‘Barbie’ Broke Records, but Studios Employed Fewer Female Directors on 2023’s Top Films
variety.comBrent Lang Executive Editor Greta Gerwig‘s “Barbie” wasn’t just the year’s biggest box office winner. It also made history as the highest-grossing movie directed by a woman.
Despite the film’s outsized success, major studios gave most of their biggest gigs to male filmmakers. That’s the conclusion of a new study by the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University.
It found that women comprised just 16% of directors on the 250 top-grossing films, which was down from 18% in 2022. There were modest improvements the higher up the list of money-earners you climb — female filmmakers called the shots on 14% of the 100 top films, which was up from 11% in 2022.
The findings come as female filmmakers like Gerwig, “Salburn’s” Emerald Fennell, “Past Lives’s” Celine Song and “Priscilla’s” Sofia Coppola released some of the year’s buzziest and most acclaimed movies; and pop divas like Beyoncé and Taylor Swift topped the box office with concert films.
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