Charts: Movies that pass the Bechdel test have a better return on investment

The evidence that movies featuring women being people actually make money keeps rolling in. Here’s the latest data-dive from FiveThirtyEight — they ran the numbers on over 1,500 films released between 1990 and 2013 and found that movies that pass the Bechdel test see a great return on investment at the box office.

First, they looked at the films’ budgets, which showed that the median budget of those passing the Bechdel test was 35 percent lower than those that failed. Breaking out the three pillars of the Bechdel test individually was even more revealing. “Films that had at least two women in them got higher budgets than films that didn’t, but only when those women never spoke to one another.” Obviously. Hollywood has big bucks to spend on films where women are eye candy and/or plot devices.

Yet, even when crippled by small budgets, female-driven films tend to outperform expectations. The total median gross return on investment for a film that passed the Bechdel test was $2.68 for each dollar spent, compared to only $2.45 for films that failed. And despite the claims of some within the industry that films with strong female leads don’t do well internationally, they hold their own abroad as well.

As FiveThirtyEight notes, “Hollywood is the business of making money.” And the assumption that female-driven films are a financial risk is a persistent one. But the clues that times are a-changing are there if the industry cares to take notice.

Related:
Chart: Movies with strong female roles make more money
The Hunger Games: A story for women and girls that everyone can love
Infographic of the Day: Gender Inequality in Film (spoiler alert: there’s a lot)

Maya prefers TV honestly.