10 Filmmakers Who Blamed Audiences For Movie Failures
2. Elizabeth Banks - Charlie's Angels
As part of the reboot trend in Hollywood, Elizabeth Banks' Charlie's Angels reimagining in 2020 undoubtedly qualifies as a flop. Following the all-female entries in the Oceans and Ghostbusters franchises, the marketing for Charlie's Angels portrayed the outing as something of a feminist movement, when in reality Banks was just making an action movie.
Though the director does acknowledge where the marketing department let her creation down, she accredits the blame for the box office failure to potential male audiences not going to see it. Even in spite of the huge successes of Captain Marvel and Wonder Woman - two outings Banks discounted as they are part of male genres - the director suggested that men won't go to see a female-led offering.
Even if you take the point she makes about Captain Marvel and Wonder Woman being a part of larger shared universes, it seems surprising that the filmmaker wouldn't consider the success of the Hunger Games franchise in which she herself starred. Led by Jennifer Lawrence, The Hunger Games brought in just under $3 billion across four entries, and seemingly disproves Bank's theory that female-led movies can't see commercial success.
That's not to say that sexism and toxic masculinity among audiences isn't a huge issue - look no further than the attacks on the recent trailer for The Marvels and the review bombing of several female-led projects - but to look at nothing else as a factor in a film's failure feels like an oversimplification.