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Mythbusting Female-Led Film Franchises

2013 was a banner year for women on the big screen. The Sandra Bullock-starrer Gravity pulled in more box-office bucks than Man Of Steel. Jennifer Lawrence’s The Hunger Games: Catching Fire set booking lines alight, and the Kristen Bell-led Frozen melted cash registers around the world. Then there was The Heat – a buddy cop movie starring Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy, written by Katie Dippold – which raked in $230 million dollars.

3) Scary Movie (2000 – 2013)

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  • 5 films with a combined budget: $177 million
  • International Box Office: $896 million
  • Comparable to: 4 Lethal Weapon movies ($950 million international box office)

That’s right. The Scary Movie franchise is among the most successful female-led film franchises. Created by Keenan, Shawn and Marlon Wayans, these American comedy films are intended to parody famous horror movies. Instalments 1 – 4 are led by Anna Faris and Regina Hall, while Scary Movie 5 has Ashley Tisdale in the lead role.

The first instalment was the most favourably reviewed of the series, with diminishing critical success for each successive film. However, audiences continued to respond to the format, enjoying the pop culture references, and the all-too-rare chance to see women in broad comedic lead roles on the big screen, that are firmly outside of the usual romantic comedy trope.

Throughout the series, horror films parodied include I Know What You Did Last Summer, Scream, The Exorcist, Friday The 13th, The Haunting, The Ring, Signs, War Of The Worlds and The Grudge. The Wayans Brothers – creators of the franchise – departed after the second instalment, while stars Anna Faris and Regina Hall left after the fourth. Scary Movie 5 was the least successful of the series overall, but the franchise had already sailed past the $800 million mark by the time of its release.

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