as was the case with “Moon Knight”), lest audiences find themselves having to do endless amounts of homework just to understand the plot. It also doesn’t help that the MCU has left several loose ends dangling for years, only to eventually tie them off in an underwhelming fashion (like what happened in “Captain America: Brave New World”).
But a franchise that requires viewers to watch dozens of movies just to understand a new one is not the same as a successful expanded universe. There are better ways to do interconnectivity. Take “Thunderbolts,*” a film that acts as the MCU’s answer to “DC’s Legends of Tomorrow” in that they both focus on superhero teams composed of characters who were introduced in other projects. As with that Arrowverse show, it’s useful but not wholly necessary to understand where the heroes in “Thunderbolts*” are coming from — because it’s not really their past that matters in the story at hand so much as who they are when they’re together.
Now, it appears Marvel has another ace up its sleeve (one that shows a better path to achieving interconnectivity) in the form of “Eyes of Wakanda,” an animated TV show that offers phenomenal world-building without requiring lots of homework. Those attending the Annecy International Animation Film Festival got a chance to watch the very first episode of the series, and it’s shaping up to be something pretty special … as well as, hopefully, a sign of things to come for the MCU.
Marvel’s Eyes of Wakanda is a Wakandan history lesson
Marvel Studios
“Eyes of Wakanda” is an anthology series about Wakanda’s attempts to retrieve stolen artifacts throughout history. The first episode, titled “Into the Lion’s Den,” starts out in Crete in 1260 B.C. and follows a disgraced former member of the Dora Milaje as they pursue the “Lion,” a man who defected from the Wakandan guard in order to run his own band of pirates, using stolen Wakandan technology to power his kingdom. The whole thing takes inspiration from the real-life hypothesized tribe known as the Sea Peoples, which terrorized Egypt and the Eastern Mediterranean region in the Late Bronze Age. (The Sea Peoples also played a prominent role in the excellent second season of Genndy Tartakovsky’s “Primal.”)
The “Black Panther” spin-off is visually stunning and unlike anything else we’ve seen from Marvel Animation so far. Gone is the 2.5D look of “What If…?,” with Axis Animation creating a graphic 3D style full of 2D visual effects and exaggerated designs that make it feel like a comic book. Being animated, “Eyes of Wakanda” only further bolsters “Black Panther” director Ryan Coogler and his team’s efforts to infuse Wakanda with a sense of cultural specificity, from its attire and buildings all the way down to its residents’ body shapes and skin tones.
In terms of the story, “Eyes of Wakanda” manages to be self-contained even as it explores the long history of the fictional eponymous nation and expands on the prologue from Coogler’s first “Black Panther” movie, revealing in greater detail just how Wakandan society became so advanced. As “Into the Lion’s Den” director Todd Harris explained after the episode screening, “Eyes of Wakanda” is meant to explore how the tactics and the culture of Wakanda have evolved over time and the means by which the country has stayed preserved for as long as it has in the MCU.
As each episode moves to a new time period and focuses on different artifacts stolen from the country (but with a sense of connection between them, as they each explore the ramifications of the episodes before them), this feels like the perfect way to expand the Marvel universe. Sure, there will be some familiar MCU characters making appearances (as Harris confirmed we’ll see Iron First at one point, though not the version you might expect), but what makes this all the more appealing is that the show also functions as a history lesson about the MCU at large.
Eyes of Wakanda is doing the same thing Star Wars excels at
Marvel Studios
As Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) put it at the end of the original “Iron Man” movie when he showed up at Tony Stark’s (Robert Downey Jr.) mansion, “You think you’re the only superhero in the world?” We’ve gotten glimpses of the MCU’s long history before, including flashbacks featuring the original Ant-Man and the Wasp. Still, we’ve never gotten something like “Eyes of Wakanda,” i.e. an expanded history lesson that shows how the MCU has evolved and changed over the centuries.
This is something the “Star Wars” franchise excels at — exploring different corners of its universe, expanding on certain time periods, and painting an overall more complete picture of its fictional setting. Even after so many MCU films and shows, including all those limited series that function specifically as world-building, the property is still strangely lacking in comparison.
That is what makes “Eyes of Wakanda” feel so special. It’s a show that seems to fulfill the promise of the MCU by recreating the experience of reading a comic book and following a single character, only to discover there’s a special one-shot exploring their past and ancestry. It helps that Wakanda is already the most fleshed-out place in the MCU, a country with a sense of history, tradition, and culture that viewers are eager to see more of (as opposed to, say, all those same-y alien planets we’ve barely had time to explore in the “Guardians of the Galaxy” movies).
