"Women Don't Go to Movies" -- Huh?

A little-known fact: some studios recently decided to no longer make female-lead movies.

Lately, I've been in meetings regarding a new script idea I have. A studio executive asked me to change the female lead to a male, because... "women don't go to movies."

Really?

When I pointed out the box office successes of Sex and The City, Mamma Mia, and Obsessed, he called them "flukes." He said "don't quote me on this." So, I'm telling everybody.

I'm in a new movie, My Life In Ruins, out in theaters now. It's a small indie, that was picked up for distribution by a studio (thank you Fox Searchlight.) We're in one-third, maybe less, about one-quarter of the amount of screens of the big movies...yet we made it into the Top Ten.

I'm not too cool to admit this -- on the weekend, I snuck into the back of the theaters to hear people laughing. It's a very good-mood-inspiring sound, better than the sound of potatoes being dipped into a fryer. (Almost.)

The theaters were full of people laughing. Women were there. Sure, men were there, we are a date movie too, but the fact is women were there, some in big girls night groups.

Our movie isn't "playing everywhere," yet these audience members found it. We had an advertising budget of about 6 bucks, Canadian. We don't have billboards, or giant newspaper ads, or skywriting. So I've been Twittering (NiaVardalos), loading homemade videos onto YouTube : "My Life In Ruins, Really!" and blabbing to anyone who makes eye contact with me.

It's called show business for a reason. The theater owners want to make money, and understandably so. My Life In Ruins is the highest testing movie in Fox Searchlight history so we've been given a chance. And, the theater owners said they'll keep the movie in their theaters if people go.

So, women: can we speak up with our wallets?

Comments

[Bearangaria]

Obviously it is a very sexist business.
This is not news. All the brainless,
discouraging quotes Nia cites are the norm.
It's no mystery why strong, story driven, women
populated films come more often from overseas
than from the US.
Europeans are far more interested in,
or at least less disturbed by, films which focus
on women, women's stories and issues, or
simply human stories and issues that include
and represent a fan of genders and ages, as
opposed to technological, testosterone driven
cartoons.
Nia Vardalos has done an excellent job of not
only hanging onto but climbing up the ladder.
But not many who are climbing have the energy,
time, or even interest to reach back and lend
a hand to others. Their own struggle to survive
is all encompassing and complicated enough.
This is not to say people do not help one another
but it is dicey.
Men, even women, in positions of power,
will advise the women they choose to assist to
make "adjustments" that serve the business as
it exists ,rather than challenge the system to bring
about something "soft" or new.
Women do and will go to films. The one's they see
themselves reflected in. The ones that present
them as something other than just "the girl."

[Melanie226]

Not only are they not making movies that women are interested in, but the big studios aren't making anything original (Land of the Lost = expensive piece of remade crap), and the movies they do make seem to be geared towards 12-16 year old males (The Hangover).

My girlfriends and I have been doing indie movie night at my house for quite awhile with the few exceptions of the films you mentioned above, you know, the "flukes". We will be so happy to be able to venture out of my living room and see your film. Hopefully, it's playing somewhere in Orange County, CA, if not, we will make sure to catch it on DVD.

[TLThomas]

I am very excited to see more "women" movies coming out. Studios seem to "blank" us out as consumers, as if after we reach "a certain age" we cease to exist. I say bring on more women movies, and not reserve them for venues such as The Lifetime Channel For Women. We are a force to be reckoned with, once we begin to express ourselves through the power of our purses, maybe the studios will take us seriously!

T L Thomas, The MidLife Diva
http://musingsofamidlifediva.blogspot.com/

[Tashka]

Nia,
i went with my girlfriend Saturday night and we loved your movie -- it's all around feel good/fun/lovely movie. Not just a "chick" flick. That's ridiculous! thank you for it. I get so tired of looking at the movie theaters and only have choices of dumb movies designed for very young men -- as though young men only want to watch violent, sexist garbage.

Anyway thank you! BTW you looked fabulous in the movie!

[HelenaH]

Agreed that this is essentially an ad. However, as a (female) screenwriter living in Hollywood, I hear (and also experience) Ms. Vardalos's annoyance/anger all the same.

