The box office powerhouse that is Jennifer Lawrence, and the brilliant marketing team (and great word of mouth) behind Frozen have driven the box office to a record breaking week. Why is it worth noting? Because both films are driven by female stories. Catching Fire is all about Jennifer Lawrence. Sure, it’s about the books – but the books are about Katniss. And Katniss is about Jennifer Lawrence. Frozen is a film about two sisters, one of whom, a Disney princess, doesn’t even have a love interest at all and the other isn’t ever saved by a handsome prince. The box office this week can’t have only been driven by young girls – there had to be crossover for those films to have taken in those kinds of numbers. So this holiday season remember to make a quiet toast to all of the interesting ways the demographics of box office, the Oscars and cinema has been changing this year.
Devin Faraci wrote over at Badass Digest that it’s high time to start thinking about women in the superhero genre differently after this week:
There’s a conventional wisdom that female-led movies don’t open or play well. That’s dead. And then there’s a conventional wisdom that there’s only so much of an audience for female-led movies. That was killed good this weekend; there’s $200 million worth of an audience. Of course Hollywood always takes the wrong lessons from things, and the next time a female-led movie doesn’t do well everybody in power will point to that as if it means something (it probably means the film wasn’t good. Besides being female-led, Catching Fire and Frozen are both very good movies), but in the meantime this is something that will be noted in boardrooms across Los Angeles this week.
I’m all but guaranteeing that you will see Captain Marvel in a movie come Marvel Phase Three. With these numbers, with the success of The Hunger Games franchise, there’s no way that Marvel can ignore the fact that there’s a lot of money to be made with a female-led picture. The studio has long been aware of the female market – the Marvel movies are dripping with female gaze – but now they have evidence that this market comes out and spends in force. Marvel has had plans for her for a while, but now those plans have must become solidified. (I’m trying to bully Marvel a little here, to be honest)
Will Warner Bros take the same lesson? Is this weekend the kick in the pants Wonder Woman needed? I know the studio has been half-heartedly throwing the property around for a while; if, after this weekend, they announce a movie for real they could come out looking like leaders and winners. Surely Warner Bros sees the grosses on Gravity and understands that men will come to a movie with a woman in the lead, right?
I don’t get why Frozen is being lauded as being progressive. The sister without a love interest is literally frigid and lonely. The other one falls in love with two men within 48 hours. Yay, women’s lib????
Even though it will not open anywhere near the level of Frozen and Catching Fire, Madoka Magia: Rebellion, another animated film lead by strong female leads, opening in limited release this Friday, is definitely worth checking out especially if you are an adult fan of Frozen.
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnGESq_CiQY
Nah, it’s the Lenny Kravitz fans! (Also, the District 9 Female Tribute’s family is HUGE.)
🙂
Okay…did anybody specifically go to the movie to see Jeffrey Wright? Or am I alone here?
Woohoo! I’m so excited that both of these movies did so well. I just caught catching fire yesterday and I thought Jennifer Lawrence was superb in it. I really enjoyed the movie, and our theater was sold out at 1pm. It’s looks like little red riding hood rides again!
The reason for a Wonder Woman film isn’t in production yet, it’s not because she’s a woman. It’s because the story it’s not interesting, there isn’t even a secret identity, what film would they do for 90 minutes about a girl and a whip not named “50 Shades of Grey”?
I love movies with good female characters. They’re half of the movies that I’ve gone to see in the past two months — “Gravity,” “Blue Is the Warmest Color,” “Catching Fire,” “Philomena” and “Frozen.”
But, as far as the action genre goes — of which I’m not a big fan — “Catching Fire” is an exception. Not many actresses are believable chasing bad guys, climbing over fences, etc. A gun is a great equalizer, but when there is no gun….
That said, I think the likes of Lawrence and Ronan have almost cornered a market, and are going to become huge superstars. It is cool to see more of a female presence in genre films.
I think Abbie Cornish could also be used in a similar way, she can mix great acting with physicality.
Why does female success at the box office instantly have to become all about Wonder Woman? Boring. Why not think outside the box, outside the superhero genre.
