And for the first time ever, all six of the majors have at least one woman directing a 2019 release
A record 18 percent of movies slated for release in 2019 from Hollywood’s six major studios have a female director, a substantial jump from just 3 percent in 2018, TheWrap has found.
Sixteen of the 87 studio films slated for release in 2019 have at least one woman credited as director — up from just three last year, when fully half of the majors (Paramount, Sony and Warner Bros.) had zero female directors on their wide-release slates.
Another sign of progress: For the first time in history, all six major studios have at least one film directed by a woman on their slates in 2019.
And perhaps as a reflection of public outcry about gender parity in Hollywood from organizations like Women in Film, the female-directed projects reflect a wide gamut of genres and budgets, from Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck’s big-budget superhero movie “Captain Marvel” for Disney to Greta Gerwig’s starry literary adaptation of “Little Women” for Sony to Gurinder Chadha’s Sundance darling “Blinded by the Light” for Warner Bros.’ New Line division.
It’s a notable change from a 2018 where one would be hard pressed to find any film directed by a woman. Last month, studies conducted by USC and San Diego State found that just four of the top 100 highest-grossing films in 2018 and 15 percent of the top 500 were directed by women, both counts signifying a drop from the year before. But this year’s slate of studio releases may be a sign that diversity efforts in Hollywood are starting to bear fruit.
“It’s what we have known for a long time. Movies about and by women are showing they can be successful at the box office, and the industry is following,” Women in Film Executive Director Kirsten Schaffer told TheWrap. She notes that diversity initiatives like WiF’s Reframe program are finding success because they are challenging studios to look at every stage of how they make their movies.
“When people start the work of examining that unconscious bias, that’s when we see the systemic changes necessary. They start thinking about who makes the decisions, which directors and producers are the first considered for hiring. And it goes down from there for every aspect of a film’s production.”
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Indeed, some studios are trying to send the message that they are asking such questions about themselves. Last week, Paramount CEO Jim Gianopulos announced in a company-wide memo that the studio would establish a “Content Creation Council” with the goal of making Paramount’s greenlight and development process more inclusive at all levels of production.
“Special attention will be paid to our storylines, our talent in front of and behind the camera, our vendors and our shooting locations,” Gianopulos wrote.
Reps for all six studios declined to comment for this story, though all confirmed their current release slates.
For this survey, TheWrap did not consider releases from art-house divisions like Fox Searchlight and Sony Pictures Classics, which often rely on acquisitions as opposed to developing projects in-house and hiring the filmmakers involved.
Here is the 2019 outlook at each studio, as well as major projects slated for 2020 or currently in development.
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DISNEY
As usual, the current box office kings have the smallest number of 2019 releases, with just 10 films (at least until the studio completes its expected acquisition of Fox’s film and TV assets). Of those 10, two with $100 million-plus budgets have women sharing a director credit. First is next month’s “Captain Marvel” (pictured above), which Anna Boden directed with “Mississippi Grind” partner Ryan Fleck, making her the first woman to direct a Marvel Studios release.
Then, in November, “Frozen” director Jennifer Lee returns with the film’s sequel, “Frozen II,” which is co-directed by Chris Buck. Lee was also named chief creative officer of Walt Disney Animation following the departure of John Lasseter amid sexual misconduct accusations.
Disney has announced several female-directed films beyond this year, including Niki Caro’s live-action remake of “Mulan,” set for 2020.
Pixar’s Domee Shi, who won the Best Animated Short Oscar on Sunday for “Bao,” is in the early stages of developing her feature debut. Meanwhile, at Marvel Studios, Australian director Cate Shortland is reportedly attached to direct “Black Widow” while “The Rider” director Chloe Zhao is attached to direct “The Eternals,” though neither project has been officially announced by Disney, who declined to comment for this story.
See the full Disney 2019 slate below:
“Captain Marvel” 3/8 (Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck)
“Dumbo” 3/29 (Tim Burton)
“Penguins” 4/17 (Alastair Fothergill and Jeff Wilson)
“Avengers: Endgame” 4/26 (Anthony and Joe Russo)
“Aladdin” 5/24 (Guy Ritchie)
“Toy Story 4” 6/21 (Josh Cooley)
“The Lion King” 7/19 (Jon Favreau)
“Artemis Fowl” 8/9 (Kenneth Branagh) “Frozen II” 11/22 (Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck) “Star Wars: Episode IX” 12/20 (J.