There are women pitching (and writing) quality female-driven movies (and television) out here, I assure you. However, the studios seem to think that 27 Dresses is what women want to see... and that a romantic storyline (however inane) is all that any female-driven movie needs to contain... They don't have the experience of being women (for the most part) and tend to fall back on the women is incomplete until she finds man storyline. And even on the rare occasion that we get something more than that (which does happen), the majority of the female characters are cardboard/­stereotype­s. This goes for all genres. Compare Monsters vs. Aliens with Up. The first was crap (plug in woman, connect dots) the second, a beautiful heartfelt film... Granted, Pixar is an exception (everything they do is great), but the example stands and the ideology starts when the target demo is young.

As for the idea that women don't go to the movies... Lest any of us forget that Titanic is the highest grossing film of all time -- do you think that was men/boys lining up to see Leo and Kate over and over again?

[reinzig]

And while we're remembering that Titanic is the highest grossing film of all time, and that that was due to women's participat­ion...let'­s remember that we remember it precisely because it's an anomaly.

[DaddyKevin]

I am a single dad and often take my developmentally disabled son to the movies. We tend to go when I know he won't disturb others. But he chooses mostly noisy/musi­cal/scream­ing movies, but also loves any movie that makes the audience laugh--like your movies.

The theaters in our neighborhoods are filled with families and groups of women. Even when we went to see Woverine, the theater was filled with women (Hugh Jackman must have pulled them in?).

Generalizations belittle all of us. People go to movies that interest them. Calling a movie a chick flick or a "guy movie" just encourages people to wait until it's available from Netflix. Why do we have to compartmentalize everything by gender? Phooey! Shame on the studio heads (oxymoron? I think so)

By the way, Nia, I think your movie "Connie and Carla" was one of the funniest movies ever made. Campy, and slapstick, and FUNNY. My son and I will be seeing "My LIfe in Ruins" this weekend. So two "enlightened" men will be laughing their heads off!

[darkelflass]

The last chick flick I saw was Sex and the City. No wait, make that Twilight. Generally, I need a little action, special effects and hot looking guys doing something manly or I fall asleep. LOL

[Tags]

These studio execs need to read "Don't Think Pink" by Lisa Johnson and Andrea Learned.

[Ammie41]

I'm a NYC resident. I go to the movies twice a month. At least 50% of the audience is female. The only thing I can say is that I would probably go more often if there were female leads. Someone mentioned that the people who make the decisions are white, heterosexual males who choose to make movies according to their own liking. That makes a lot of sense.

One of my favorites this past year is "Madia Goes to Jail." That's a female lead of color (even though played by a male). That theatre was packed!

[intelliwoman]

I am very proud of the fact that I've not been in a movie theater in more than 10 years, nor have most of my women friends.

We stopped going when the people who attend got loud, and rude, when the theaters got filthy, and when the prices got ridiculous. Why should we pay for a ticket when we can wait a few months and watch it on someone's home theater system?

[lisaintexas]

Shame about your filthy theaters. Not the case here and I have to say it's fun watching at home with a group, but I still love the movie theater. I must say the audiences I've been in the middle of have not been loud or rude.

[plain-jane]

I find that a strange thing to be proud of, let alone "very proud". Supporting films with women in leads or films made by women, is something that would make more sense to be proud of. Speaking to your theater managers about it's lack of cleanliness and not controlling it's patrons, might be something to be "very proud" of.

[foodshethought]

And if we cannot support the arts made about, for and generated by women, what chance do we ever have of making this a stronger drive in terms of cultural production?

[lpeggy]

Remember when Terminator Salvation came out? The Hollywood Exec said the box office was low because of sports programs that weekend. That it was a 'man's' movie. I was just excited about the movie as any guy, but the movie sucked, and everybody who saw it, warned other people. That's why it did bad.

[reinzig]

I was similarly disappointed, expecting to read a discussion regarding the economic and social power of women to influence media, and finding an advertisement in its place.

But listen, sisters, we can do it our own damn selves.

I agree that the studio heads, who are mostly (all?) male and mostly (all?) white and mostly (all?) heterosexual and possibly still adolescents at heart (it's not all that unusual) choose movies that they themselves like.