“Eyes of Wakanda” will begin streaming on August 6, 2025, on Disney+.
It’s summertime, and that often means there are plenty of family-friendly options at the theater. One of the fun flicks hitting the 2025 movie calendar is Elio, the newest animated film from Pixar. Early screenings have given some people a chance to see the movie before its release on June 20, and the first reactions are featuring some pretty strong opinions.
Pixar’s Elio will take moviegoers on a sci-fi space adventure. Our eye patch-sporting main character has an active imagination and is obsessed with aliens, but he gets more than he bargained for after being beamed up and is mistakenly thought to be Earth’s leader. Adventures ensue and, like all the best Pixar movies, this sounds like it has the potential to emotionally wreck audiences. According to Henry Raviolli, we’re in for an emotionally rich story about self-discovery. He writes on social media:
Justin Lawrence of Geekcentric also feels strongly about the coming-of-age tale, describing it as “weird” in the best way. Lawrence posts:
Joaquin Teodoro says this original story feels important, especially with so many sequels and remakes, writing:
According to Jonathan Sim, audience members young and old will fall in love with Elio, Glordon and all of the other characters in the upcoming Pixar flick. Sim says:
Voice actor Remy Edgerly is the voice Glordon, a toothy, wormlike alien who befriends Elio, and the above critic isn’t the only person singling out this character. Carla Renata posts:
Russ Milhelm of The Direct agrees that Glordon is a show-stealer but says audiences will enjoy the entire cast as Elio explores universal themes in this out-of-this-world adventure. Milhelm continues:
Your Daily Blend of Entertainment News
Michael J. Lee and others who caught an early screening of the movie are marveling at the animation as well as the emotional storytelling and, of course, some laughs along the way. This critic says:
Anthony Gagliardi of The Movie Podcast says audiences are in for a treat with this new film by Domee Shi, the writer/director of 2022’s Turning Red. In Gagliardi’s words:
It sounds like Elio hits all the beats we’ve come to expect from Pixar — great vocal performances, stunning animation and an emotional story that will connect with audience members of all ages. We’ll get even more details in the coming days as critics are allowed to expand on their first reactions ahead of Elio’s release to theaters on Friday, June 20.
confirmed to Entertainment Weekly that a new “Wonder Woman” movie is being written right now. But fans shouldn’t expect to see Gal Gadot back as Diana, because while this is the third live-action “Wonder Woman” film, it is almost certainly going to be a reboot, not a sequel to “Wonder Woman 1984.” (Sorry, Connie Nielsen.)
The previous silver screen Wonder Woman movies were part of the now-dead DC Extended Universe. We’re about a month out from seeing if Gunn’s DC Universe Take Two can soar with “Superman.” So far, of the DC Trinity (Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman), we only have David Corenswet cast as Superman. But Gunn does have plans for the other two.
Batman (specifically, the Batman who cameoed in Gunn’s animated “Creature Commandos”) is set to star in “The Brave and the Bold.” Directed by Andy Muschietti, this film will see Bruce Wayne partnered with his son, Damian Wayne/Robin. How will this work with “The Batman Part II” starring Robert Pattinson due in 2027? TBD!
Until now, we didn’t know that DC Studios was going to make a “Wonder Woman” movie, but the hints were there. One of the earliest projects the studios announced was a TV series focusing on the origins of the Amazons — the all-women Greek tribe that Diana belongs to. One of the villains of “Creature Commandos” was the Amazon witch Circe (typically a foe of Diana), and Wonder Woman herself cameoed in a vision sequence.
With the “Wonder Woman” reboot, hopefully the mistakes of past films can be corrected. (None of the “Diana is the daughter of Zeus” nonsense this time, please.) Even better, Wonder Woman will no longer endure the indignity of having only been played on the silver screen by the actress Gal Gadot!
Which actress out there should take up Wonder Woman’s lasso next?
5. Monica Barbaro
Paramount Pictures
In 2023, Monica Barbaro appeared in the romantic comedy “At Midnight.” She played Sophie Wilder, a Hollywood actress appearing in a superhero film (and she spoke to /Film about her “At Midnight” experience.) So, why not get her for the real thing, specifically the greatest female superhero ever?
