UCLA Report: Audiences want movies that reflect the diversity of America

Will the pandemic force Hollywood to rethink diversity goals?

ANALYSIS

For the movie industry, 2020 was a year like no other. Theaters shuttered, No red carpets. Audiences staying home. Movies premiering on streaming channels.

Like everyone, Hollywood studios had to get creative in 2020. UCLA’s latest Hollywood Diversity Report, published  last week by the UCLA College Division of Social Sciences, shows that 54.6% of the top films of 2020 were released solely via streaming subscription services, a major departure from business as usual.

But like reports from recent years, movie audiences -- whether at home or at the few theaters that remained open -- were more diverse and movies that had diverse casts continued to do better at the box office.

However, Hollywood decision-makers appear not moved by the report's data. The most underrepresented groups in all job categories, relative to their presence in the U.S., are Asian, Latino and Native actors, directors and writers.

The film installment of this year’s Hollywood Diversity Report tracks the top 185 films of 2020, breaking down performance by box-office revenue for theatrical releases and, new for this year, Nielsen ratings for streaming films.

Though 2020 was far from a typical year in the Hollywood film sector, new evidence nonetheless supports longstanding findings from the UCLA report series that America’s increasingly diverse audiences prefer diverse content. Movie fans of color had a larger impact than usual because of the industry's move to releasing new films on streaming platforms, where diverse audiences flocked to during the pandemic

For six of the top 10 theatrically released films, minorities accounted for the majority of domestic ticket sales during opening weekend. For the seventh top film, minorities accounted for half the ticket sales.

For the smaller-than normal number of top films released theatrically in 2020, median global box office receipts peaked for those that had very diverse casts — from 41 percent to 50 percent minority, states the report 

For the much larger collection of top films released via streaming platforms, ratings and social media interactions were highest for titles with casts that were from 21 percent to 30 percent minority. 

Meanwhile, people of color accounted for the majority of opening weekend domestic ticket sales for six of the top 10 films released in theaters in 2020 (ranked by global box office), as well as half of the tickets for a seventh top 10 film. Similarly, households of color accounted for a disproportionate share of the households viewing eight of the top 10 films released via streaming platforms in 2020, ranked by total household ratings. 

Finally, findings based on box office share and household ratings reveal that the films most favored by diverse moviegoers and households in 2020 tended to have casts that were greater than 30 percent minority. 

Constituting more than 40 percent of the U.S. population, people of color accounted for an even a larger share of the market due to their heavy consumption of top films in 2020, and the data clearly show they preferred diverse content.

Coinciding with Hollywood’s most atypical year in terms of how films were released was the industry’s most successful year on the diversity front. As this report documents, women and people of color not only made progress in each of the major employment arenas considered in 2020, but in two of them — among leads and total actors — both groups either reached or came very close to reaching proportionate representation. This was a first.

These market realities clearly make the case for Hollywood treating diversity as a first-order business imperative, states the UCLA report. "Indeed, a recent McKinsey & Company report estimates that the industry is leaving about $10 billion on the table by not including more Black talent and stories in its creative ecosystem," the report says. "This figure only grows when we consider the audience shares and purchasing power of other diverse groups marginalized by the industry."

Could there be a correlation between the the pandemic's health measures and the tremendous progress observed on the diversity front? Or were these corresponding breaks with business as usual a mere coincidence, Hollywood finally coming to terms with its diversity problem by happenstance in a year also skewed by the pandemic? 

How do we know that the progress observed in 2020 was not an anomaly that will be revealed as such by findings from the next report?

Movies with AAPI leads or themes slated to be released in 2021 can give us an indication. Already Raya and the Last Dragon, Mortal Kombat and Army of the Dead have already had their premieres this year

Some of this year's blockbuster releases include: Jungle Cruise will debut in July, Shang Chi and the Legend of 10 Rings is scheduled for a September premiere, Oscar winner Chloe Zhao's The Eternals starring Gemma Chan and Kumail Nanjiani ,has a November opening; Matrix 4, December.

In addition, several other films with smaller budgets, but more intimate, such as  Paper Tigers, The Fabulous Filipino Brothers and Islands, are making the rounds in the film festival circuit, seeking distributors that might be released throughout the year.

Movie productions usually are years in the making so the the decisions made this year will be the true test. The headline for this time in 2022 could be: 2020 was the turning point for Hollywood's diversity woes; or, Hollywood goes back to its old ways in 2021.

EDITOR'S NOTE: A word of caution, this post is news laced with opinion. Readers are encouraged to access multiple news sources to form their own opinion.