A UCLA study found that the percentage of women directors behind theatrical films decreased by five percentage points in 2025.
Only 10.1% of the top 109 theatrical movies in 2025 were helmed by female filmmakers. This is a sharp decline from the already-unbalanced 15.4% in 2024. This put 2025 at a seven-year low for women, with the smallest percentage since 2018 (7.1%). 2020 and 2021 were not included in the study due to the effects of the COVID pandemic.
The 2026 Hollywood Diversity Report, conducted by the University of California, Los Angeles, examined 109 of the top English-language, theatrical films released in 2025.
This report compiled data from “a variety of sources that industry stakeholders rely upon for day-to-day updates on industry developments,” including Studio System, Luminate Film & TV, the Internet Movie Database (IMDb), Comscore and Box Office Mojo.
“Instead of sustained progress in terms of racial, ethnic and gender diversity, the past few years seem to follow a pattern of three steps forward, followed by three steps back and then one step forward,” the report reads. “Initially, progress appears to have been made, but in reality, diversity is only slightly better than where it was a few years earlier.”
At the Saturn Awards on Sunday, James Cameron pointed to this disparity while accepting the award for Best Film Direction, noting that all of his fellow nominees were men. Though Cameron referenced statistics that differed from UCLA’s, he arrived at the same conclusion.
“It’s all men, and it shouldn’t be,” Cameron said. “When Kathryn Bigelow won for Best Director, [she was] the first woman to win. The rate of female directors in Hollywood was 17%. It’s now 13%. We’re going the wrong direction.”
White directors made up over 77.5% of all the directors, with five women and 88 men among that number. There were no Black, Latinx, multiracial and Native women among the directors of the top theatrical films of 2025.
The percentage of people of color in the director’s chair, meanwhile, is on a slight rise compared to 2025: 22% vs. the previous year’s 20.2%.
“Filmmakers of color usually have to prove themselves for years before they are hired to direct a film that will have a wide-theatrical release with a decent budget. Then, if the film succeeds at the box office, the media frames it as surprising or an anomaly,” said Ana-Christina Ramón, director of the Entertainment and Media Research Initiative at UCLA, who co-founded the report series. “However, the success of those films is just proof of why this investment is warranted and should be increased at all budget levels for filmmakers of color.”
The study pointed to Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners” as one of the year’s biggest phenomenons, an example of a Black filmmaker drawing in a wide audience for an original story. “Sinners” went on to break the nomination record at the Academy Awards, getting 16 nods compared to the previous high of 14.
Meanwhile, some of 2025’s notable films directed by women include “Hamnet” (Chloé Zhao, nominated for Best Director at the Oscars), “Materialists” (Celine Song), “Five Nights at Freddy’s 2” (Emma Tammi), “A House of Dynamite” (Kathryn Bigelow), “Freakier Friday” (Nisha Ganatra) and “Die My Love” (Lynne Ramsay).
“Studios cannot afford to turn away from women and people of color during this time when the theatrical industry is still struggling,” Ramón said. “Working with the creatives from these communities and appealing to these audiences will be integral to the major studios’ survival in the next decade.”
