Bryce Dallas Howard calls out fall in films directed by women at Power of Women event
Bryce Dallas Howard put Hollywood's hiring numbers centre stage at Variety's Power of Women event in Beverly Hills on Wednesday.
She spoke to Variety senior entertainment writer Angelique Jackson about the fall in directing work for women, in a conversation reported by Variety. She knows both sides. She works as an actor and as a director.
Just nine women directed the 100 top-grossing films at the U.S. box office in 2025, the 100 titles that sold the most cinema tickets. That is nine names across a full year of major releases. The share works out at 8.1% of directors, or 11.3 men for every woman, according to Variety.
A year earlier the figure was higher. Women held 13.4% of directing jobs on the same top-100 list in 2024. Numbers fell hard.
The figures come from researchers at USC Annenberg, who track the gender of directors on leading films each year. The team described 2025 as a "Great Recession" for women directors, as reported by Variety. The label points to a sharp reversal after small gains in earlier years.
Howard has built a steady record behind the camera in television programmes and film. Her directing credits include episodes of Ahsoka, The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett and The Skeleton Crew. Those are large franchise productions with big crews, tight schedules and heavy visual effects.
She also directed two feature-length documentaries, Dads in 2019 and Pets in 2025. In 2021 she was named to direct a new version of Disney's Flight of the Navigator, a project still listed as in pre-production, the stage before filming starts. She has also directed two episodes of Ahsoka Season 2.
The Beverly Hills gathering drew other leading names in film and television. Queen Latifah attended the 2026 Power of Women: Los Angeles event in Beverly Hills, California, according to Reuters Connect. Speaking around the event, Howard stressed the need to stand up for women working in entertainment, as captured by AP.
What makes this stand out is the setting. A star with franchise acting credits used a celebration to talk about hiring data, and the data favour men by a wide margin.
