Ten years ago, there was aTransformersmovie and aPirates of the Caribbeanmovie and aSpider-Manmovie.
Times don’t change or maybe, blessedly, they do.
Summer 2007 was a lean season for female-centric filmmaking.
There were some bright spots.Nancy Drewleveled Emma Roberts out of her Nickelodeon phase.
The musical adaptationHairspraybrought playful Broadway spirit to mainstream audiences.
“And this male star was starring in it, and there was a girlfriend part.
And I thought, You’ve got to be kidding me.
No, I’m not interested.'
And I thought, Oh, that’s where we’re at?
You’re fighting to be the girlfriend in a dumb comedy?
And by the way, two Oscar winners did it.”
“I wasn’t making a female empowerment film,” Jenkins tells EW.
Make a great movie about a female character where it’s just a great universal film."
But unquestionably, the Amazonian vision of a female-populated utopia has struck a chord with audiences.
Next month’sAtomic Blondepromises a more raucously modern vision of female heroism.
“It was a relatively unconventional female story,” says producer Kelly McCormick.
“It’s not a typical female love story.
She’s not saving a kid.
It’s not a conventional woman-in-jeopardy story that we’re so used to.
She’s a unique spy doing her job.”
“We were anticipating that,” McCormick says.
“It would have been a different ride on the feminist train.”
As it is, the producer thinks that the wild energy ofAtomic Blondecan thrill audiences on every level.
“I secretly call [the film] a feminist manifesto wrapped in cotton candy.”
“Hollywood is a reactive industry,” saysGirls Tripproducer Will Packer.
The icing on the cake isWonder Woman.
Women were definitely the catalyst.
And then it was just a really good freaking movie.
Will there be aWonder Womaneffect in Hollywood?
Again, Packer points to how the reactive nature of the movie industry.
Hollywood follows success but it also responds to what audiences are feeling.
“Whoever you are, whatever group you are or identity with, people want something that represents them.
That’s already in evidence in some of the film industry’s most profitable franchises.
The hottest new trend in Hollywood’s franchise era has seen an intriguing new focus on female characters.
In a film about talking cars, their dynamic has intriguing resonance in the current cultural conversation.
At one point, Cruz asks Lightning how he knew he could be a championship racecar.
“I just never thought I couldn’t,” answers Lightning.
“I wish I knew what that felt like,” Cruz says.
“Animation is technically changing, but it’s still a male-dominated industry.”
Fee notes how being the father of two daughters has shifted his worldview and creative process.
“Now I’m seeing the world through my daughters' eyes.
The female perspective, what’s out there for them, and what’s out there to influence them.
Who they have as role models ordon’thave, I guess I should say.”
(Next year’sTransformersspinoff Bumblee iscircling Hailee Steinfeld.)
TheX-Menfranchise is casting all your favoriteGame of Thronesactresses.
The important thing to remember, of course, is that this isn’tjustsome hiccup in female-centric big-screen entertainment.
That’s the core message brewing in other upcoming high-profile projects.
There always should be.
There needs to be.
And that opens eyes not just of women, but of everyone.
Take it from Jenkins, currently working on a sequel toWonder Woman.
Completely macho boys wanting to be Wonder Woman, and playing with Wonder Woman dolls!
That blows my mind, and is wonderful.”
