More Hollywood female leads, but fewer people of colour: Report

Out of the top 100 movies of 2024, more than half featured a story centred on an actress as a lead or co-lead, the first time representation has been above the United States census, where girls and women comprise 50.5 per cent of the population, a 2025 report from the University of Southern California (USC) found.

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LOS ANGELES -

However, representation fell for people of colour in film, the report said.

The USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative examined 1,800 top-grossing films from 2007 to 2024 and assessed the gender, race, ethnicity and age of the leading and co-leading actors for each movie.

"This is the first time we can say that gender equality has been reached in top-grossing films," said associate professor of communication Stacy L. Smith, founder of the initiative.

"This is not the result of an economic awakening, but is due to a number of different constituencies and efforts - at advocacy groups, at studios, through DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) initiatives to assert the need for equality on screen," she added.