The following is from an editorial in The New York Times:
Two of the most popular movies in America have something in common: They feature female protagonists. Jennifer Lawrence plays Katniss Everdeen in "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire," which took in $110.1 million over the long Thanksgiving weekend. Kristen Bell is the voice of Princess Anna in "Frozen," which grossed $93 million over the same period.
The success of "Catching Fire" and "Frozen" should put to rest the assumption that audiences don't want to see female-centric movies, especially female-led action-adventure stories, an assumption that is often trotted out as a defense of gender imbalance on the screen. Earlier this year, the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism reported that women were vastly underrepresented in the 100 top-grossing fictional films of 2012. Out of 4,475 speaking characters on screen, only 28.4 percent were female. The recent high-water mark was 2009, when 32.8 percent were female.
There is a tendency in the film world to conclude that if a female-led movie failed, it's because it was female-led. This summer an email went around from a representative who described "the presence of a female action hero" as a "tough sell." The email cited "Sucker Punch," a 2011 action movie, which starred a woman and underperformed in ticket sales.
Yet before "Sucker Punch" there were "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider," "Alien" and the "Kill Bill" movies. And before "The Princess and the Frog" there were "Pocahontas" and "The Little Mermaid." "Frozen" and "Catching Fire" add to the long list of films showing that there's no market-based excuse for the dearth of female leads.