But more than that, I think the problem is that we're taking their words at face value, rather than recognizing them for being written in code.. "Women don't go to movies". Well, of course women go to movies. But women don't go to movies over and over again (like young men do) and most importantly (by a long shot), women don't have money. Oh, sure, some women have money. I'm not talking individual cases. I'm talking systemic, I'm talking economics. In American culture, women--in any category--do not have the disposable income that men (and boys do).

We could spend years on a conversation about why that is the case. This isn't really the place.

But it's simple. Money. Money. And Money. Movies that women like simply don't make as much money as movies that men (in particular young men) like. And money is the name of the game.

Not feeling good. Not people laughing in a theater. Not entertainment. Not enjoyment. Not identification.

Money.

http://hereswhatidontget.blogspot.com

[BannedFromCommenting]

The reason execs do not like movies catered to women (ergo women in leads) is because women need more than Megan Fox straddling a motorcycle to draw them in! Harold and Kumar, Old School, Employee of the Month, these are stupid cheap movies to make, and contain stupid dumb women barely dressed, next to the frumpy guy. It draws in the nerds who can believe for a few hours that its them in the movie getting the playboy girl! Cheap movie, cheap actors, lots of $$$.

To bring in women, you need better actors, acting, script, and quality, but that costs more $$$.. its a business to execs and nothing more... so continue to get 100 low grade films for every 1 good quality "womens" movie out there.

[finnigan37]

What a sexist piece of crap comment.

[greymom]

I don't think it is a "sexist" remark but based on human biology, it is an accurate comment. Men and boys are easily entertained by a scantily clad woman and aren't too particular about the quality of the film itself. It is how they are made.

Women are more discerning by nature and visual sexual stimulus is not enough to grab their attention. Just like you have to romance a woman with words and deeds, you don't have to romance a man to make him interested.

On the other hand, many a Monday night I wasted this year for a glimpse Giles on Dancing With the Stars. Even I can respond to such handsome eye candy.

[GHO]

"To bring in women, you need better actors, acting, script, and quality, but that costs more $$$.. its a business to execs and nothing more... so continue to get 100 low grade films for every 1 good quality "womens" movie out there"

I don't agree. If anything, plotless movies full of explosions and CG effects cost way more than intelligent, well written movies without those things. The problem is that it takes talent to write a good script while anyone can spew out the plotless crap. The other problem is that the mindless effects movies make back the money. Intelligent movies are hit or miss at the box office, and with the cost of movie making these days (you mentioned Old School - even that relatively "cheap" movie cost $24M to make), no one can afford hit or miss.

[PaxMundis]

Actually, some of the more recent "bromance" movies have had good, funny performances by female actors. There are a lot of funny women out there - Jane Lynch, Amy Poehler, Kristin Wiig - who check their egos at the door and give very funny supporting performances. Don't dismiss a whole genre of movies because of their target audience.

[GHO]

Do women go to the movies? Sure. Do men? Sure. What adults go to the most movies? Parents - with their kids.

Movie studios want to make money, so they bank on likely winners - kids movies and blockbuster action films. As movie budgets have skyrocketed in recent years, the studios have become even more conservative about what they risk making. Now virtually everything is a sequal or the adaptation of a TV show or bestseller. Big Fat Greek Wedding, Pretty Woman, Forrest Gump were great exceptions, but they still remain the exception.

I was also disappointed in reading this article in that I expected some interesting discussion about gender bias in movies (which we do seem to have gotten in the posted comments), and instead got what amounts to little more than Ms Vardalos plugging her movie - complete with red carpet photos.

:(

[MJinCanada]

Actually, families with 2 or 3 kids often opt to rent movies, simply because of the cost and because one of the kids will get bored with the movie that thrills the other two.

Unless it's Harry Potter, of course.

[richard6]

"My life in ruins", which I saw last night, is based on the strange concept that people who travel to Greece don't go to look at the ruins and aren't interested in Greek history but are just looking for a foreign place to party, preferably with ethnic dances and crashing plates -- I've been on tours with some deadheads but most travelers would riot at skipping important historical sites and going to the beach instead -- (You can do that at home) -- That said, the movie is pleasant if primitive, there are great shots of major ruins, and there are no gunfights or explosions, plus it includes many scenes with handsome men naked to the waist ... -- It's like eating a Twinkie with no one around to remind you that you should have had a salad instead --