Study confirms women and people of color crushed it at the 2018 box office

The future is female, diverse, and lucrative as hell.

A new study conducted by USC’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative has revealed what many 2018 moviegoers already knew: Women and people of color crushed it at the box office.

Looking at the 100 highest-grossing films from each of the past 12 years, USC's research team broke down 2018's diversity gains by comparing last year's casting stats with previously established casting trends.

Here are a few of the study's major finds about the top 100 films of 2018, compared to the top 100 films of each year since 2007:

1. In 2018, more lead characters came from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups than ever before.

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2. In 2018, 40% of the top 100 box office successes featured leading or co-leading women. That's double the female representation since 2007.

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3. 11 of 2018's highest-grossing films included leading women 45 years of age or older.

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4. Women of color appeared in more leading roles in 2018 than in previous years, but remain underrepresented across the industry.

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"2018 offers hope that industry members have taken action to create content that better reflects the world in which we live, and the box office seems to have rewarded them for it," said founder and director of the initiative Stacy L. Smith in a statement to the LA Times.

"This data shows us that it is possible for change to be achieved — companies must not grow complacent but continue the progress they have made in 2019 and in the years to come."

You can read the full research brief here. The complete study is due out later this spring.