Do angry lesbians do better at the box office?

No one cares as well. Sad. SMH.

Happy go lucky and thought provoking is not attractive, no matter if it has a heterosexual or homosexual tone. It just will not sell so no one will fund them and they seem to come off as low budget and completely insignificant to the mainstream and to our community as well.

I think its a little more complex than just "angry lesbians do better at the box office".

For instance, the films you listed that did better, generally featured more recognisable and much-respected actors (Meryl Streep/Nicole Kidman, Hillary Swank, Queen Latifah, Sharon Stone, Charlize Theron, and even Salma Hayek).  And then there are the movies that did marginally-okay, with recognisable actors who people don't necessarily watch for their acting (Neve Campbell [Neve Campbell back in 1990s, mind you--present-Neve Campbell is a different story]/Denise Richards), and then the rest of them are generally actors who nobody outside of "lesbian-world" and/or "indie-film-nerd-world" has ever heard of (Jennifer Tilly/Gina Gershon, Piper Perabo/Lena Headey).  And let's face it, if it weren't for the lesbian roles that some of these actresses had played, we probably wouldn't know who they are either.  The numbers do seem to correspond.

Then of course, comes marketing.  I remember (or know of--in cases where the films were a little before my time...) big marketing campaigns for Monster, Frida, The Hours, Basic Instinct, Set it Off, and the The Black Dahlia.  From what I remember, I believe that there were relatively decent marketing campaigns for Femme Fatale and Wild Things.  The rest of them...not so much.  And again, the numbers seem to correspond.

What I want to know is why it seems the "lesbian-themed" scripts that are making it into the hands of more recognisable actors seem to be the "angry lesbian" scripts.

I've got a bone to pick with whomever's in charge of that screening process.

I think that regardless of sexuality, people want to see crazy people do crazy things. Its like one large tabloid. Society, as a general whole, does not want to see Lindsay Lohan buying furniture from Ikea. They want to see her fall down drunkenly while screaming and possibly showing her vagina. I think people want to be shocked and the list of Angry Lesbian films does just that. It just makes for a better story.

Also, Neve in Wild Things solidified any 'am I queer' thoughts I had growing up. She is a goddess.

To every feminist action, there is an equal and opposite beauty reaction- Naomi Wolf

I love myself some strong, powerful women rather than just angry women.  The women in Bound qualify, not the lead in I Shot Andy Warhol.  In fact, just last night I was wishing there was a lesbian film (or gay male film) a la Foxy Brown or Cleopatra Jones. 

While I love Saving Face, romantic comedies aren't usually my thing, so I have a hard time understanding why any (straight or gay) do well in the box office.  I have seen many, many bad romantic comedies written for straight people and a lot of bad romantic comedies written for lesbians, and I feel that the odds are not in my favor.  Of course, what annoys me most about romantic comedies are the cliches and the sexism, so perhaps better writing and directing would make me a fan of the genre.  In most romantic comedies I have seen, if the woman is intelligent, she is neurotic.  I know other genres have their cliches and sexism, but at least I can be entertained by a car chase or an explosion or two.

Maybe angry women do well in the box office because women aren't usually portrayed as capable, intelligent, and powerful in other movies.   If women were portrayed as heroines in other genres, such as sci-fi, legal thrillers, fantasy, and comedies (even romantic), perhaps they would do a lot better.   The only genre women seem to be prevalent in is romantic comedies, in which their goal in life is love.  For all other genres, the default protaganist is male and their life has meaning other than finding "the one."  Perhaps the audience really wants to see strong female characters, and the only characters written like that are "angry."  Perhaps, in the future, the female characters can be "assertive" and "heroic."

Angry lesbians definitely did it for me in the movie Bound, the mentally tormented lesbian in The Hours did nothing for me, in fact I really wasn't that interested in it.

However given the fact that movies emanating from Hollywood come from a male dominated industry then naturally most of the movies would cater to young men and contain violence.  If the movie is independent then it would likely not cater to a mainstrtean audience have a lower budget and therefore not play in many first run houses.

Let me give an example of a non lesbian movie with undeniable homosexual undertones that surpassed the Hollywood version but did not receive the recognition nor the payoff like its Hollywood counterpart.

