Angelique Jackson The annual report from USC’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative found that Universal’s “Bros” accounted for 80% of the transgender characters in the 100 top-grossing movies of 2022.
According to the study, just 87 of 4,169 speaking or named characters (2.1%) in 2022 movies were LGBTQ+. Of that number, five characters identified as transgender and four of them appeared in “Bros.” Written by and starring Billy Eichner, the film made history as the first gay rom-com to be given a wide theatrical release by a major studio and featured a cast almost exclusively made up of LGBTQ actors.
The film was released in September 2022 and despite disappointing box office returns (“Bros” earned just $14.7 million worldwide), qualified under the Annenberg researchers’ criteria.
Authored by Dr. Stacy L. Smith, Dr. Katherine Pieper and Sam Wheeler, the study assessed a total of 69,858 speaking characters covering the 1,600 top films from 2007 to 2022, examining the inclusion factors of gender, race/ethnicity, LGBTQ+ identity and characters with disabilities, as well as below the line departments including directors, writers, producers, composers and casting directors.