Elizabeth Banks Regrets ‘Charlie’s Angels’ Marketing: It Wasn’t a ‘Feminist Manifesto,’ Just an ‘Action Movie’

Looking back at the poor box office performance of her 2019 “Charlie’s Angels” reboot, Elizabeth Banks has some regrets about the film’s marketing.

“I wish that the movie had not been presented as just for girls, because I didn’t make it just for girls,” Banks told The New York Times. “There was a disconnect on the marketing side of it for me.”

More from Variety

• Sigourney Weaver, Elizabeth Banks' 'Call Jane' Acquired by Vertigo Releasing for U.K. (EXCLUSIVE)

• Elizabeth Banks to Play Surgeon Fighting for Her Career in 'A Mistake'

• Sigourney Weaver, Elizabeth Banks-Starring Sundance, Berlin Film 'Call Jane' Sells Wide for Protagonist

Banks said that “when women do things in Hollywood it becomes this story. There was a story around ‘Charlie’s Angels’ that I was creating some feminist manifesto. I was just making an action movie.”

The “Pitch Perfect 2” director added that she “would’ve liked to have made ‘Mission: Impossible,’ but women aren’t directing ‘Mission: Impossible.’ I was able to direct an action movie, frankly, because it starred women and I’m a female director, and that is the confine right now in Hollywood.”

Banks recalled a time when a “big producer of big action movies” told her that she couldn’t “direct action” because “male actors were not going to follow me.”

Banks’ “Charlie’s Angels” reboot cost Sony and its co-financiers $48 million, but it floundered at North American box offices with only $8.6 million in its opening weekend. Ahead of its release, Banks told the Herald Sun back in 2019: “If this movie doesn’t make money it reinforces a stereotype in Hollywood that men don’t go see women do action movies.”

Despite it being a commercial flop, Banks said she is “proud of the movie.”

“I loved Kristen Stewart being funny and light. I loved introducing Ella Balinska to the world. I loved working with Patrick Stewart. It was an incredible experience,” she said.

Best of Variety

• 13 Supporting Actors Who Successfully Campaigned for Lead Categories at the Oscars

• Your Pet Can Be Anyone They Want This Halloween, From Maverick to Winifred Sanderson

• From Maverick and Rooster to Vecna and Eleven: The Best Couples Costumes to Wear This Halloween

Sign up for Variety’s Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Click here to read the full article.