A new study that examines the best 2024 films has found that Hollywood is going back in its diversity efforts.
The 2025 edition of the Hollywood Diversity Report of UCLA, published on Thursday, has determined that the proportion of color people who work in key entertainment roles were reduced compared to their white homologues in each area of 2023 to 2024. This is despite the results that also show that the films with casting that reflect the diversity of the real world are best performed in the cashier.
“Last year, we celebrated some historical maximums for people of color in the industry,” Ana-Christina Ramón, co-founder and director of the UCLA media media investigation initiative, said in a statement. “But 2024 saw a generalized investment, since film studies retired from racial and ethnic diversity against the camera.”
UCLA's last study examined 104 of the main theatrical versions in English of 2024 to analyze the demography of actors, writers, directors and even ticket buyers. The study tracked global and national box office, as well as cinematographic genres.
The researchers found that among the best films, those with more racially diverse casts tended to work better at the global box office than those with less diverse cast. It was discovered that the films in which 41-50% of the cast members were people of color, such as “Wicked”, “Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire” and “A Quiet Place: Day One”, have the highest global box office earnings. These films also tended to launch in more international markets.
Similarly, the study determined that most spectators who keep the industry afloat are color people. It was discovered that the color films bought most of the national opening weekend tickets for seven of the 10 best films and 12 of the 20 best films released in theaters in 2024.
“Diversity is a key part of the great financial image,” said Jade Abston, one of the co -authors of the study and doctoral candidate in Cinema and media studies in UCLA, in a statement. “Diversity trips. When a film lacks diverse faces and perspectives, it is not so attractive here and abroad. “
Despite these findings, the study shows that people of color remain surreated as film leaders, directors, writers and actors in these Hollywood films. The color actors represented 25.2% of the main papers in the best theater films of 2024, which is below 29.2% in 2023. Colorful people represent 44.3% of the American population.
The number of films led by color people was also reduced in 2024 compared to 2023. Color directors represented 20.2% of the films of 2024, compared to 22.9% of the films the previous year.
These findings occur in the midst of the contraction that has reduced the number of Hollywood productions and jobs, as well as the current tendency of companies and studies of diversity, equity and inclusion efforts following the return of the return to President Trump.
“The writing was on the wall, since we previously saw the loss of executive positions and programs focused on diversity,” Darnell Hunt, co -founder of the report and the Vice Chancellor and Executive Rector of UCLA in a statement in a statement, said in a statement. “For studies, it seems that it was not about investing in what our data has proven profitable. They went with what they considered safe. “
The study found some positive trends. After two years of decline, women represented 47.6% of the main artists in 2024, closer to parity with men compared to 2023 (32.1% of potential customers). Meanwhile, the directors represented 15.4% of the films in 2024, which is similar to the findings of the previous year of 14.7%.
Read the full report here.
