THE MORE THINGS CHANGE, THE MORE THEY STAY THE SAME?
After 19 years of tracking representation in Hollywood's top-grossing movies, Dr. Stacy L. Smith and the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative's newest study finds that meaningful progress for all groups remains elusive.
The annual report, Inequality in 1,900 Films, is the latest from Dr. Smith and the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative. The study examines the 100 top-grossing films of 2025, adding to a dataset that spans 19 years, 1,900 films, and begins in 2007. The report evaluates representation of gender, race/ethnicity, the LGBTQ+ community and people with disabilities on screen. Behind the camera, the study assesses gender and race/ethnicity of directors, writers, producers, composers, and casting directors.
For 19 years, the percentage of girls and women as speaking characters has hovered around one-third. 2025 was no different, as 33.6% of all speaking or named characters were girls/women. In 2007, that figure was 29.9%.
Of three major genres examined, 28.6% of characters in animation were female-identified, compared to 30.4% in action/adventure, and 38.7% in comedy films.
In leading/co leading roles, girls and women have seen progress since 2007 (20 films), but the 19-year high of 55 leads/co leads reached in 2024 fell back to 38 in 2025.
Behind the camera, there were 9 women directors of top films in 2025. This is a three-fold increase from the 3 women working as directors in 2007, but less than the 16 women who directed one of the 100 most popular movies in 2024. Women writers and producers filled 16% and 24.4% of their respective roles in 2025.
Across all 19 years, 7% of all directors were women. The greatest change was observed for women composers. In 2007, there were no women composers working across the top 100 movies. In 2025, 8.5% or 10 women were credited on the year’s most popular films.
“While we've seen pockets of progress for women on screen, the pace of change has been slow. Year after year, many of the same patterns remain. Incremental improvement is important for achieving meaningful transformation, but after nearly 2 decades of research and advocacy from many groups, it is clear that the industry is content to wait for change to find them rather than pursuing solutions.”
-Dr. Stacy L. Smith, Founder, Annenberg Inclusion Initiative
In 2025, the findings for underrepresented racial/ethnic groups reflect similar gains and losses on screen and behind the camera. In 2025, 41.5% of all speaking or named characters were from an underrepresented racial/ethnic group. This figure reaches proportional representation, the fourth time in 19 years that this has occurred.
Since 2007, the percentage of white characters fell by 19.1 percentage points. Only the percentage of Asian characters increased significantly from 2007—by 11.1 percentage points. There were still significant ways that groups were left out of storytelling. Thirty movies did not have any Black characters, 46 were missing Hispanic/Latino characters, and 26 did not have any Asian characters.
Individuals from underrepresented racial/ethnic groups held more leading/co leading roles in 2025—34 in all—which is a significant gain from both 2007 and 2024. However, the figure fell just short of reaching the 19-year-high from 2023 of 37 leading/co leading roles.
Behind the scenes, nearly one-quarter of directors were from an underrepresented racial/ethnic group in 2025. This is a significant gain from 2007 (12.5%), but on par with 2024 (23.2%). Only 6 women of color directed a top-grossing movie in 2025. All of these women were Asian. Across 19 years, 6% of all directors were Black, 4.6% were Hispanic/Latino, and 6.1% were Asian.
Finally, change was observed for casting directors in two areas. The percentage of white women casting directors decreased from 2007 to 2025 while the percentage of white men and underrepresented women in this role increased.
In 2025, women of color remained underrepresented in top movies. In fact, women from several racial/ethnic groups were nearly completely invisible in popular films.
98 movies did not feature any Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander women
96 were missing American Indian/Alaska Native women
89 did not feature a single Middle Eastern/North African woman.
67 of 2025’s most popular films did not include a Latina speaking role
57 were missing a Multiracial/Multiethnic woman
48 had no Black girls/women
47 were without an Asian female-identified character.
In contrast, only 12 movies were missing any representation of a white girl/woman on screen.
LGBTQ+ representation remained static overall from 2024, as less than 1% of all speaking characters in 2025 were part of this community. Not one transgender character appeared on screen in the top films of 2025. Since 2014, when this report began examining the representation of the LGBTQ+ community, the number of characters has fluctuated. In 2025, the 36 LGBTQ+ characters on screen reflect improvement from 2007 and a decline from 2022 when 87 LGBTQ+ characters appeared on screen. Seventy-eight movies did not feature any LGBTQ+ characters in 2025, a slight improvement from 2024 (82) and significantly better than 2014 (86).
The percentage of characters with a disability remained stable in 2025 at 2.8%. In 2015, the first year the report included this metric, and in 2024, 2.4% of characters were shown with a disability. Thus, there has been no movement over time for this community. Characters were most likely to have physical disabilities (59.5%), followed by communicative (38%), and cognitive (32.2%) disabilities. Nearly half of all films in 2025 did not feature one character with a disability, a figure that climbs to 81 movies when considering how many were missing a girl/woman with a disability.
“Nineteen years of data show that change is possible, but they also show how fragile that progress can be,” said Dr. Smith. “This is not the first time this report has shown that meaningful gains are followed by a return to business as usual. At a moment when the industry is redefining its future, inclusion can be part of the solution, not a casualty of contraction. The question is no longer whether the industry can change. It's whether it will.”
-Dr. Stacy L. Smith
The report from the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative concludes with a review of solutions that can increase inclusion in film. The recommendations offered focus on the processes and strategies that decision-makers can utilize that overcome bias, primarily by incorporating criteria in decisions.
The report dives even deeper into the numbers, with insightful data and graphs, and you can read it in full by clicking HERE.