Warner Brothers Says: Everybody Hates Women

Bad move. The majority of moviegoers are males 14-35 and women of all ages. It's really not a good idea to piss off half your audiences.

Wow that is just ridiculous! Thanks for posting this Claudia, really eye opening stuff.

To be honest, I can't remember the last movie I watched that had a female as a lead or even the last movie with a female lead that even interested me.

That said, I do think it's stupid of WB to even admit such a thing, even if there were a million or more movie goers like me. Which there aren't. I think I'm pretty much a one of a kind oddball in my movie tastes.

The problem is that very few movies get made with women as the leads and so there is a greater ratio that they could suck. The more movies you make, the better your chances are of hitting gold. Men still make all the decisions in Hollywood, including which "female" movies to make. Maybe if there were more women making the big decisions, the choices of female movies wouldn't suck. Just a theory.

But they don't all flop. Didn't Bridget Jones do rather well? And I do believe Kill Bill was quite popular. Also Chicago won best picture did it not?

It's like my great-grandfather moaning about Thatcher and Queen Elizabeth II. "When you have two women running a country, no wonder it goes to pot..."

Uh, yeah. So if a MALE Prime Minister and an enthroned King screw up, why not ban men from ruling? No? Then why pick on women for any perceived mistakes made?

No one blames men when things go wrong with them in charge.

Women go to the cinema? Why aren't they in the kitchen, making my tea?

Everybody Hates Women

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Not me.
I love them. Not as often as I'd like, but still.


Seriously, it's a load of rubbish. As someone else pointed out, the proof of that is the successful films with female leads (Including the all-female The Descent). Perhaps it depends on the female you choose to lead? No? well, you'd better just piss off half the planet then.

The Descent is all female?

*quickly removes it from his netflix que*

Whew. Thanks.

seun said:

Women go to the cinema? Why aren't they in the kitchen, making my tea?

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This is a clear attempt to make me put you over my knee and administer a sound thrashing.

Such transparent desperation on your part will not be successful.

You've been a bad boy. Now go to my room.

Shadow_Ferret said:

The Descent is all female?

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Actually no. I realised after I posted, there is a chap in it.
Briefly.
*shudders*

Typical weak management move. Start a shit storm to deflect attention from poor managment skills.

Sounds like WB needs a new president.

Nice to know we have such enlightened folk calling the shots in Warner Brothers. I hope they have a hard time finding anyone willing to play their second-fiddle supporting female roles from now on.

What an absolutely dumbass move.

Wow...going to make me think twice about wasting my money on a WB film.

kristie911 said:

Wow...going to make me think twice about wasting my money on a WB film.

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Psst, Harry Potter is WB...

Because The Brave One and The Invasion underperformed at the Box Office????

Wow. Just...wow.

maestrowork said:

Psst, Harry Potter is WB...

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Yeah, I know. Pisses me off but a girls gotta stand up for her gender once in a while.

Memo Found on WB Exec's Desk:
Talkies will never work!
Color? The extra cost isn't worth it!
Make Groucho grow a real mustache!
No more female leads!

I'd love to say that I'd boycott WB films because of this, but:

1. It's unconfirmed hearsay, the source of which is 3 unnamed producers.
2. Nikki Finke is... well... yeah... I won't go saying unkind things about the lady, but I'm hesitant to buy into it if she's breaking the story.
3. So long as WB still holds the Batman franchise, it's got at least one flick in production that I'll be spending money on.

I could never give up the Harry Potter movies.

I think this guy must be related to (or at least good drinking buddies with) Dan Dildo...er Didio, who is currently ruining DC comics (who are owned by Warner).

Provrb1810meggy said:

I could never give up the Harry Potter movies.

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Agreed, though I will be putting the fifth Harry Potter movie on my Christmas list and get my folks to buy it for me.

What Warner Bros is doing is still...grrrrr

Shadow_Ferret said:

The Descent is all female?

*quickly removes it from his netflix que*

Whew. Thanks.

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Mistake. The Descent is terrific, no matter it's a buncha skirts having a very bad day.

I reckon they is dumb to generalize in such a manner. Where's the mother f'ing proof that women are wrecking Hollywood?

I remember how refreshing it was to see Sigourney Weaver kick ass in Aliens, back when female action heroes were almost unheard of with the exception of a few martial arts exploitation style flicks. The clever part that made it all work was associating the maternal instinct with her motivation to battle aliens, and pitting that in competition with a primary villain (the queen-bee alien) who was equally driven by a maternal instinct. So she wasn't just a "female Rambo" as some reviewers called her at the time, but part of a genuinely female-oriented plot that happened to be a big, well-done blockbuster action flick that made a lot of money. I'm pretty sure it made a lot of money for being a big, well-done blockbuster action flick, and not for making any statements in particular about gender roles in film.

I wish I could recall more recent examples of similar success -- especially blockbusters with a female lead, not modest comedies and romances already labeled "chick flicks." I recall some cool thrillers such as Red Eye which I liked personally, but I don't know if they were big successes. I'd wager it has everything to do with the cultural snowball: a greater number of males influencing Hollywood means a weaker output of great female characters and female-driven stories. Naturally they bring in less money.

The ironic part I can't figure out is why the publishing industry and the stage don't steer Hollywood a little closer to the middle ground. In the old days movies that weren't largely testosterone driven -- the likes of Gone with the Wind and various musicals -- were all the biggest hits. Doesn't literature still favor the female audience? Where are all the best-seller adaptations that aren't based on comic books? And hell, what about all the comic books dominated by female characters and readership, such as the manga lines? Are the execs at WB really that myopic? Seems to me they're missing too many opportunities.