Barbaro showed action star potential in 2022’s “Top Gun: Maverick.” There, she played Natasha Trace, one of the next generation of fighter pilots (callsign: Phoenix). To play Phoenix, Barbaro got as ripped as any of her male co-stars and the film wasn’t shy to show it. But she’s more than just a physical presence.
Monica Barbaro is also now an Oscar-nominated actress thanks to her performance as folk singer legend Joan Baez in “A Complete Unknown,” director James Mangold’s Bob Dylan biopic. Barbaro’s scenes as Baez are mostly shared with Timothée Chalamet as Dylan; they’ve got chemistry aplenty, but you can feel her star power shining even brighter than his. “Wonder Woman” would (ideally) let Barbaro be a star who no man can measure up to.
Superficially, Monica Barbaro has just got the right gorgeous look for Wonder Woman too.
4. Naomi Scott
Paramount Pictures
Gunn’s DC Universe should definitely look for rising stars. One who’s got no previous superhero baggage is Naomi Scott. She began her onscreen acting at the Disney Channel, appearing in the underrated “Lemonade Mouth” (basically “the Breakfast Club forms a band”).
Now, Scott’s movie star take off took a bit of a stumble thanks to 2017’s “Power Rangers” and 2019’s “Charlie’s Angels.” But Scott came roaring back to remind us of her talent in 2024’s “Smile 2.” That was a sequel that totally surpassed the original and a lot of its strength rests on Scott as Skye Riley, a pop star and recovering addict. She starts being stalked by something much worse than an obsessed fan; no matter how self-destructive Skye gets, Scott keeps her character grounded and the audience rooting for her.
As Wonder Woman, Scott probably wouldn’t get to use her singing skills (unless the Music Meister shows up). But I’ll point to another of her Disney roles as Wonder Woman-esque: Princess Jasmine in the live-action “Aladdin.” That’s not a good movie, don’t get me wrong, but Scott is pretty good in it! The movie’s reinvention of Jasmine, a princess who wants to use her power to help people, gives a taste of how Naomi Scott could play Wonder Woman.
One (the only?) problem with Scott as Wonder Woman is that she’s on the short side (reportedly 5 ‘4). Wonder Woman is generally depicted as tall, almost or just as tall as Superman and Batman. (Compare past Wonder Women: Lynda Carter is 5 ‘9 and Gal Gadot is 5 ’10). That’s not disqualifying by any stretch, but still something to consider as DC Studios weigh options for its new Diana.
3. Courtney Eaton
Showtime
Long ago, “Mad Max” director George Miller was set to make a Justice League movie that got shelved just before it was to start filming. But Miller still got to work with his pick for Wonder Woman — Megan Gale — when he cast her in his 2015 opus, “Mad Max: Fury Road.” That picture, starring the Wonder Woman who never was, also features an actor who would kill as the next Wonder Woman: Courtney Eaton.
Eaton (who was 16 when “Fury Road” shot in 2012) played Cheedo the Fragile, one of the hostage wives of warlord Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne). These days, she’s more known for the Showtime series “Yellowjackets,” about a girls’ soccer team that crash lands in the Canadian wilderness and struggles to survive. Eaton plays Lottie Matthews, the unstable prophet convinced there’s a higher power guiding her and her friends. “Yellowjackets” is a show about women, stranded away from civilization, tearing each other down, unlike the Amazons who build each other and a utopia up.
Part of the fun of “Yellowjackets” is that it’s a showcase for some of the best young actresses working — Courtney Eaton is no exception. She plays Lottie as sad and tormented but also very creepy. Lottie is also a character of strong conviction; Eaton could channel that side into Wonder Woman and play a stronger, fiercer, and more resolved character, one who truly helps people the way Lottie tries and fails to. Eaton has got a kind smile, one that Diana would give back to a young girl looking up to her. In general, Eaton ticks off so many boxes for the traditional Wonder Woman look.
2. Katy O’Brian
A24
Wonder Woman preaches a message of love and peace, but she’s also a person of action. She should look like and carry herself as someone who could beat you up, because spoiler alert, she can!
Actress Katy O’Brian would easily fit Wonder Woman and not just because she already has the muscles for the part. O’Brian appeared in a small part in 2023’s “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” as Jentorra, an alien warrior in the Quantum Realm. If Marvel Studios isn’t going to give Katy O’Brian a huge role, then DC Studios should.
