Something I noticed when we were considering movies for this season is that in 2008, something

out of the ordinary happened. In 2007, of the top 20 box office hits of the year, the only movie

that could be argued as coded toward women would be enchanted, which I would argue is actually

more of a kid's movie. But in 2008, included in the top 20 box office hits are Twilight, Sex

in the City, and Mama Mia. Unlike the rom-coms of the previous years, these are all big budget films, based on

previously established intellectual properties like James Bond or Marvel, and were marketed

widely.

This 2008 bet paid off. Mama Mia beat James Bond in the box office. Young women came out

in droves to see Twilight more than once. Looking at the data, you would think that this would be a huge

tide change in how major

studios approached making movies for women.

And yet, when we look at 2009, things kind of look exactly the same as they did in 2007.

There were still rom-coms.

We got the proposal and the ugly truth,

but they're relegated back to their tropey, low-budget,

easily dismissable corner.

Hollywood has always made movies for women,

but they seem to treat male and female audiences the same for one year,

2008. And that's the theme for our mini-season. And our question for this mini-season is,

what was happening in 2008?

We know that a lot of it is kind of random timing.

Movies get greenlit shot approved and edited on all sorts of timelines.

...