Leaked Sony Emails Show Sony and Marvel CEOs' Bias Against Female Superheroes
As a result of the hacking of Sony emails, Wikileaks has revealed that bigwigs at Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios have no faith in superheroes of the female kind. One specific email revealed that these executives thought that superhero movies about women were "bad for business."
The Sony hack included an email exchange between the CEO of Marvel Ike Perlmutter and CEO of Sony Michael Lynton with the subject line: "Female Movies." Per Wikileaks, the email reads:
"From: "IP"
Get Our Latest News for FREE
To: "Lynton, Michael"
Subject: Female Movies
Date: Thu, 7 Aug 2014 05:32:50 -0400
Michael,
As we discussed on the phone, below are just a few examples. There are more:
Thanks,
Ike
- Electra (Marvel) - Very bad idea and the end result was very, very bad.
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=elektra.htm
- Catwoman (WB/DC) - Catwoman was one of the most important female character within the Batmanfranchise. This film was a disaster.
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=catwoman.htm
- Supergirl - (DC) Supergirl was one of the most important female super hero in Superman franchise. This Movie came out in 1984 and did $14 million total domestic with opening weekend of $5.5 million. Again, another disaster.
Best, Ike"
As the email shows, both studios cite that the reason why they are not interested in female superhero movies is because of these three movies which not only flopped in the box office, but were also "poorly done." But, the report also cites that flops are not just limited to female-led films but are also applicable to superhero films with male leads, saying that the reason they were not successful was not because they featured female superheroes. It cited such movies as "Daredevil," "Superman Returns," and "Green Lantern."
Marvel is taking its time announcing a Black Widow movie even after several successful and box-office hit Avenger movies with the Black Widow among the main characters, played by Scarlett Johansson. This has earned them criticism, because they have not yet "solidified its support" for Johansson to star as the leading role. Last year, however, they announced nine movies to be released before 2020 which includes "Captain Marvel," which is a woman.
Sony and Marvel have yet to comment on this recent email leak, which opened them up to more criticism for their apparent bias against female-led movies.
