This was touched on, with the success of Twilight, but after Marley and Me's MONSTER performance, this was a watershed year for female skewing films and female stars at the box office. All too often, movies have been geared toward teens and 20 something males, and occasionally there would be a big female film that would come out. 2008 completely changed everything I think, and will change the film slates that Hollywood has each year, as well as how they market their films.

January:

Juno started out the year at #2, with its big expansion. It only made $28 m of its $143 m total in 2007, with nearly $115 m made in 2008. This finished with $143 m.

We also had the success of 27 Dresses which finished with $76 m, but was not a mega blockbuster.

February:

Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour

We had the MONSTER opening weekend of the HM concert movie. In just 683 theaters, it pulled $31 m, for a whopping $45,561 average. This film will completely change how tween films are geared toward females imo. This was very indicative of the mega blockbuster openings to come later this year for female skewing films.

Fool's Gold did solid business this month as well with $70 m.

April:

Solid run for Forgetting Sarah Marshall with $62 m, and Baby Mama with $60 m. Considering how high profile Tina Fey got later this year, if Baby Mama had come out in November, it could have done $100 m imo.

May:

Female skewing films did well for a number of weeks. Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Baby Mama, Maid of Honor ($46 m), and What Happens In Vegas ($80 m), were all able to succeed, despite opening back to back to back to back.

And then the mega blockbusters really started with Sex and the City. This opened to a whopping $57 m, and finished with $153 m, and $415 m worldwide.

June:

Wanted scored a huge, huge opening and was really showed the pull of Angelina Jolie, who was a supporting actor in the film, but was all over the marketing. This pulled a $51 m opening and a $134 m total. She has huge cross gender pull, but yet another $50 m + opener anchored by a female star.

July:

And then there's perhaps the biggest of them all. Mamma Mia went against TDK of all films, and ended up making $144 m domestically and $572 m worldwide. It's the biggest film of all time in the UK. Just huge!

August:

Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants did decent with $44 m, and did go up on the original.

The House Bunny also did pretty great with a $48 m total.

October:

Saw the decent success of Nights In Rodanthe, which finished with $42 m.

Also saw the $42 m opening of HSM, which had a lot of female appeal, but had a very quick run.

November:

Then came Twilight, which will especially change how Hollywood markets its films to female audiences, and which films it brings out. It opened to a whopping $70 m and looks headed for $180 m or so.

Four Christmases also had a great run with perhaps a $120 m total, which was greatly helped by Reese Witherspoon, but was more of a Christmas comedy, and helped by Vince as well.

December:

To cap the year that was, we have Marley and Me massively overperforming opening day, with Jennifer Aniston as the main human star. Owen Wilson was featured, but much of the marketing focused on Aniston (after Marley of course). This had the biggest Christmas day ever, and looks well on its way to a $50 m + 4 day weekend, and a $200 m, even $250 m total.


2008:

1 Marley and Me $230 m
2 Twilight $180 m
3 Sex and the City $153 m
4 Mamma Mia $144 m
5 Juno $143 m
6 Wanted $134 m
7 Four Christmases $120 m

Some huge, huge performances like we've never seen before for female skewing films. Every year, we might get 1 or 2 films that perform like this, but never this many.

I agree that this was a revolutionary year for films both led by females and targeting females at the box office. Many so-called "chick flicks" have done well in the past but this seems like the first time Hollywood might finally be taking notice.

There's also been a ton of films that appeal to both sexes equally, though. Ben Button?

Yeah for female power finally be noticed by Hollywood! That one-two combination of SEX & THE CITY and MAMMA MIA! couldn't be ignored...and O's excellent list showed us how female $$$ were actually consistently with us through the entire year.

Expect Bride Wars to continue the success story.

I disagree with two entries on your list - - Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Wanted - - they are not particularly "female skewing" films...

I agree that no, they are not.

For Angelina Jolie, I did mention that she had huge cross gender pull, but yes I guess it would not completely be female skewing. But it was another $50 m + opener anchored by a female star this year.

For Forgetting Sarah Marshall, I also believe that there was a great amount of cross gender appeal, so maybe not completely female skewing.

I think Wanted was more of a sign of Jolie than the demographic. Either way I am glad female skewed films are on the rise. It just makes the market as a whole a lot more interesting.

Thats interesting because females did drive Titanic to the No.1 of all time position. Thats the exception not the rule offcourse, but the potential is there.

Don't forget that Twilight and Mamma Mia! are also directed by females. And Twilight has the biggest opening for a film directed by a woman (last held by Deep Impact/Mimi Leder).