What Women Want at the Movies

Recently, Fandango surveyed more than 3,000 female moviegoers, ages 18-54, to find out what women like to watch at the cinema, their moviegoing and purchasing habits, and their views on women’s representation in modern-day films. Fandango Correspondent Alicia Malone will discuss the survey results on her SXSW panel, “The Female Voices of Film Twitter” on Sunday, March 11, 2-3 pm at the Austin Convention Center 16AB.

“It’s clear from our survey that women want more female-driven stories told by female writers and directors on the big screen,” says Malone, author of the new book, Backwards & In Heels: The Past, Present and Future of Women Working in Film. “Contrary to the age-old Hollywood belief, women are not just looking for romance at the cinema. In fact, our survey shows that female moviegoers prefer action movies to romantic comedies as their genre of choice.”

What Women Like to Watch:

• 22% chose action movies as their favorite movie genre, while 18% picked comedy, 13% selected science-fiction, 12% identified drama and only 9% chose romance/romantic comedy.
• 82% are more inclined to see a movie with dynamic female characters.
• 75% prefer to watch movies with diverse casts.
• 57% prefer female-driven stories to be told by female filmmakers/writers.

Moviegoing Habits:

• 85% are the decision-makers when picking movies for friends and family.
• 73% prefer to watch movies on the big screen.
• 68% prefer to buy their movie tickets in advance.
• 64% choose to go to the movies for their girls’ nights out.
• 62% look for reserved seating when buying tickets.
• 60% get their movie information from social media.
• 57% purchase the tickets for their movie dates.

Views on Women in Film:

• 79% believe the “Time’s Up” movement will have a tangible impact on women working in Hollywood.
• 77% contend that female characters are often stereotyped in blockbusters.
• 75% would like to see more female ensembles in the movies.
• 62% feel that women are not equally represented in big screen roles.

Separately, Fandango analyzed its ticketing data, which shows:

• 52% of Fandango’s overall tickets are purchased by women.
• 49% of Fandango’s “Black Panther” tickets to date have been purchased by women.
• 41% of Fandango’s “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” tickets were purchased by women.
• 56% of Fandango’s “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” tickets were purchased by women.

To celebrate International Women’s Day, FandangoNOW, Fandango’s premium on-demand video platform, is launching Alicia Malone’s curated list of classic movies directed by female filmmakers, a playlist of contemporary films, from “Lady Bird” to “Lost in Translation,” and inspired by Malone’s new book, “Backwards & In Heels.”

About Fandango

Fandango is the ultimate digital network for all things movies, serving more than 60 million unique visitors per month, according to comScore, with best-in-class movie information, ticketing to more than 30,000 U.S. screens, trailers and original video, home entertainment and fan merchandise. Its portfolio features leading online ticketers Fandango, MovieTickets.com, and Flixster; world-renown movie review site Rotten Tomatoes; and Movieclips, the #1 movie trailers and content channel on YouTube. Fandango’s movie discovery and ticketing innovations can also be found on mobile, social, AI and voice platforms from Apple, Facebook, Google, Amazon, and others. Fandango’s video-on-demand service, FandangoNOW offers new release and catalog movies and next-day TV shows to more than 200 million connected, over-the-top (OTT) and mobile devices, while Fandango FanShop curates unique and exclusive fan gear and collectibles. In Latin America, the company operates leading online ticketers Ingresso.com and Fandango Latin America.

NBCUNIVERSAL LOGOS — Pictured: “Fandango” Logo — (Photo by: NBCUniversal)