The part that got people paying attention to Katy O’Brian was in 2024’s “Love Lies Bleeding,” an essential addition to the buff women film canon. She played Jackie Cleaver, a body builder who becomes involved with the manager of her gym, Lou Langston (Kristen Stewart). Jackie, taking steroids to prepare for a competition, murders JJ (Dave Franco), the abusive husband of Lou’s sister Beth (Jena Malone). The lovers go through some hellish blowback, but ultimately get their happy ending. (Another reason to cast O’Brian — let Wonder Woman be queer, as she’s supposed to be.)
As Jackie, O’Brian’s curly hair and huge muscles make her the spitting image of George Pérez’s Wonder Woman. Katy O’Brian is an action movie star just waiting for the perfect part and Wonder Woman could be it.
1. Adria Arjona
Lucasfilm
The running favorite to play Wonder Woman next is Adria Arjona. She has been on a roll recently, from her roles in both television (Bix Caleen in “Star Wars: Andor”) and film (Richard Linklater’s “Hit Man”). Arjona has been helped a lot by her comedy skills, but her performance as Bix especially shows how she might approach a more serious and action-heavy role like a superhero. While Bix has to make compromises in a morally grey universe, Diana would let Arjona play a beacon of hope.
Wonder Woman fans aren’t pitching Arjona as Diana just because she’s a popping and very talented actress. She’s also worked with the man in charge before.
Arjona’s first feature film role, 2016’s “The Belko Experiment,” was written by James Gunn. Gunn likes to reuse actors; Nathan Fillion shows up in almost all of his movies, for instance. So if he’s (presumably) going to play a part in casting the new Wonder Woman, he might want someone he’s worked with before. It wouldn’t be a nepotism hire, though, since Arjona has kept proving why she deserves her roles with each new one she takes.
During the “Andor” season 2 press tour, CinemaBlend asked Arjona about the speculation of her playing Wonder Woman. She obviously didn’t confirm anything, or if Gunn has even talked with her about being in the DC Universe, but she did say “I love James Gunn” and crossed her fingers in hope.
As Diana, Adria Arjona would be charming, funny, and capable Wonder Woman we need and deserve.
“Super Mario Bros. Movie,” or “A Minecraft Movie,” or an “Assassin’s Creed” movie, there was “Halo: The Movie.” Or at least, there was supposed to be. As the Xbox’s premiere video game franchise and one of the 2000s’ most revolutionary first-person shooters thanks to its evolved take on shooting combat, rich lore, and expressive world design, “Halo: Combat Evolved” was an immediate smash. The game featured tons of cinematic gameplay, with awe-inspiring vistas and a unique take on the classic “space marines versus aliens” genre, and it became an obvious candidate to bring to Hollywood.
At this point, video game adaptations were mostly a joke. They were seen as mostly low-budget schlock that barely resembled their source material. With “Halo,” Microsoft hoped to change that, and their first step was to bring Alex Garland, who would later go on to direct projects such as 2014’s “Ex Machina.” At that point, he was most famous for writing Danny Boyle’s modern horror classic “28 Days Later,” and he was tasked to write the “Halo” script for a whopping seven-figure payday. But the world of film development is never a straight line, and with the stakes so high, the pressure was on.
The long and winding road to Halo eventually led to a dead end
Paramount+
Garland’s script, which you can read here, leans into the war movie aesthetic of the original game, dropping audiences directly into the middle of the battle against the intergalactic religious zealots known as the Covenant. The script itself has a spartan efficiency with its prose, but for anyone not even a little familiar with the universe of “Halo,” it practically needs a glossary to understand. Without an explanation of what a “warthog vehicle” is, it’s easy to imagine some confused studio head asking their intern why this soldier is riding into battle on a giant feral hog.
Microsoft, for its part, was optimistic about the film’s prospects. The company’s offer to the studios for the project was $10 million against 15% of the film’s gross, meaning the studio producing the film would receive a relatively small share of any actual profits. Most studios balked, except for 20th Century Fox and Universal Pictures, which came together to shoulder the burden. Peter Jackson then joined as a producer, with Guillermo Del Toro circling the project before newcomer Neill Blomkamp signed on as the film’s director.
With such a high sticker price on the project, the studios offered the team an ultimatum: Drop their “first-dollar” revenue deal, or the project was over. They refused, and “Halo: The Movie” was dead. But just like in “Halo,” the team respawned to continue the fight.
