The Most Searched Female-Led Action Movie by State
Last Updated on February 2, 2023 by Zoi Walker
Casting female strength in the lead is on the rise.
For the past decade, we’ve seen a shift in the roles played by females in action movies. From Gal Gadot’s powerful debut as Themysciran princess Diana Prince to Jennifer Lawrence’s performance of eagle-eyed Katniss Everdeen, women in cinema have shaken off the stereotypical damsel in distress roles and become the ones doing the saving.
Women playing a stronger role in films is a concept that Dr. Kimberly Mangun couldn’t agree more with. An Associate Professor of Communication at the University of Utah, Dr. Mangun stated, “It is important for girls and women — and people across the gender spectrum — to see powerful female characters who shape their own destinies, use their intellect, confront challenges, and defy stereotypes.”
Won over by both critics and public alike, female-led movies from 2014-2017, including films such as Star Wars: The Force Awakens, out-earned films with male leads across all budget levels. More and more often, filmmakers are casting aside traditional female supporting roles and putting women in the lead.
Following the release of Marvel’s latest female-led film, Black Widow, we at CenturyLinkQuote wanted to know where states stand when it comes to movies with female leads. Keep reading to find out which movie your state searched for the most.
Interesting Findings:
- Birds of Prey(and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) (2020) is the most searched female-led action film nationwide, with 29 states searching for the movie most.
- The highest-grossing film on this list found love in only two states. Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens earned $936.66 million at the box office.
- Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) had the highest Metascore from our top 12, earning a score of 90 from metacritic.com.
- In 2017, Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins rose to fame when the film was named the highest-grossing live-action movie directed by a woman. In total, the movie made over $821 million worldwide.
- Captain Marvel is the first film in the Marvel franchise to feature a female lead, and was released on International Women’s Day on March 8, 2019.
Methodology
The team at CenturyLinkQuote determined the 10 most popular female-led action movies of the past 11 years by consulting IMDB data, Rotten Tomatoes, and box office revenue. Then we organized the list by the highest search volume and used Google Trends to determine each state’s most googled movie in 2021.
| State | Female-led Action Movie |
|---|---|
| Alabama | Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey |
| Alaska | Star Wars: The Force Awakens |
| Arizona | Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey |
| Arkansas | Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey |
| California | Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey |
| Colorado | Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey |
| Connecticut | Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey |
| Delaware | Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey |
| Florida | Maleficent |
| Georgia | Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey |
| Hawaii | Mulan |
| Idaho | Divergent |
| Illinois | Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey |
| Indiana | Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey |
| Iowa | Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey |
| Kansas | Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey |
| Kentucky | Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey |
| Louisiana | Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey |
| Maine | Maleficent |
| Maryland | Maleficent |
| Massachusetts | Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey |
| Michigan | Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey |
| Minnesota | Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey |
| Mississippi | Divergent |
| Missouri | Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey |
| Montana | Mad Max: Fury Road |
| Nebraska | Divergent |
| Nevada | Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey |
| New Hampshire | Ocean's 8 |
| New Jersey | Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey |
| New Mexico | Sicario |
| New York | Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey |
| North Carolina | Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey |
| North Dakota | Maleficent |
| Ohio | Maleficent |
| Oklahoma | Captain Marvel |
| Oregon | Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey |
| Pennsylvania | Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey |
| Rhode Island | Ocean's 8 |
| South Carolina | Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey |
| South Dakota | Star Wars: The Force Awakens |
| Tennessee | Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey |
| Texas | Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey |
| Utah | Black Widow |
| Vermont | Mad Max: Fury Road |
| Virginia | Wonder Woman |
| Washington | Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey |
| West Virginia | Maleficent |
| Wisconsin | Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey |
| Wyoming | The Hunger Games |
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