‘Charlie’s Angels’: Elizabeth Banks Says There Was No “Gendered Agenda” Making The Reboot & Says Media “Pigeonholed” The Movie 

Even with Kristen Stewart leading the cast and Elizabeth Banks behind the camera, 2019’s “Charlie’s Angels” reboot endured a rough run at the box office, earning a paltry $73 million worldwide. Sure, the reviews weren’t great, but it’s hard to understand how the film performed so poorly when it was based on an established IP with a massive star attached. While she doesn’t truly speculate on what happened, Banks recently explained that she thought the way the film was marketed and discussed in the general public created a false narrative around the film. 

READ MORE: ‘Charlie’s Angels’ Writer-Director-Producer-Star Elizabeth Banks Is “Proud” Of Her Box Office “Flop”

Speaking to Rolling Stone, Elizabeth Banks was asked about her experience as director of “Charlie’s Angels.” The biggest takeaway for Banks was the way the film was forced into this narrative about being a feminist movie when she was just trying to create a fun, female-fronted action film. 

“For me, regardless of what the actual product was, so much of the story that the media wanted to tell about Charlie’s Angels was that it was some feminist manifesto,” said Banks. “I just loved the franchise. There was not this gendered agenda from me. That was very much laid on top of the work, and it was a little bit of a bummer. It felt like it pigeonholed me and the audience for the movie. To lose control of the narrative like that was a real bummer.”

READ MORE: ‘The Beanie Bubble’ Review: A Great Zach Galifianakis Performance Cannot Save This Messy I.P. Driven Film

“You realize how the media can frame something regardless of how you’ve framed it. I happen to be a woman who directed a Charlie’s Angels movie that happened to star three incredible women. You can’t control the media saying, ‘You’re a lady director, and that’s special!’ — which it is, but it’s not the only thing. I remember having a conversation with someone who was like, ‘You guys are going to have a partnership with Drybar’ — which is, like, a hair-blowing thing — and I was like, ‘Alright… but could we have an ad during the baseball playoffs? It’s not only this one thing.’ It was interesting to see how the industry sees things that star women. It was a real lesson for me.”

Obviously, when the film carried a reported $48 million budget (before marketing) and only made $73 million worldwide, the studio wasn’t quick to develop a sequel. As of now, there doesn’t seem to be anything happening in the world of “Charlie’s Angels” on the big screen. And the story, at the time of the terrible box office, was how the “feminist” movie bombed. Clearly, this is something that affected Banks. 

For now though, you can see Banks star in “The Beanie Bubble” on Apple TV+.