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Posted: 2023-01-03T18:03:37Z | Updated: 2023-01-03T18:03:37Z

It has been more than five years since the rise of the Me Too movement and nearly three since the racial reckoning that followed the murder of George Floyd, both of which prompted Hollywood leaders to promise systemic change. Yet in 2022, the percentage of women and people of color directing the biggest movies at the U.S. box office flatlined compared with previous highs in recent years, a study released Monday found one of many signs that such promises may have been largely symbolic.

In 2022, just 9% of the directors behind the years top 100 fictional films were women, and 20.7% were people of color, according to the University of Southern Californias Annenberg Inclusion Initiative. Both numbers are far below proportional representation in the U.S.

Now in its 16th year, the groups annual report, Inclusion in the Directors Chair, examines the number of women and people of color helming the top 100 movies at the box office. Among the most glaring findings: From 2007 to 2022, only 21 of the highest-grossing movies (out of a total of 1,488) were directed by women of color.

Many people have traditions as they look back on the year past and on to the year ahead, said Stacy L. Smith, who founded the group, in a statement. At the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, it seems that our tradition is to lament how little things have changed for women and people of color behind the camera in popular film. Wed like to see not only the tradition change but also the hiring practices that continue to marginalize women and people of color as directors.

In 2022, the percentage of women directing major theatrical releases was down from a record high of 15% in 2020. Overall, progress seems to have stalled, with this percentage typically hovering around 10% since 2019, according to the groups data.

To put it another way, you can easily list the women who directed 2022s major theatrical releases, as there were only 10: Olivia Newman (Where the Crawdads Sing), Gina Prince-Bythewood (The Woman King), Olivia Wilde (Dont Worry Darling), Jessica M. Thompson (The Invitation), Kat Coiro (Marry Me), Rosalind Ross (Father Stu), Halina Reijn (Bodies Bodies Bodies), Kasi Lemmons (Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody), Chinonye Chukwu (Till) and Maria Schrader (She Said ). Just three were women of color: Prince-Bythewood, Lemmons and Chukwu. (The study did not include movies that went directly to streaming platforms or those released in limited theaters in December.)