I'm not insisting that top-grossing movies should somehow magically trade-off between male and female-led. But that it's been forty years since this was the case tells me that either (a) audiences really only like movies led by male stars, or (b) Hollywood really thinks (a) is the case and so only crafts blockbusters with a male lead.
HG is a great example of this. In a future dystopia where many are impoverished to provide for the rich, our hero must fight to the death in an arena in order to save their home town and, just maybe, bring freedom back to the world. In any sane Hollywood power broker's office, there would be absolutely no question that "our hero" there should be male. It wouldn't even be raised as a question. The main decision point would be whether to go with an established action hero (male), or look for some exciting newcomer (male), followed by whether the male hero's girlfriend/wife should be killed by the evil tyrannical government in order to provide him with motivation (much more likely to decide that way if it's his wife, of course).
The only reason the HG movie has a female protagonist is because the book had one. And the only reason the book became a movie is because it was insanely popular. And if you could magically, authoritatively, prove to me that nobody, in any production company meeting room, at some point of the movie series development, ever suggested that having Katniss be gender-swapped (and renamed) so that the movie would be a real success, I'd be shocked.
My hope is that, just maybe, this might provide some bit of proof to Hollywood that women can be box office successes as stars, and movies they lead can actually make lots of money, and that you can have a women leading a movie that's something other than a rom-com or a tear-jerker. Of course, we've had such (rare) evidence before, but Hollywood, for all its "liberal" reputation, is deeply conservative when it comes to creative choices and the prospect of Making Big Bucks.
So congrats to the HG movies. I most likely won't watch another one of you again, but rest assured it has nothing to do with your having a woman as the main protagonist.
‘The Hunger Games’ Becomes First Female-Led #1 Film Since ‘The Exorcist’
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Almost certainly the case that Hollywood thinks male leads are the safe bet. For all the talk of "Hollywood Liberals", the Studios are very conservative when it comes to business.
Alien is still one of my favorite movies. Ripley FTW!
+Scott Randel More fond of 2 than 1, but I do like Ripley.
I was surprised that Aliens was as suspenseful as it was. I like them both, but Ripley didn't have to share credit in the first one. That was all her!
I have always felt that Linda, not Arnold, was the lead in Terminator.
+George Wiman She should have been, and arguably is — though you couldn't tell from the publicity …