Here’s a shocking revelation that should make us all pause: Women in leading roles in top films have plummeted to a seven-year low in 2025, according to a groundbreaking study by the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative. But here’s where it gets even more concerning—the study warns that a potential merger between Paramount and Warner Bros. could be “highly detrimental” to diversity and inclusion in Hollywood. Let’s dive into the details.
In 2025, only 39 out of the top 100 highest-grossing films featured a girl or woman in a lead or co-lead role. This marks a steep decline from 2024’s record-breaking 55 films and is the lowest number since 2018, when 40 films met this criteria. Dr. Stacy L. Smith, the study’s author, highlights this as a troubling trend that raises questions about the industry’s commitment to gender representation.
And this is the part most people miss: underrepresented female leads—especially women of color—are being left behind. In 2025, only 15 films featured an underrepresented female lead or co-lead, a number that has stagnated since 2023. Even more alarming? Not a single film in 2025 featured a woman of color aged 45 or older in a leading role. Meanwhile, six films in the same year featured underrepresented male leads in that age bracket. This disparity is hard to ignore.
The study calls out Paramount and Warner Bros. as the “worst performing distributors” in terms of female representation. While Universal led the pack with 54.2% of its films centered on female leads, followed by Lionsgate (50%) and Disney (43.7%), Warner Bros. (20%) and Paramount (12.5%) lagged far behind. When it comes to underrepresented actors, Paramount didn’t feature a single one in a leading role among the top 100 films—a statistic that’s both jarring and unacceptable.
But here’s where it gets controversial: The study argues that a Paramount-Warner Bros. merger would be “devastating” for women and people of color in the industry. Dr. Smith warns, “Anyone who values inclusion should be considering the consequences of such a merger.” On the flip side, a Netflix-Warner Bros. merger paints a more optimistic picture. Since 2019, at least half of Netflix’s films have featured women in lead roles, and the streaming giant has consistently achieved proportional representation for underrepresented leads—except for 2023. This raises a thought-provoking question: Are mergers the solution or the problem for diversity in Hollywood?
The study’s findings are clear: a Paramount-Warner Bros. merger would likely result in fewer films featuring women and people of color in leading roles, while a Netflix-Warner Bros. merger could amplify representation. What do you think? Is Hollywood moving backward, or is there hope for change? Share your thoughts in the comments—this is a conversation we can’t afford to ignore. For the full report, check out the link here.
