Candy: Sexism isn’t why your movie bombed
Nov 22, 2019, 8:54 AM | Updated: Oct 1, 2024, 11:14 am
Charlie's Angels. (Sony)
(Sony)
The reason movies with female leads bomb has nothing to do with sexism.
Charlie’s Angels came out last week, did you know that? I didn’t either, and that’s why it bombed. Director Elizabeth Banks claims the reason why it didn’t do well is simple: Sexism.
“If this movie doesn’t make money it reinforces a stereotype in Hollywood that men don’t go see women do action movies,” she stated.
Brie Larson starred in Captain Marvel, that grossed $426 million in the U.S.
Gal Gadot starred in Wonder Woman, a movie that hauled in $821 million worldwide in 2017.
What does Elizabeth Banks say about that?
“They only succeeded because they were part of a ‘male genre.’”
Charlie’s Angels is based on a TV Show that in the late 70s ushered in the phrase “jiggle TV,” where their criminal cases always involved showers, bikinis, or high heels.
Charlie’s Angels has always been a misogynistic movie franchise (sorry Cam Diaz), but it’s 2019 — you could literally do the same script and call it Vendetta of Death and get a better reaction from modern audiences.
While I fully support diversity in Hollywood, we want original content more than ever. Stop being lazy and shoving old scripts down our throats, expecting us to buy a ticket solely based upon social guilt and feminist support.
That brings up a great metric for Hollywood — let’s call it the Melissa McCarthy test. Is this Bridesmaids or Ghostbusters? If it’s the latter, we don’t want it.
Simply put, Charlie’s Angels’ failure had nothing to do with sexism; it’s just a tired concept.
