Women's Power Over Hollywood: Why Films Should Be Catering to Female Fans

By Nana-Adwoa Ofori Posted Dec 30th 2009 09:00PM

When 'Twilight' first hit the silver screen, thousands of young women camped out on sidewalks all over the country the night before anxiously waiting to grab a coveted seat to watch the vampire flick. The film's second installment release was a grand slam as 'New Moon' claimed the number one spot with opening day sales reaching more than $72 million in the U.S.

The facts are indisputable that women are responsible for generating that enormous figure. Despite the rising popularity of Netflix and other online movie options, there is still an allure for groups of female friends to get together on a Friday night to watch the movies that move them. But the question that remains is if women have demonstrated that they will stand in line for hours with droves of their friends to watch films that they love over (and over again), why do most filmmakers create blockbusters that cater to a male audience instead? See what experts have to say about how female moviegoers may change the future of Hollywood blockbusters.

It is not just romance comedies that women flock to see. Sandra Bullock's new film 'The Blind Side' actually gave 'New Moon' a run for the money at the box office during that same weekend. 'The Blind Side' raked in a much larger than expected $34 million dollars for its opening weekend. This film is not a "chick flick" either; it is an incredible true story and a football drama to boot.

There is talk throughout Tinseltown that Bullock's performance was so moving that she will undoubtedly grab an Oscar nomination for Best-Actress. Without a shadow of a doubt, women have a wide range of films that they respond to, so why isn't Hollywood gearing more of its films toward this money machine?

Nancy Keefe Rhodes, a film critic who is a part of the First National Association Of Women Critics, tells PopEater that she believes "Hollywood's sensibility has been so male dominated that there is simply not a receptiveness to catering to women, even if it were in their best interests."

The "Old Boys Club" mentality is still large and in charge in Hollywood. Although women have made major strides in producing, acting and directing within the field, it is still heavily male dominated. With multi-million dollar blockbusters like 'Star Wars',' 'Batman' and 'Superman,' it is easy to see these are geared toward a male audience with superhero plots packed with over-the-top action sequences.

"Despite the fact that women are a sizable audience for films, they are still not the major audience by a long shot, and we live in an age when success is judged in commercial circles by the perceived need for hyper-profits," says Rhodes. It all comes down to the all mighty dollar.

Although women are willing to stand in line for hours to catch a glimpse of Robert Pattinson or Taylor Lautner on the movie's first midnight showing, experts believe these female flicks are a start to more female focused films but Hollywood isn't changing its tune just yet. History has proven that much needed change in society takes time. Women are headed in the right direction and as Bob Dylan sang, "The times they are a changing".