Why Hollywood should capitalize on more female superhero movies

Why is Hollywood continuously passing on an opportunity to invest in films about heroines, an easy money-making scheme that could line their pockets quickly?

After the disappointment from rumors about a Marvel Black Widow movie, which never followed through, it didn’t seem like it would be worth the wait to hold out for a female superhero movie in this century…that is…until Wonder Woman came along.

Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman absolutely killed it in the box office, which proves that there is a high demand for female superhero movies…if Hollywood just gave them a chance.

On the weekend debut of the film’s release, Wonder Woman scored “$103.3 million from 4,165 theaters in its domestic box-office,” vastly surpassing the projected earnings the film would achieve (Hollywood Reporter).

Hollywood Reporter states that Wonder Woman reached success of unforeseen heights in global markets too by winning “the [opening] weekend with $125 million from 55 markets for a global bow of $228.3 million, including a No. 1 debut in China with $38.2 million” (Hollywood Reporter).

With numbers like these, it makes one wonder why Hollywood is not capitalizing on more female superhero movies.

There is a total of approximately 5600+ female characters out of DC (about 5000+) and Marvel (about 600+) combined. (Too many to count!) That leaves enough story potential to last the film industry the rest of the century and beyond even that. So why do we only ever hear about the same female comic book character again and again?

Is it because of Wonder Woman’s skimpy outfit that the male population allows her to grace our theatre screens? As hot as that bodysuit with a poor excuse for a skirt is, Gal Gadot would certainly not be able to bust the same moves while wearing that ensemble in real life as she did on the screen. In reality, she’d most likely be re-adjusting her top in an effort to keep it from falling down.

Despite that bit of Hollywood inaccuracy, the Wonder Woman film is undoubtedly amazing, but one superheroine to serve as the only ever-present empowering role model for half the population doesn’t add up. Instead of making and re-making a million and one Superman and Batman and Spiderman movies, Hollywood needs to start focusing on a huge demographic they are missing out in capitalizing on: women.

Hollywood executives think in dollar signs anyway, so it doesn’t make much sense that they are continuously passing over an obvious money-making machine.

Yes, they have given us Supergirl and Jessica Jones. But as compelling and action-packed as those T.V. shows are, television doesn’t offer the same media attention as getting a Hollywood Blockbuster film, which is necessary to create more empowering images for young girls. And two T.V. shows with female superhero leads compared to the endless amount of male superhero movies that exist just doesn’t cut it as a justification for equality and female empowerment in Hollywood.

Men and women alike have been raving over the glass-ceiling shattering example Wonder Woman has made in the box office. And with the amount of dough Wonder Woman scored at the box office on the first day, one would think that talk about more female superhero films in the media would be exploding.

Whether it’s being advertised or not, the demand is alive. Hollywood just hasn’t realized it yet.