Why Hollywood Desperately Needs Female Movie Fans

Rarely a year goes by without hearing actresses complain about the lack of decent roles in Hollywood. While that does seem to be a valid complaint, it's really only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to women's relationship with the film industry.

It's no secret to those in retail marketing that women are big spenders. So why does it seem that Hollywood hasn't received the message yet? While Hollywood churns out disastrous "chick flicks" and half-hearted attempts at the nearly extinct dramatic romance, it's clear that studios haven't been doing enough research before these films go into production.

With the astronomical success of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest after a depressing two-year box office slouch, film producers are already sniffing around for the next swashbuckling blockbuster. But have they truly considered the source of those repeat viewings that have ultimately skyrocketed Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest into the stuff of box office legend?

The success of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest hinges not on the testosterone crowd, but more so with the estrogen brigade. With the initial release of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, something began bubbling under the surface. That something was the birth of a fandom that would increase the brand's momentum as three years passed until the release of the film's sequel.

After the release of Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, women ages fifteen to fifty began scouring the internet for more information about the characters within the film. Fan sites were created. Online journals began filling with fan created fiction that further developed the world of Captain Jack Sparrow long after the film faded to black. Would-be female costumers began creating their own Elizabeth Swann and even Jack Sparrow costumes. Yes. Jack Sparrow became a woman many, many times over the past three years.

When the production of the second film was announced, these same fan sites, that were 95% female, began searching out production sights. Fans became amateur film sleuths, sneaking cameras close to the set and capturing images of the production for themselves. And then, of course, posting those images for their fellow fans to fawn over.

As trailers began hitting video servers, these same female fans went about putting it onto their own servers, serving the images up 24 hours a day, completely footing the bandwidth bill themselves. In essence, the female fans began doing much of the marketing for Disney. By the time that the first TV spots hit the networks, the film was already sold.

Compare the release of Pirates with the release of the highly anticipated Superman Returns film. The demographic anticipating the new Superman film was largely male. However, when the first stills were released online bearing images of director Bryan Singer's new Superman, the fans unleashed a tirade of insults, instantly criticizing the film on the basis on one still.

For the most part, the production blogs, promotional stills and pre-hype concerning the film went largely unnoticed by the female demographic with the exception of a small number of female fans who grew up with the comic, the Reeve films or both. When it was clear that Superman Returns was going to be a more emotionally charged film, Warner Brother immediately attempted to dump what they believed to be female-targeted television spots to promote the film.

Unfortunately, Warner Brothers failed to realize that the belief that females don't appreciate action oriented films is a myth. An internet search on the X-Men "movie-verse" (as it's termed by fans) canon will result in a wealth of fiction, fan art, and film discussions that are largely comprised of female fans.

However, hope is not lost for Warner Brothers and the Superman franchise. Women who saw the film have went on to do exactly what they did after the release of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. New female oriented fan sites paying homage to the Man of Steel have sprung up in just the last month. The much neglected Superman category on fanfiction.net now contains nearly 200 stories whereas it contained only seven before the film's release and fan sites that covered the release of the film are now seeing more members of the female persuasion join message boards and communities.

What does all this mean for movie studios? Instead of attempting to market down to females by cutting trailers to resemble a soap opera and scoring said trailer with weep-fest ballads, studios should consider that female movie-goers appreciate the exact same things in a film that most men appreciate. A good story, action that serves that story and romance, should the film contain such. Sell female fans on the exact same selling points that you'd sell their male counterparts. Most female movie-goers will tell you they were intrigued by the Spider-Man 3 trailer that accompanied the Superman Returns film. Of course, a good portion of female movie-goers will also tell you that they enjoyed the first two Spider-Man films as well.

The outstanding difference between male and female film fans is just how far female fans will go to "sell" their fandom to others, doing much of the marketing of the film for free and much more effectively than studio marketers. This is why Hollywood must reevaluate how they market to female filmgoers and pay just as much attention to us as their male counterparts.