There is a staggering difference between the number of male and female directors whose films have reached number one at the weekend box office, data from the British Film Institute (BFI) has revealed.
In the last five years, films by female directors have been the highest grossing on 18 occasions, in comparison to male directors reaching this position 219 times.
While Greta Gerwig’s Barbie phenomenon paved the way, notably being the highest grossing film of 2023, this data reveals that the film industry must do more to amplify female voices.
The BFI’s data shows that in 2022 a female director didn’t make a single appearance at the number one spot in the weekend box office, as Gerwig stands as an anomaly amidst a collection of male names.
The co-founder of the global initiative, Female Film Club (FFC), Liza Van Der Smissen said: “Unfortunately it is unsurprising and I think that really says a lot.
“If you go to film schools, often the gender divide is 50/50, so the question is, where are all these highly skilled women, and why are they not making number one box office hits?”
Van Der Smissen set up the FFC with her co-founder Nicole Lieberman during the Covid pandemic, after meeting at the BFI Film Festival and discovering that they lived a street away from each other in London.
Since its inception, the FFC has built a global community of more than a thousand female filmmakers.
The club helps women build upon the skills they need to become successful filmmakers through crash courses, Q&A’s, film screenings, and mindset events.
On the BFI’s data, Van Der Smissen explained that often women leave university excited and feeling like the world is their oyster, but they get beaten down over and over again, all while watching their male counterparts experience success.
She said: “The inequality has become so large that it is really tough to get up. It is not impossible, but it is really demoralising.”
In-between 2020-2024, four out of the five highest grossing films were directed by a man but this graph is one that sees more female representation than most.
This inequality gave Van Der Smissen and Lieberman the ammunition to build a community where women could support one another, and help them get into these male dominated spaces.
Van Der Smissen described this female community as more powerful than they ever imagined it would be.
She explained that we are fed this dialogue that women are competitive and pitted against each other, but the FFC is proof that this isn’t the case.
She said: “I think that core belief that there is an army of powerful women out there that want to help, is unbelievable.”
The founder of Bad Gal Film Club, Mia Ford, responded similarly to the BFI’s data, concluding that it is striking, although sadly unsurprising.
She said: “While there are plenty of capable women directors, this data represents the inherent imbalance within the film industry, most notably in Hollywood, where women have been historically underrepresented.”
Bad Gal Film Club is an independent film community with pop-up cinema venues across London and Manchester.
Ford founded the club with the aim of celebrating women in film and creating opportunities for women’s work to reach wider audiences.
She said: “I have always had a love for film and in particular women’s stories, but had a growing frustration with access to spaces to watch and celebrate their work.”
Since commencing the club, Ford has prioritised screening films that predominantly showcase female directors from Sofia Coppola’s ‘Lost in Translation’, to most recently, Celine Sciamma’s ‘Portrait of a Lady on Fire.’
Van Der Smissen and Ford both highlighted that among other contributing factors, it is the funding that serves as the main obstacle that female creatives must overcome.
Ford explained that breaking into the top of the box office requires substantial financial backing, that even household names like Margot Robbie have openly shared they had to fight for.
Van Der Smissen also said that if women are able to get funding, they only have one shot to make their film incredible, and if not, they do not get offered a second chance.
She concluded: “It is a lot easier to make a bigger film if you have more money available and a bigger budget.”
As the data reflects, women are not being granted the same budgets and opportunities as their male counterparts, and are therefore severely underrepresented in the box office charts.
Ford said: “More than anything, the data tells us that continued advocacy for women in these senior roles is still vital.”
£5,335,654 by MillyThe chart above highlights the stark disparity between the weekend box office figures obtained by male filmmakers in comparison to female filmmakers.
In 2021 Spider Man: No Way Home by John Watts grossed over £31m in its first weekend, while the highest grossing film by a woman peaked at £6.8m.
Furthermore, in 2024 the difference spanned by £14m.
Notably, Great Gerwig’s Barbie grossed £18.5m in its first weekend, making it the most successful film of 2023 at the UK box office.
However Van Der Smissen questioned: “Are women only allowed to make high budget films when it is a film like Barbie?
“Can they also make action films, psychological thrillers, and discuss the range of the female experience?”
Organisations like Female Film Club and Bad Gal Film Club provide a space to celebrate female filmmakers and amplify women’s voices in an industry where the odds are stacked up against them.
These clubs confront the demoralising statistics displayed by the BFI’s data, by creating communities where women can support one another, and create and share great art.
A Bad Gal Film Club regular, Ruth Maycock said: ‘I love the range of cult classics, new releases and indie films that Mia chooses to screen.’
This film club is proof that while currently, only movies like Barbie are breaking into the box office, women are constantly creating films that honour the depth of the female experience.
Ruth added: “I’d choose to go to Bad Gal Film Club over a commercial cinema every day.
“I also don’t know anyone doing the same thing as Mia, creating a space to appreciate and shine a light on female screenwriters and directors.”
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