The best way for a film company to make money while at the same time show that they are aware of female social issues is to create an all female cast spin off of an existing franchise.
Examples like Ghostbusters 2016, Bird of Prey, and Oceans 8 come to mind. However, there has been a bit of backlash towards feminist films in recent years. Films like Bird of Prey and Ghostbusters are disliked by the public for being a feminist version of beloved men centric films. As a result, the film makers and actresses blaming the audience for being mysoginistic.
While that may be true in some degree, it is the writing and creative process behind making the film that determines its success.
In comparing Oceans 8 with Bird of Prey.
We are able to determine how to correctly produce an all female cast film. While Bird of Prey had the female cast part down, they failed because the film makers did not adapt the comic correctly. They decided to make Harley Quin the main protagonist, in a film that is based on a comic where Harley does not appear in. In addition to that, they wrote the film in a way that made Harley quin a giant goof ball, where luck was constantly on her side.
Meanwhile, Oceans 8 does a better job, by justifying the need for all woman's cast. It mirrors the other Ocean movies visualy and incorporates original characters from Oceans 11, while keeping it unique with its own new set of characters and film score.
When talking about Birds of Prey, that aspect of the comic world has always been entirely female whereas the other examples have not, so to compare them as needing 'justification' doesn't quite work.
However, I think this topic would be better suited to a discussion of how all-female casts are being approached by the film industry and by the public. Was the success or failure of these movies down to their casts or because of other situations? i.e. for ghostbusters, people not quite ready for their childhood to be changed at all, let alone with an all-female cast. – kerrybaps5 years ago
I think that some people might argue that critically, Birds of Prey was fairly successful, but the audience/box office numbers don't seem to match the films critical reception. I found Birds of Prey to be as enjoyable if not more enjoyable than many other films in its genre. – Sean Gadus5 years ago