LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:
When it comes to box office numbers, it seems women are defying Hollywood's conventional wisdom. A new study shows that films featuring prominent female characters make more money than those that don't. The statistics website 538 analyzed more than 1,600 films released between 1990 and 2013, with the gender bias assessment known as the Bechdel Test. The test, popularized by cartoonist Alison Bechdel, has three sets of criteria. If a film has at least two named women in it who talk to each other about something other than a man, it passes. Those films brought in on average 23 cents more for each dollar spent to produce them. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.