With Taylor Swift, ‘Barbie,’ and Beyonce, Movie Theaters Tell Female Audiences: You Belong With Me. 

Detected Manipulations & Suggested Changes

Sensationalism

The article uses sensational language to describe the success of female-driven movies.

The Eras Tour is now in theaters, and Beyonce’s concert movie, Renaissance, A Film By Beyonce, will open Dec. 1. The majority of the moviegoers the singers are expected to lure to theaters will be women and girls, building upon an audience that has already helped drive the biggest film of the year, Barbie. PostTrak combined exit polling data from the Thursday night screenings of Swift’s film, which is expected to earn more than $150 million globally this weekend, reveal an audience that is so far 76 percent female, according to a source with access to the surveys.

2 suggestions

Use neutral language to describe the success of female-driven movies.

Provide more balanced information about the audience demographics.

Biased Language

The article uses biased language to favor female-driven movies and portray them as a reversal of a trend.

Studios have had some other theatrical hits with female audiences in the post-pandemic era. This summer Disney’s live-action reimagining The Little Mermaid earned nearly $300 million domestically, while Paramount’s 2022 sleeper The Lost City, the Sandra Bullock-Channing Tatum rom-com, grossed more than $190 million worldwide. Part of what makes these female-driven theatrical events noteworthy is that they are a reversal of a decade-long trend where romantic comedies and young adult films, the genres that have traditionally attracted younger female moviegoers, migrated to streaming.

2 suggestions

Use neutral language to describe the success of movies with female audiences.

Avoid portraying the success of female-driven movies as a reversal of a trend.

Unbalanced Reporting

The article focuses more on the success of female-driven movies and lacks information about other genres or demographics.

Prior to Barbie, the theatrical business’s post-pandemic recovery was largely being anchored by men ages 18 to 35, who were turning out for comic book movies and action films. And most of the films that Hollywood has given the event treatment to since Covid, from Paramount’s Top Gun: Maverick to Disney’s Avatar: The Way of the Water to Universal’s Oppenheimer, have skewed male. But films that have managed to engage passionate female fan bases pay off, often in spite of industry expectations for them.

2 suggestions

Provide more balanced information about the success of different genres and demographics in theaters.

Include data about the success of movies with male audiences.