The Hhunger Games: Catching Fire
Last week Kevin Feige hinted that there could be a solo female Marvel movie in the pipeline - however just which character would be leading the film wasn’t revealed.
And it seems that Marvel is set to get on the female fronted film bandwagon after a couple of great years this genre has had at the box office.
We have seen more and more films with strong female leads after it was discovered that there is a strong audience for these movies around the world.
From hard hitting drama, comedy and blockbusters this female fronted movie has well and truly been on the march -
The Twilight Saga has really driven this genre forward in recent years as popular teen literary heroine Bella Swan was brought to the big screen.
Twilight hit the big screen in 2008 and made a star of actress Kristen Stewart as she took on the role of Bella in the Catherine Hardwicke directed movie.
Four movies followed and they all enjoyed huge box office success and it is a franchise that took over $3.3 billion at the global box office.
Now the Twilight Saga may not have been to everyone’s taste but it was a franchise that really connected with it’s target audience and showed that this type of franchise could have huge success.
Last year we saw another popular book series come to the big screen for the first time… of course I am talking about The Hunger Games.
The Hunger Games was one of the best book adaptations of the year as Jennifer Lawrence took on the central role of Katniss Everdeen and showed that she was a blockbuster star as well as a dramatic actress.
The movie won over the critics and was a massive box office hit as it grossed in excess of $691 million and was one of the biggest grossing films of 2012.
This autumn will see The Hunger Games: Catching Fire hit the big screen and there is already a huge amount of excitement building around this film. Lawrence is now an Oscar winning actress and she will reprise the role of Katniss in a movie that promises to be bigger, better and more successful than the first.
There is no greater heroine in science fiction then Ellen Ripley so when Ridley Scott returned to the Alien franchise he, once again, went with the strong female lead.
Prometheus hit the big screen last summer and was one of the most highly anticipated films of last year and saw Scott return to the Alien franchise for the first time since the 1979 original.
This time around it was Noomi Rapace who was in the lead role of Elizabeth Shaw, an archaeologist who is looking for life in space.
Rapace grabbed everyone’s attention by a strong and powerful performance as Lisbeth Salander when the Millennium trilogy was adapted for the big screen and she produced another one with Prometheus.
The movie was a critical success as well as being a box office hit - taking in excess of $403 million worldwide at the end of it’s theatrical run.
Disney has never been afraid to put female characters at the forefront of their movies over the years but until last summer Pixar had never had a female lead character.
But all that changed when Brave hit the big screen and was the animation movie not to miss in 2012. The film was set in Scotland and followed Merida, a princess who defies an age old custom of her kingdom - sending it into to chaos.
While Pixar was doing something that it had never done before with this movie Brave still had that magic that this animation studio bring to every film that they make.
And while they were treading new ground with a heroine leading the film it proved to be a smart move as the movie was a huge smash.
Not only did it make over $554 million but it also went on to win Best Animated film at the Oscars, Golden Globes and the Baftas.
There has been much talk of a sequel since the movie was released but, at the moment, there is nothing set in stone.
But it is not just these animation and blockbusters that have been enjoying female fronted success as comedy got in on the act in 2011 with Bridesmaids.
Hollywood has always seemed reluctant to make female driven comedies but Bridesmaids showed that there was a huge audience for it as the movie was a mammoth success.
Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo penned the screenplay and starred in the film while Paul Feig was in the director’s chair.
The movie was a box office and critical hit and the screenplay went on to be nominated for a Golden Globe and an Oscar.
2011 also saw Emma Stone, Viola Davis, Jessica Chastain, Octavia Spencer and Bryce Dallas Howard unite to bring the Kathryn Stockett novel The Help to the big screen - directed by Tate Taylor.
Once again The Help showed that female driven movies really could be successful as it was a critical and box office hit while it went on to pick up four Oscar nominations; Best Picture, Best Actress and two Best Supporting Actress nods.
With all of this success that female fronted films have had in recent years it comes as no surprise to see that Marvel are looking at capitalising on it - and it is about time to!
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