It’s official: the 2017 box office was dominated by strong women. There were a lot of big movies released in 2017, but the ones that featured female characters in the lead roles came out a cut above the rest at the domestic box office. With the strong numbers put up byThe Last Jediover the past couple of weeks, the top three movies at the2017 box officenow all feature female leads.
Domestically,Star Wars: The Last Jedifinished number 1 at the box office in 2017, despite only being in theaters for 16 days, with $533 million. The movie had a lot going for it, being the sequel toStar Wars: The Force Awakensand being the first movie in the franchise to prominently feature Luke Skywalker in more than 30 years. ButDaisy Ridley’s Reyis the main character in the movie and the focus of this newStar Warstrilogy and she’s a character that fans have really responded to, as evidenced by the strong box office.
Coming in at the number two spot is Disney’s live-actionBeauty and the Beast, which featuresEmma Watson as Bellein the lead role. The movie, up until very recently, was the highest-grossing movie at the domestic box office, with $504 million. In third, but number one in the hearts of many, isWonder Woman, with $412.5 million. With Patty Jenkins behind the camera andGal Gadot as the titular DC heroin front,Wonder Womanhas become a calling card for how much women can accomplish in the modern Hollywood landscape.
At the end of the day, Hollywood is and always has been a business. If movies make money, studios will make them, if they don’t, studios won’t make them. At the very least, nobody tries to make a flop, for the most part. These movies prove that audiences will turn up in droves to see movies with female leads. Looking at the way studios often produce movies, there seems, or at least seemed, to be a clearly outdated way of thinking that assumes audiences aren’t as interested in movies with female leads. As 2017 has shown us, that way of thinking couldn’t be more incorrect.
It’s also important that all three of these movies were well-received by critics. It’s a point that is proved time and time again, but if you make a good movie, more often than not, people will turn up to see it. With the terrible year 2017 was forsexual harassment scandals, mostly at the hands of powerful men in Hollywood, it’s nice to see powerful women come out on top. A look atBox Office Mojoshows that the global picture is a bit different, but all three of these movies are still in the top 10 for the year, with other movies likeGuardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2andThor: Ragnarokthat also prominently feature strong female characters, raking in the big bucks at the box office as well. Times are changing.
