The advocacy organization GLAAD says that LGBTQ representation is up for major studio films released in 2018, but that none included transgender characters.
Of the 110 movies surveyed, 20, or 18.2%, contained an LGBTQ character. This is a significant improvement from 2017's all-time low of 12.8% and the second-highest in the seven years that GLAAD has been doing the report.
Both 20th Century Fox and Universal received "good" ratings for their individual contributions for releases like "Bohemian Rhapsody," ''Love, Simon" and "Blockers," while the Walt Disney Co. and Lionsgate were given failing grades. Others received the marker of insufficient.
The grades are determined based on percentage of releases. That meant Warner Bros., which had the second-highest number of films with LGBTQ characters (five) of all the studios, still got an insufficient rating because overall the studio released 23 films. The studio with the highest number of releases featuring LGBTQ characters was Universal, with six.
In addition to the lack of transgender characters, the report says racial diversity of LGBTQ characters has also fallen off despite films like "Crazy Rich Asians," ''Deadpool 2" and "Annihilation." In 2018, 42% of LGBTQ characters were people of color, compared with 57% in 2017. But, for the first time in the report's history, there were equal number of films that included gay and lesbian characters with 11 each, or 55% of the LGBTQ-inclusive films. Bisexual characters were seen in only 3 of the major studio releases, however. None of the animated and family films released by major studios in 2018 featured an LGBTQ character, the report said.
Representation is higher in films released by the arthouse arms of studios like Fox Searchlight with "The Favourite" and "Can You Ever Forgive Me?" and Roadside Attractions with "Juliet, Naked" and "Lizzie."
Diversity in storytelling is good for business, says John Fithian, the president and CEO of the National Association of Theater Owners.
"NATO and its members are committed to creating inclusive spaces that expand our audiences, increase ticket sales, and reaffirm the importance of representation on the screen," Fithian told GLAAD.
A Nielsen report also found that queer audiences are more 22 percent more likely than straight audiences to see a new release more than one time.
The report concludes that while progress has been made, there is more work to be done, in representation of transgender characters, bisexual characters, racially diverse LGBTQ characters and LGBTQ representation in animated and family films. Last year GLAAD called on studios to ensure that LGBTQ representation will reach 20% by 2021 and 50% by 2024.
"While the film industry should include more stories of LGBTQ people of color and transgender people, studios are finally addressing the calls from LGBTQ people and allies around the world who want to see more diversity in films," GLAAD president and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said in a statement.
And 2019 may be off to a promising start with films like "Booksmart" and "Rocketman" on the horizon.
Follow AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ldbahr
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Ukrainian court on Friday ordered the detention of the country’s farm minister in the latest high-profile corruption investigation, while Kyiv security officials assessed how they can recover lost battlefield momentum in the war against Russia.
Ukraine’s High Anti-Corruption Court ruled that Agriculture Minister Oleksandr Solskyi should be held in custody for 60 days, but he was released after paying bail of 75 million hryvnias ($1.77 million), a statement said.
Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau suspects Solskyi headed an organized crime group that between 2017 and 2021 unlawfully obtained land worth 291 million hryvnias ($6.85 million) and attempted to obtain other land worth 190 million hryvnias ($4.47 million).
Ukraine is trying to root out corruption that has long dogged the country. A dragnet over the past two years has seen Ukraine’s defense minister, top prosecutor, intelligence chief and other senior officials lose their jobs.
That has caused embarrassment and unease as Ukraine receives tens of billions of dollars in foreign aid to help fight Russia’s army, and the European Union and NATO have demanded widespread anti-graft measures before Kyiv can realize its ambition of joining the blocs.
In Ukraine's capital, doctors and ambulance crews evacuated patients from a children’s hospital on Friday after a video circulated online saying Russia planned to attack it.
Parents hefting bags of clothes, toys and food carried toddlers and led young children from the Kyiv City Children’s Hospital No. 1 on the outskirts of the city. Medics helped them into a fleet of waiting ambulances to be transported to other facilities.
In the video, a security official from Russian ally Belarus alleged that military personnel were based in the hospital. Kyiv city authorities said that the claim was “a lie and provocation.”
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that civic authorities were awaiting an assessment from security services before deciding when it was safe to reopen the hospital.
“We cannot risk the lives of our children,” he said.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was due to hold online talks Friday with the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, which has been the key international organization coordinating the delivery of weapons and other aid to Ukraine.
Zelenskyy said late Thursday that the meeting would discuss how to turn around Ukraine’s fortunes on the battlefield. The Kremlin’s forces have gained an edge over Kyiv’s army in recent months as Ukraine grappled with a shortage of ammunition and troops.
Russia, despite sustaining high losses, has been taking control of small settlements as part of its effort to drive deeper into eastern Ukraine after capturing the city of Avdiivka in February, the U.K. defense ministry said Friday.
It’s been slow going for the Kremlin’s troops in eastern Ukraine and is likely to stay that way, according to the Institute for the Study of War. However, the key hilltop town of Chasiv Yar is vulnerable to the Russian onslaught, which is using glide bombs — powerful Soviet-era weapons that were originally unguided but have been retrofitted with a navigational targeting system — that obliterate targets.
“Russian forces do pose a credible threat of seizing Chasiv Yar, although they may not be able to do so rapidly,” the Washington-based think tank said late Thursday.
It added that Russian commanders are likely seeking to advance as much as possible before the arrival in the coming weeks and months of new U.S. military aid, which was held up for six months by political differences in Congress.
While that U.S. help wasn’t forthcoming, Ukraine’s European partners didn’t pick up the slack, according to German’s Kiel Institute for the World Economy, which tracks Ukraine support.
“The European aid in recent months is nowhere near enough to fill the gap left by the lack of U.S. assistance, particularly in the area of ammunition and artillery shells,” it said in a report Thursday.
Ukraine is making a broad effort to take back the initiative in the war after more than two years of fighting. It plans to manufacture more of its own weapons in the future, and is clamping down on young people avoiding conscription, though it will take time to process and train any new recruits.
Jill Lawless contributed to this report.
Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Ukrainian young acting student Gleb Batonskiy plays piano in a public park in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, April 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
