual report, which analyzed the top 200 films released globally in theaters in 2024, found opportunities for people of color declined across all key employment areas after recent historic gains. Women saw mixed results, with increased lead roles but continued underrepresentation behind the camera.

Researchers found a stark disconnect between audience preferences and studio offerings, as films with casts reflecting America's diverse population consistently outperformed less diverse counterparts domestically and internationally.

"Last year, we celebrated some historic highs for people of color in the industry," said Ana-Christina Ramón, co-founder of the report and director of UCLA's Entertainment and Media Research Initiative. "But 2024 saw a widespread reversal, as film studios retreated from racial and ethnic diversity in front of and behind the camera."

The retreat comes as the industry continues to struggle in the wake of the pandemic and the 2023 strikes, with fewer wide releases in 2024 than the previous year, according to the report. It also documented only 104 English-language films among the top 200 globally, down from 109 in 2023.

Despite this rollback, films featuring diverse casts continued to demonstrate strong financial performance. Movies with casts comprised of 41% to 50% people of color, like "Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire" and "Venom: The Last Dance," earned the highest median global box office receipts at $234.6 million. They were released in the most international and domestic markets on average.

"Diversity is a key part of the big financial picture," said Jade Abston, one of the report's co-authors and a doctoral candidate in cinema media studies at UCLA. "Diversity travels. When a film lacks diverse faces and perspectives, it's just not as appealing here and abroad."

By contrast, films in the 11% to 20% cast diversity range saw the lowest median global box-office sales at $33.3 million.

People of color continue to drive domestic ticket sales, making up the majority of moviegoers for 12 of the top 20 films, including seven of the top 10. Women also represented the majority of ticket buyers for eight of the top 20 movies during opening weekends.

However, despite these audience trends, the industry showed significant regression in representation. Films with less than 11% actors of color more than doubled to 18.4% from 8.5% in 2023, reaching the highest level since 2017. The share of main cast roles for actors of color declined, reversing an upward trajectory that had been building since 2019.

Behind the camera, 80% of all directors and co-directors of top films were white, while 91.5% of all writers and co-writers were white, with white men accounting for 149 out of 189 total film writers.The report found that 2024 saw a significant drop in the share of films written by people of color, falling to 12.5% from the previous year's series-high 22.2%.

Women did see some gains, with their share of leading roles jumping from 32.1% in 2023 to 47.6% in 2024, a level almost proportionate to the population. However, films with white women in lead roles were disproportionately allocated smaller budgets, with 31.4% receiving less than $10 million.Darnell Hunt, report co-founder and executive vice chancellor and provost at UCLA, had warned about the potential for such a reversal in last year's report.

"The writing was on the wall, as we previously saw the loss of executive positions and programs focused on diversity," Hunt said. "For the studios, it seems that it wasn't about investing in what our data has shown to be profitable. They went with what they considered safe."

The researchers emphasized this retreat from diversity represents missed opportunities, as films with population-representative casts achieved the highest median return on investment. Meanwhile, films in the bottom two categories for diversity (0 to 20% people of color) posted the lowest median return on investment.

"Leaders should realize that the track to success is a marathon, not a sprint," said co-author Michael Tran, a doctoral candidate in sociology. "The key to long-term sustainability — and profits — is the continued progress in showing diverse characters and stories, not stalling or falling backward."

Ramón noted that enthusiasm among diverse audiences was selective in 2024. People of color turned out for big-budget blockbusters with diverse stars on opening weekend but showed less interest in other wide releases throughout the year.

"It's an enthusiasm gap. Perhaps it's a marketing issue, but audiences weren't coming out in droves to see just any film in 2024 if it did not directly appeal to them," Ramón said. "It's important for the industry to pay attention to what moviegoers, especially women and people of color who repeatedly drive ticket sales, want."

The report highlighted young adult women, particularly women of color, are a vital consumer base. For 19 of the top 20 films, young women of color comprised the majority of 18 to 34-year-old female moviegoers surveyed. Overall, women of color represented the largest share of moviegoers for six of the top 20 films, including "Inside Out 2", the highest-grossing film of 2024, and "It Ends With Us."

"Don't take women and people of color for granted at the box office," Ramón cautioned industry leaders.

The findings come as horror (21.2%) and drama (19.2%) emerged as the most common genres among top films in 2024, displacing action and comedy from their previous dominance.

The report highlighted successful diverse films, including Jon M. Chu's Oscar-nominated Wicked and the Lupita Nyong'o-led A Quiet Place: Day One, demonstrating how screen diversity can drive box office success.

Additional findings from the report showed the 11 films featuring multiracial leads posted the highest median global box office at $96 million and were distributed on average in the second-most international markets.

In 2024, over 30% of the cast were people of color, appearing in 13 of the top 20 films and five of the top 10 at the global box office. The casts of seven of the top 10 films were over 40% female.

In terms of disability representation, the report found only 5% of actors had a known disability, with less than 1% of all roles played by an actor with a visible disability. The share of movies at or exceeded proportionate representation of actors with disabilities declined from 12.2% in 2023 to 9.7% in 2024.

The report also noted significant gaps in representation for certain groups. No Asian women or Latino actors, along with Native, Middle Eastern, or North African actors of any gender, led top films in theaters. Only one of the top films had a Latina lead.

Directors of color were more likely to helm releases with budgets exceeding $100 million, followed closely by white men. However, white men directed 20 of these high-budget features, while people of color directed only six.

The share of films directed by women was 15.4%, similar to last year's 14.7%. Of the top 200 English-language films in theaters last year, 16 had women directors, five of whom were women of color. Within that select group, a single movie, Moana 2, had a budget of $100 million or more.

White women directors were more likely than white men or people of color to helm films with lower budgets, with 45.5% of their films having budgets less than $20 million.

For the first time since 2015, the report found casts consisting mainly of people of color were the poorest performers. The researchers suggested their smaller share of total films, with half shown in less than 3,000 domestic theaters, impacted their median box office sales.

The report also pointed to changes in the theatrical landscape. The top 20 films mainly came from established franchises. Only three offerings, including the animation 'The Wild Robot,' were not part of an established film series.

As domestic ticket sales continue to lag behind pre-pandemic numbers, the researchers stressed the importance of diverse audiences and the reflection of their experiences in casts and stories. Among the top 20 films where white audiences made up the greatest share of opening weekend box-office sales, only one achieved a number-one ranking for its opening weekend.

The report's authors cautioned against interpreting the financial underperformance of films with majority-POC casts as evidence against diversity, noting that these films faced distribution challenges. The analysis showed that half of these films were screened in fewer than 3,000 domestic theaters, limiting their potential reach and box office performance.

Despite the industry's retreat from diversity in 2024, the data consistently showed films with casts reflecting America's diverse population outperformed less diverse counterparts regarding return on investment, domestic box office, international appeal, and opening weekend rankings.

Hunt emphasized the pullback on diversity was guided by a misguided sense of caution rather than data-driven decision-making.

The researchers found four films – including Beetlejuice and Wicked – featured casts in which more than 20% of the actors had a known disability and made it into the top 20 films globally.

Despite the documented retreat from diversity in 2024, the researchers remain hopeful that the industry will recognize the value of representation in terms of cultural significance and financial return.