With Halo gone, we got ‘District 9,’ ‘Sunshine’, and ‘Ex Machina’
A24
Peter Jackson and Neill Blomkamp went on to make the surprise hit “District 9”, which would go on to be nominated for four Oscars, while Alex Garland built up his impressive career as a writer, first by continuing to work in the science fiction space by penning Danny Boyle’s criminally misunderstood “Sunshine.” Then, while he was on set for his adaptation of “Dredd,” Garland reportedly got his first taste as a film director, and would from that point on continue to direct, helming a string of science fiction marvels, including “Ex Machina” and “Annihilation.”
For their part, Microsoft continued to push to make something out of its flagship video game, producing a handful of direct-to-video live-action and animated “Halo” projects before eventually releasing its much-touted premium streaming series for Paramount+. The show’s two seasons attempted to differentiate themselves from the games, but only received mixed reviews before getting cancelled in 2024, almost 20 years after Garland wrote his original script.
It just goes to show that even if the Master Chief could take on the Covenant all by himself, he’s still no match for Hollywood producers.
How’s this for a R-rated animated comedy idea: A pooch and his doggy friends go out for one wild night on the town before he’s set to get neutered. Good, right?
“I think it’s the best elevator pitch I’ve ever had,” says Genndy Tartakovsky, about the concept for Fixed, his first R-rated feature, which premiered at the Annecy film festival on Wednesday. “Every time I say it, everybody laughs. You have the vision of a movie, right there.”
That pitch, back in 2009, was enough to get Tartakovsky in the door at Sony Pictures Animation. Tartakovsky was already an established, and Emmy-winning hitmaker, at Warner Bros. Cartoon Network, thanks to shows like Dexter’s Laboratory, Powderpuff Girls and Samurai Jack.Fixed was set to be his first feature, and Sony’s first-ever R-rated animated film.
Then everything changed.
Genndy Tartakovsky
Genndy Tartakovsky
“We started working on it, developing it, and then the executive that bought the pitch moved on to another part of the studio,” Tartakovsky recalls. “New executives came in, and they’re like: ‘Yeah, we don’t want to do this.’ Back then, 2008/2009, things were so different. Nobody’s making R-rated films. This is pre-Sausage Party [Seth Rogen’s raunchy animated hit from 2016], pre-all that stuff.”
Around the same time, Tartakovsky lost his day job. Samurai Jack got cancelled after its fourth season on Cartoon Network [the show would be revived 13 years later for a final 5th season on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim].
“It was a really dark time for me, I didn’t know what I was going to do,” says Tartakovsky. “Then, about two weeks later, I got a call from Sony. They’d fired the directors from Hotel Transylvania. The movie was struggling, and they asked me to take a look. I went in, looked at it and went: Yeah, this is a crazy romp. You got Adam Sandler, all these monsters. It should just be funny. I sat down, wrote 2 pages of gags. And they hired me.”
Tartakovsky got into the Hotel Transylvania business, directing the first three films in the franchise, and co-writing and executive producing the 4th. Tartakovsky’s three Hotel Transylvania films were the most successful features ever from Sony Pictures Animation. All three remain in the studio’s top five, just behind the Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse blockbusters.
But Tartakovsky never gave up on Fixed.
“As the new [Sony] executives started to believe in me, I kept digging it up, saying: ‘Hey, what about Fixed?’,” he says. “We’d do another pass on it. People would say: ‘Nah, nobody’s ready for it.’ We’d put it away. I tried to shop it to other studios. Perhaps would get it, but nobody wanted to commit.”
It wasn’t until Kristine Belson was named president of Sony Animation in 2015 that things started to change. “It became less about the brand of the studio and more about just getting good projects made,” says Tartakovsky. He kept pitching Fixed. In 2019, 10 years after it bought his original pitch, Sony gave him a green light.
The core of the story, with characters inspired by his real-life pack of high school buddies — “Bull (voiced by Pitch Perfect star Adam Devine) is my buddy Steve, Rocco (Idris Elba) is based on my friend Mike,” Tartakovsky notes — was still there but Fixed had gone through multiple drafts and stylistic changes. Originally a hand-drawn 2D feature, at one point it was conceived in full computer-generated 3D. Tartakovsky showed the 3D mock-ups at a work-in-progress screening at Annecy two years ago, noting that the sight of Bull’s intact testicles, in full 3D, “was just too much.”
