In 2025, only 29% of top-grossing films featured female protagonists, a sharp decline from 42% in 2024.
: Representation remains most dismal for women over 60, who accounted for only 2% of major female characters in 2025. In contrast, men in the same age bracket comprised 8% of major male characters.
| Traditional Archetype | Modern Subversion | |-----------------------|-------------------| | Wise grandmother / matriarch | The sexually active, rebellious elder ( Good Luck to You, Leo Grande ) | | Bitter spinster | The joyful, single woman by choice ( Somebody Somewhere ) | | Overbearing mother-in-law | The complex mother-daughter trauma story ( The Lost Daughter ) | | Comic relief sidekick | The sharp-tongued lead of a buddy comedy ( Book Club ) | | Victim of crime / illness | The action hero (*Kate Beckinsale in Jolt , at 48) |
Cable television first hinted at this potential. Shows like The Golden Girls (a 1980s anomaly that was actually about independent, sexually active seniors) and Murder, She Wrote were outliers. But streaming has democratized the landscape.
