Charlie’s Angels Director Elizabeth Banks Blamed Men For Box Office Failure Nearly A Week Before Film Hit Theaters
John F. Trent
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Charlie’s Angels director Elizabeth Banks blamed men for the film’s box office failure nearly a week before the film hit theaters.
In an interview with Australia’s Herald Sun, Banks spoke on why the film needs to make money, and who is to blame if it doesn’t.
Kristen Stewart and Elizabeth Banks in Charlie’s Angels.
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She stated, “Look, people have to buy tickets to this movie, too. This movie has to make money.” She added, “If this movie doesn’t make money it reinforces a stereotype in Hollywood that men don’t go see women do action movies.”
Banks then bemoaned men’s taste in films and specifically pointed out Wonder Woman saying men only went to see it because it was a precursor to Justice League.
The director asserted, “They’ll go and see a comic book movie with Wonder Woman and Captain Marvel because that’s a male genre. So even though those are movies about women, they put them in the context of feeding the larger comic book world, so it’s all about, yes, you’re watching a Wonder Woman movie but we’re setting up three other characters or we’re setting up Justice League.”
Los Angeles, CA November 11, 2019: Elizabeth Banks, Director/Writer/Producer/Actor, at the World Premiere of Columbia Pictures CHARLIES ANGELS at the Regency Village Theatre in Westwood.
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As for why she believes the film needs to make money, it’s all about power for Banks, and she wants it.
She said, “By the way, I’m happy for those characters to have box office success, but we need more women’s voices supported with money because that’s the power. The power is in the money.”
She would reinforce this view by stating she and those like her need to take control of Hollywood, “That said we’re in charge of Hollywood; we’re the stars. We can do it. We have to take control of this. And I feel like I’m part of a new class that feels the same way. Like it’s our time now.”
Elizabeth Banks attends the Charlie’s Angels UK Premiere in London. Charlie’s Angels releases in UK cinemas on the 29 the November.
In a more recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, Banks would also seemingly target superhero movies, this time Spider-Man, addressing concerns that audiences are not interested in more reboots.
Banks stated, “You’ve had 37 Spider-Man movies and you’re not complaining!” There have only been 7 Spider-Man movies.
She would then play the victim card stating, “I think women are allowed to have one or two action franchises every 17 years—I feel totally fine with that.”
Los Angeles, CA November 11, 2019: Elizabeth Banks, Director/Writer/Producer/Actor, at the World Premiere of Columbia Pictures CHARLIES ANGELS at the Regency Village Theatre in Westwood.
These statements are not the first time Banks has decided to make Charlie’s Angels about gender. Back in July, the director and actress told Collider that the message of her film was to “believe women.”
She specifically stated, “One of the statements this movie makes is that you should probably believe women. We have as much validity in what we’re feeling and how we want to go about living in the world, being in the world, and that was really important to me, that we felt like we had characters that were being taken seriously and given a chance to live their best life.”
Kristen Stewart, Naomi Scott, Ella Balinska and Elizabeth Banks star in Charlie’s Angels.
She would then detail that she specifically wanted women to go see the film, and that they were the target audience.
“When we were casting the movie, I wanted really fresh faces. I wanted a diverse cast,” Banks said. “It’s important that women, the audience for this movie, sees themself in some part of this movie. I think that’s really important.”
She elaborated, “I want the audience to feel a sense of ownership over the film, that they could be in this movie, that they could live in this world, it’s a real message. It’s a movie that I want to entertain all audiences but I did want to make something that felt important to women and especially young girls.”
It’s quite odd that she would complain about men not going to see the film, when she specifically noted that women were the audience for the film.
Elizabeth Banks directs and stars in Charlie’s Angels
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Banks was not the only one to politicize Charlie’s Angels. Kristen Stewart referred to the film as “woke.”
Stewart stated, “God, it’s so funny. I know if I say this a certain way, I know that this will be written down. But it’s not such a bad thing. It’s kind of like a ‘woke’ version.”
Elizabeth Banks attends the Charlie’s Angels UK Premiere in London. Charlie’s Angels releases in UK cinemas on the 29 the November.
Star Trek: Picard actor Patrick Stewart also made the film about gender during an appearance at Paris Comic-Con, “In two weeks’ time, there is a new Charlie’s Angels movie opening. And if you want to see something about female empowerment.”
Charlie’s Angels is currently in theaters. The film made an estimated $8.7 million at the domestic box office and $19.3 million at the international box office for an opening weekend total of $27.9 million.
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