When New Line got on board to co-produce, the project morphed into a 2D, more traditional Looney Tunes-style animation.
“It helped with the budget, because I don’t know how to do CG cheaply and make it look expensive, but I can do that in 2D because of all the TV stuff that I’ve done,” says Tartakovsky. “But 2D was what I wanted to do all along. So it was a little accidental miracle.”
Adam Devine voices Bull and Kathryn Hahn his love interest Honey in ‘Fixed’
The voice cast — with Kathryn Hahn as Bull’s love interest Honey, a dirty-talking purebred, Fred Armisen as a nattily-dressed Dachshund Fetch, Bobby Moynihan as the perverted poop-munching mutt Lucky, and Beck Bennett as the snooty showdog Sterling — came together quickly.
Then, Fixed almost got clipped again. It was a victim of the great purge of David Zaslav, who took over as CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery following the two companies’ 2022 merger, and chopped or shelved several films, including Batgirl, Coyote vs. Acme, and Fixed.
The rights to Fixed reverted back to Sony, which tossed shopped the project into the market, for Netflix to fetch. Following its Annecy premiere, the streamer will let Fixed out, worldwide, on Aug. 13.
After 16 years, 3 studios and endless character designs and script drafts, Tartakovsky says he’s proud that Fixed is making it to screens as he originally intended. Even a particularly raunchy scene, an episode of, shall we say, canine intimacy, involving Bull, Honey and Sterling, made the final cut.
“That scene was in there in my first pitch, and every new executive who’d come in and read the script, that was the first scene they wanted to get rid of. But I thought, without that scene, there’s no movie” he says. “If I had sacrificed that scene, maybe this film would have gotten made earlier. But it’s the heart and soul of the film. So to watch it with an audience [here at Annecy] and here them laughing all the way through was the most incredible thing.”
GLAAD has released its 2024 box office report card, and Hollywood’s top 10 distributors mostly got “poor” or “insufficient” marks as overall representation for LGBTQ characters and inclusion is tilting downwards.
The 13th annual edition of GLAAD’s Studio Responsibility Index found the number of inclusive films had fallen for the second year running. The LGBTQ advocacy organization found 59 films out of 250 contained an LGBTQ character (or 23.6 percent) in 2024.
That marked a decrease from 70 out of 256 films (or 27.3 percent) for 2023 and from a three-year high of 100 films out of 350 (or 28.5 percent) being inclusive in 2022. “In a time when the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) community faces unchecked harmful and false rhetoric in news media and are treated as a wedge issue by politicians, these stories are vital,” GLAAD argued in the study.
The latest SRI report tracked films released in the 2024 calendar year by A24, Amazon, Apple TV+, Lionsgate, NBCUniversal, Netflix, Paramount Global, Sony Pictures Entertainment, The Walt Disney Company and Warner Bros. Discovery. That includes subsidiary distribution labels and majority-owned streaming services.
Top of the class for 2024 was A24, which got a “good” grade as 9 of its 16 films last year, or 56 percent, were judged LGBTQ inclusive. Those box office standouts included the romantic thriller Love Lies Bleeding; Problemista, a surrealist comedy; and Queer, about an American ex-pat living in an LGBTQ community in Mexico City.
Amazon and NBCUniversal got “fair” ratings, while Warner Bros. Discovery, Apple TV+, Sony and Paramount Global received “insufficient” marks. Netflix, Lionsgate and The Walt Disney Company all scored “poor” grades.
Stand-out films tracked in the SRI report beyond the A24 titles include Drive-Away Dolls (NBCUniversal), Mean Girls (Paramount Pictures) and My Old Ass (Amazon). Overall, Hollywood films had fewer LGBTQ characters last year, compared to earlier years, and most were gay and lesbian roles, the study found.
And only two of the 59 films tracked in 2024 had transgender roles — Universal’s Monkey Man, where Indian actor Vipin Sharma played Alpha, the leader of a trans community known in India as hijras, and Netflix’s Emilia Pérez, which co-starred the Oscar-nominated Karla Sofía Gascón.
GLAAD has worked for four decades to secure fair, accurate and diverse representation of the LGBTQ community in the media and entertainment industries and to advocate for LGBTQ equality. The GLAAD report said major studios and streamers were missing an opportunity to reach growing LGBTQ audiences domestically and overseas.
“It is clear that studios need to diversity their slates with a variety of story types at staggered budgets to ensure stability and ultimately growth,” the study concluded.