The movie in question is: "Let The Right One In (LTROI)" about a 12 y.o. Swedish  boy who is bullied until he gains courage by falling in love with a enigmatic 12 y.o. girl.  The Plot Twist? The Girl is not only a vampire but also a castrated 200 year old male vampire. Although it was written 2 years prior to the novel Twilight and despite the fact that the female director was fired for directing such a lousy vehical and lastly in addition to the acting of the 12 year olds surpassing that of their teenage counterparts in Twilight, the latter went on to gross what? 80 million dollars while Let The Right One In only grossed approximtely 6 million.

How could this be when EVERYONE who watches LTROI says it's clearly the superior movie? Well Sarah I am sure you are familiar with how factions in the business engage in cheerleading even when the vehicle  in question is of substandard quality especially in the context of lesbian movies which receive the bulk of promotion through lesbian oriented websites and lesbian portals.

Another factor concerns the burgeoning level of illiteracy in the United States.

In the context of Let The Right One In whenever LTROI received a negative comment it was because the movie had English subtitles even though dialogue was minimal apparently reading proved to be too difficult for American audiences.

So while there are those who lament the dimishing ethos of the articulate individual lesbian or there are others content if the most energy they exert is a brain fart.  It's esier to sit mesmerized by onscreen gratuitous violence than it is to actually engage with a film and delve into the intracacies of complex characters, and plot twists.

Technology Will Lead To The Demise Of Civilization As We Know It. 

The motivation of a character's actions seem to be what drives a film and though there is conflict in the 'happy lesbian' movies, everyone (a generalization) loves a good train wreck. In fact, if you notice most of the oscar winning actors/actresses play a character with flaws or realness.

My favorite lesbian movies are Lost and Delirious, High Art, Heavenly Creatures, Boys Don't Cry, and Monster. If you notice, not one has a happy ending.

My favorite mainstream movies have been Mystic River, Shawshank, Magnolia, and Crash.

I'm firmly of the opinion that D.E.B.S. could've been a minor hit had it been given a bit of promotion. It's amusing and coherent enough to have found a mainstream audience, but with no promotion and only opening on 45 screens in the US that wasn't likely to happen. By contrast, I look at something like the recent(ish) St. Trinian's movie, which was pretty dire, and am stunned to read that a sequel is being filmed right now. It wasn't a patch on the now-dated but still amusing four films in the series of the 1950s/60s, managing to be both tamer and less funny, but those anarchic schoolgirls are a 'brand' that still had enough juice to make it a hit.

Incidentally, I was interested to read that D.E.B.S director Angela Robinson will be writing THE WEB for DC when that comic debuts in September, and that she still holds out hope of continuing D.E.B.S as a comic book.

Angry women are hotter... especially when they're completely nuts and they have a weapon.

Woohoo! You got in I Shot Andy Warhol!! I am a huge fan of Warhol etc, and I have read SCUM the manifesto. Its a little sad, a little scary and a very little right. Its not to say I'm man hating (um, NO) but its like she saw soceity for what it was and then...warped it into the way she wanted it to be. It wasn't very long, you might want to read it.

I can believe anything, provided that it is quite incredible. -Oscar Wilde

Hi Sarah, I know you did not include all, but in further support, who could forget "Notes on a Scandal" 2006 with Cate Blanchett and Judy Dench!

Total US Gross, $17,510,118. International Gross, $32,242,273.

...aren't necessarily an indicator of a hit lesbian film. Most films with a lesbian or bisexual theme are made for audiences outside the US  - but thanks to the wonder of YouTube, AfterEllen and so on, we can download or buy the DVD of movies that did not go on general release in our own countries.

Shouldn't Fried Green Tomatoes be on the happy list? It did pretty well at the box office.

And yeah, I know the movie subtexted what the book maintexted (althought still not very explicitly) but the fact is Idgie and Ruth were a couple who had a reasonably happy ending and it made a lot of money. Of course, half of the audience may not have realized they were watching a lesbian romance but still ...

As others have said, I think the main difference in these films is not even the angry factor so much as the fact that the "angry" movies were not so much about lesbian relationships as much as that just being a factor. Plus big stars and major marketing.

The lesbian "happy" films tend to be straightforward girl-meets-girl movies (except the biopic Frida and maybe Bound) which were marketed toward and viewed by a smaller audience, though I think Imagine Me & You could appeal to any mainstream audience and also Saving Face.

This subject may make for a fun debate, but it's really not significant of any true pattern, in my opinion, except that a lot of gay movies are so bad even their target audience doesn't want to see them, and unfortunately, the good ones just don't have the same money, marketing and mainstream exposure.