This weekend is a great weekend for decent female characterisation succeeding at the box office. Let’s not instantly turn it into a Marvel discussion. There is more to blockbuster cinema than superhero films. Maybe these type of book serials should be tapped into more often, there are lots of other great female characters out there, and a lot of female readers that drive these BO takes.
Regarding the Hunger Games series, I find a female protagonist often works best in that type of series. Tomorrow, When the War Began was a really great Australian book series with a strong (and flawed) female protagonist.
So…YOU’RE telling me that all those people didn’t go to Catching Fire to see Donald Sutherland? Preposterous
I went to see Amanda Plummer.
i havent even read the hunger games books but i sure did love me some catching fire lol. what an amazing movie and i was pleasantly surprised and on the edge of my seat throughout, i guess thats the benefit of not reading the books, eh?:)
i thought the first movie was just OK but this one was a lot better. jennifer lawrence -female or not- acted her ass off and she deserves every bit of recognition coming her way…as does the movie itself.
Kane,
You gotta start with an epic Wonder Woman origin story. She’s pretty fascinating and she’s an animal.
RaMakBlog,
thanks
Actually I though CATCHING FIRE could have done with one less of those Snow speeches, additionally there was one too many Hoffman-Sutherland table conversations –they weren’t as compelling as I thought they’d be, they basically said the same thing every time. I much preferred the Crane-Snow showdowns. More romance and intrigue is what I wanted. Maybe also ignore how this idiot, Suzanne Collins, wrote the hunger games, and make them a little more interesting/entertaining. I really wanted to see Joanna(?) kicking someone’s ass; instead we got that boring lake clock nonsense. I am of course nitpicking because I loved it. I need to revisit the 1st one. Who knows.
Although they bear a passing resemblance, and both are 13-years-old, Bryce, they are different actresses:
Willow Shields (from New Mexico) played Primrose Everdeen in The Hunger Games movies
Sophie Nélisse (from Quebec) played Liesel in The Book Thief
So, yay for more up-and-coming actresses.
So…YOU’RE telling me that all those people didn’t go to Catching Fire to see Donald Sutherland? Preposterous
I went to see Josh Hutcherson
Is Katniss’ little sister the same kid in THE BOOK THIEF? She’s everywhere.
CC, in all fairness neither Gravity nor Hunger Games are “superhero” movies. I do believe female-led superhero movies can succeed at the box office but they can’t be Catwoman, Elektra or even My Super Ex-Girlfriend. They need to be well written for one thing, which a lot of superhero films just aren’t for that matter. But it is doable.
Both DC and Marvel representatives were saying earlier this year that they didn’t believe female led superhero movies could succeed at the box office. I hope next time they say something as idiotic people remind them of Gravity, Hunger Games and Frozen kicking some male superhero ass this year.
Make a good movie with an interesting female superhero and people will come. Make a shitty and cheap sexist movie like Catwoman or Elektra and they won’t show up. There have been plenty of box office failures recently starring white men but for some reason people are never saying they can’t carry a movie.
It’s tiring and annoying to have to keep harping about the potential of female led movies at this day and age when women buy half the tickets but for some reason Hollywood never seems to learn.
I have to say that I’m extra glad the recent box office success of Hunger Games, Gravity and Frozen have been able to do well without sexualizing the heroines. Not that there is always something wrong about that, but it shows it’s possible to get male ticket buyers to come even without doing so and forcing sex, nudity or revealing clothes into the movie even if the story doesn’t require it.
I really never thought about it before but when I was watching “Catching Fire” with my 15-year-old sister, I was very glad that she has a proper role model in a movie for once. I mean what those Twilight movies did to teenage girls was almost criminal.
Also we can´t talk enough about Jennifer Lawrence. I mean she should get a freakin´ nobel price for showing girls they don´t have to be miley cyrus or taylor swift or rihanna or… oh my god.
So…YOU’RE telling me that all those people didn’t go to Catching Fire to see Donald Sutherland? Preposterous…
Saw Frozen this weekend. The characterizations of the two female characters was superb. I am so happy to have the Frozen sisters and Katniss taking over the box office crown from the terrible role model that was Bella Swan.
Feministdaily does it again!
“Feministdaily does it again!”
Misogynist Frozone butthurt again. *yawn*