# What is the most successful horror box office with a non-white female lead? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 22, 2018, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-successful-horror-box-office-with-a-non-white-female-lead/823312 "2018-10-22T01:30:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2018, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-successful-horror-box-office-with-a-non-white-female-lead/823312/21 "2018-10-22T21:04:09Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Phoebe Cates from _Gremlins_ is a PoC. so’s Li Bingbing from _The Meg_. I think the reasons for Li Bingbing’s prominence in that movie are to appeal to Chinese audiences and because the movie was financed, in part, by a Chinese company. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2018, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-successful-horror-box-office-with-a-non-white-female-lead/823312/22 "2018-10-22T21:45:31Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > It looks like the leads are about 50/50 male/female at a quick glance. Though that’s looking at English Wikipedia. I’m not sure if that would remain true looking at the Japanese box office (probably it would, but I haven’t confirmed). I suspect it skews toward the femme, since there’s a few longish series with primarily female leads (Ring, Ju-On, Chakushin Ari)…although ‘Final Girl’ doesn’t really apply to Ju-On - there’s only a handful of characters who survive encountering the curse the first movie they appear in, and that’s mostly only due to how the series handles the timeline - the two originals are basically one continuous story, and the theatrical movies, so the events of all the movies within each continuity (4 original, 2 remake) overlap. The one exception is one of the two not-in-either-continuity anniversary movies - the main protagonist makes amends with her dead friend, ending that curse, and surviving the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2018, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-successful-horror-box-office-with-a-non-white-female-lead/823312/23 "2018-10-22T22:15:25Z")
> [@Kamino\_Neko](#): > > and the theatrical movies, so the events of all the movies within each continuity (4 original, 2 remake) overlap. Wow, I accidentally a few words here. The theatrical movies are told in a strongly anachronic order (the original v-cinema have this to an extent, as well, but we spend less time with the bits outside the Kobayashi and Suzuki storylines). ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2018, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-successful-horror-box-office-with-a-non-white-female-lead/823312/24 "2018-10-23T05:09:30Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I think the reasons for Li Bingbing’s prominence in that movie are to appeal to Chinese audiences and because the movie was financed, in part, by a Chinese company. She also happens to be a good actress. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2018, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-successful-horror-box-office-with-a-non-white-female-lead/823312/25 "2018-10-23T11:53:41Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > Chinese, Filipino, and Russian-Jewish heritage. Aahhh. Russian-Jewish. That explains it. 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-successful-horror-box-office-with-a-non-white-female-lead/823312.md?page=1)