A study released by the Creative Artists Agency showed that, from 2014 to 2016, films with more diverse casts outperformed others at the box office

A new study by the Creative Artists Agency (CAA) says that films with more diverse casts perform better at the box office than less diverse ones, confirming what people and actors of color have been saying for years. 

The data, which studied 413 films released between January 2014 and December 2016, catalogued the ethnicity of the top 10 actors per film, noting that those with at least a 30% non-white cast have tended to financially outperform films that fail to reach that threshold. 

Additionally, people of color constituted nearly half (49% in 2016, 45% in 2015) of the ticket-buyers who attended screenings during the opening weekends of many of the most successful films released within the time period of the CAA’s study. 

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Bolstering the data from the study are the box-office numbers of recent films like Get Out, which has to date earned $250m, and Hidden Figures, which grossed $230m. The former made Jordan Peele the first African American director to cross the $100m threshold in his debut picture.  Moreover, the highest grossing film of the last eight years (and the third-highest grossing one all time), Star Wars: The Force Awakens, has been lauded for its inclusive casting, led by John Boyega. 

The data will be released during a CAA leadership conference Wednesday in Laguna Beach.  Christy Haubegger, who heads up the talent agency’s multicultural development group, told the Los Angeles Times: “The interesting things that the most successful movies share is that they’re broadly appealing to diverse audiences.”  The data is proof “people want to see a world that looks like theirs,” she said. 

The study also included some interesting information about the types of films to which members of different ethnic groups flock, and also the genres that generally practice more equitable casting methods.  For instance, black moviegoers tend to see biopics and thrillers, while white ones are more likely to buy tickets to drama or romance films; Latinos, the study found, go more for horror and animation, and Asians for fantasy and animation.  The casts of horror and fantasy films are more largely white, while comedies and thrillers are more diverse. 

Richard Lovett, president of the talent agency, told the LA Times: “The hope is that seeing real numbers attached to the success of the inclusion of more voices and diverse casts will be further motivation for studios, networks and others to be really conscious of the opportunity.”