Hollywood Moves from Leading to Falling Behind on Gender Equality

A new report from Dr. Stacy L. Smith and the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative demonstrates that the number of movies featuring girls and women in leading roles decreased in 2025.

Los Angeles, CA– As the calendar ticks closer to the Academy Awards and the film industry celebrates its 2025 achievements, one thing that won’t be celebrated is progress for women. A new report shows that the number of girls and women leading top movies in 2025 has fallen to a level that matches what it was 7 years ago.

The newest research brief from Dr. Stacy L. Smith and the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative examines 1,900 top-grossing films from 2007 to 2025. The report assesses gender, race/ethnicity, and age of the leading and co-leading actors for each movie.

Of the 100 top-grossing films in 2025, 39 featured a girl or woman in a lead/co-lead role. This is a significant decrease from 2024’s historic high of 55 films. While 2025 reflects a significant increase from the 20 female-identified leads observed in 2007, it reflects a return to the percentage of girls/women leading top movies in 2018.

“Let’s be clear: the reversal for girls and women in leading roles isn’t about politics in 2025. It’s about choices made in executive suites and the perceived value of these films,” said Smith. “In 2024, the industry showed that it could be inclusive of women’s stories. 2025 shows us that it’s not a question of being able to be inclusive, it’s about a willingness to do so.”

In contrast to the trends for girls and women, stories about underrepresented protagonists increased in 2025. Thirty-four of the top 100 films featured a lead/co lead from an underrepresented racial/ethnic group. This is a substantial increase from 2024, when 26 leads/co leads were people of color, and 2007, when the figure was 13.

“The rise in inclusion is real and worth recognizing—but it’s uneven,” said Smith. “There is not a consistent push toward telling stories about underrepresented racial/ethnic groups, merely a pattern of succeeding in one year and falling the next.”

Fifteen films in 2025 had an underrepresented female lead/co lead. This is similar to 2024 (14), 2023 (14) and substantially higher than 2007 (1).

“Despite periodic gains in representation, women of color have seen little change over the last 18 years and no meaningful improvement in the past 3 years,” said Katherine Neff, the study’s lead author. “That kind of stagnation makes clear how overdue it is to fully represent the range of women’s experiences, stories, and voices on the biggest screens.”

The study also investigated the number of leads/co leads by age. Only 4 of 2025’s most popular films featured a woman age 45 or older in a leading or co leading role. None of these leads or co/leads were women of color. Six movies featured an underrepresented man who was age 45+ in a lead/co lead role. In contrast, 24 films across the top 100 in 2025 had an older white male protagonist.

The findings for gender and underrepresented communities varied by distributor. Universal Pictures, Lionsgate and Walt Disney Studios were the top performers for gender while half of the films in the sample from Disney, Lionsgate and Sony had an underrepresented lead/co lead. Warner Bros. and Paramount had the worst track records for women and people of color in leading roles in 2025. Paramount did not have a single film with an underrepresented lead/co lead in the top 100 last year.

“With many eyes on a possible merger of these two companies, this data shows that it would be highly detrimental for talented actors who identity as women and/or people of color,” said Smith. “As a contrast, since 2019, at least half of Netflix films have featured a woman in a lead/co lead role and in all but 1 recent year, Netflix has reached proportional representation for underrepresented leads. Anyone who values inclusion should be considering the consequences should Paramount acquire Warner Bros.”

The report is the latest from the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative and can be found here.

About USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative

Launched more than 15 years ago by Founder Dr. Stacy L. Smith, the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative is the leading think tank in the world studying diversity and inclusion in entertainment through original research and sponsored projects. Beyond research, the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative develops targeted, research-based solutions to tackle inequality. To learn more, visit http://annenberg.usc.edu/aii or follow on Instagram.