FILE - This undated photo released by Universal Pictures shows Morgan Freeman, left, and Scarlett Johansson in a scene from "Lucy." Movies make more money when exactly half the cast is non-white, according an annual analysis released Thursday, Feb. 25, 2016, that shows an even stronger connection between diversity and profits, and suggests how profoundly out of touch the motion picture academy is when giving Oscars only to white actors. (Jessica Forde/Universal Pictures via AP)
The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES (AP) - A UCLA study has found that films and television shows whose casts roughly reflect the nation's racial and ethnic diversity post the highest box office and ratings numbers, on average. A closer look at the numbers, based on films distributed in 2014:
- Foreign audiences rule: Total box office for the U.S. and Canada dropped 5 percent to $10.9 billion, but globally, sales increased 1 percent to $36.4 billion.
- Minorities bought 46 percent of all movie tickets in the U.S. despite representing only 38 percent of the population. A fourth of the people who see at least once movie every month are Latinos, who represent 18 percent of the U.S. population.
- The highest return on investment - 3.4 times the films' budget - was delivered by movies with four non-white actors in the top eight roles.
- Films with non-white actors in lead roles declined again, to 13 percent, from 17 percent in 2013, even though non-whites accounted for 38 percent of the U.S. population.
- On television, white actors had 80 percent of the scripted roles broadcast during the 2013-2014 season. Blacks had 9 percent, Latinos 5 percent and Asians 4 percent.
- Males had 59 percent of scripted roles on broadcast television, and 59 percent of those on cable TV.
- At talent agencies - Hollywood's gatekeepers - 88 percent of the executives, 91 percent of the agents and 97 percent of the profit-sharing partners were white. Women represented 41 percent of the executives, 32 percent of the agents and 29 percent of the partners.
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Source: The Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies at UCLA, http://bit.ly/1LggHlr
FILE - In this June 29, 2014 file photo, actors Bingbing Li and Mark Wahlberg pose during the European premiere of the film "Transformers: Age of Extinction", at Potsdamer Platz in Berlin. Movies make more money when exactly half the cast is non-white, according an annual analysis released Thursday, Feb. 25, 2016, that shows an even stronger connection between diversity and profits, and suggests how profoundly out of touch the motion picture academy is when giving Oscars only to white actors. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)
The Associated Press
FILE - This undated file photo released by Universal Pictures shows Min-Sik Choi, center in a scene from "Lucy." Movies make more money when exactly half the cast is non-white, according an annual analysis released Thursday, Feb. 25, 2016, that shows an even stronger connection between diversity and profits, and suggests how profoundly out of touch the motion picture academy is when giving Oscars only to white actors. (Jessica Forde/Universal Pictures via AP, File)
The Associated Press
FILE - In this Dec. 4, 2014 file photo, the cast of "Annie" from left, Bobby Cannavale, Quvenzhane Wallis, Marty the dog, Cameron Diaz and Jamie Foxx poses during a photo call in New York. Movies make more money when exactly half the cast is non-white, according an annual analysis released Thursday, Feb. 25, 2016, that shows an even stronger connection between diversity and profits, and suggests how profoundly out of touch the motion picture academy is when giving Oscars only to white actors. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)
The Associated Press
FILE - In this July 10, 2006, file photo people wait in line outside El Capitan Theatre to watch "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles. UCLA's Bunche Center has found that for the last few years, movies do better at the box office if two or three top-billed actors are minorities. As they come out with another year of data just ahead of the Oscars, the center's findings underpin why the Academy's all-white acting nominee slate is so out of touch with the movie-going public. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)
The Associated Press