Will we ever see a Superhero movie with a female lead? The desire from fans worldwide has been there for ages, yet the wait continues female lead superhero movie (will we ever get to see Wonder Woman?). Stan Lee has also voiced his concerns about the many male-lead superhero movies, compared to the zero female-lead superhero movies. Action movies on the other hand is a different story, and we’ve had very successful and entertaining female-lead action movies. The difference is not really that big, superhero movies are action movies, only thing is the lead character has some kind of super power.

We looked back at some of the most successful action movies with a lead female actor. Success being determined by factors such as profit and the general badassness of the female lead . Here’s our Top 10 Action Movies starring Women:

 

1. Alien

Sigourney Weaver as Ripley

Sigourney Weaver as Ripley

The first Alien was more of a space horror film, with Ripley as the “final girl” — but this is a straight-up action movie, and Ripley is clearly the hero, who gets the final boss fight at the end of the film. Sigourney Weaver became the poster-woman for woman who can kick-ass.

 

2. Tomb Raider

Angeline Jolie as Lara Croft

Angeline Jolie as Lara Croft

The sequel pretty much bombed, but the first movie was a massive hit, making $275 million (in 2001 dollars) on a budget of just $115 million. They’re talking about doing a new Tomb Raider film now, which should tell you something. Who could forget sexy Angelina Jolie playing the role of Lara Croft.

 

3 Resident Evil Movies

Milla Jovovich in Resident Evil

Milla Jovovich in Resident Evil

The fact that they’re up to the sixth movie in the series ought to tell you something. The last few were really bad, yet the producers must make enough money to sign up for another one. Milla Jovovich is the femme fatale that can take aim with a machine gun in each hand, while kicking the living daylights out of you.

 

4. The Underworld Movies

Kate Beckinsale as Selene in  Underworld

Kate Beckinsale as Selene in Underworld

Apart from the  fact that we’ll watch any movie with Kate Beckinsale in it, the Underworld series has done really well. The premise of vampires and werewolves will always do well, but it surely does help even more if the vampire that does all the ass-kicking is super hot, and can pretty much take on any type and size of monster that exist.

 

5. SALT

Angelina Jolie in SALT

Angelina Jolie in SALT

Angelina Jolie once again, this time as the undercover spy that can be compared to a female James Bond, but with less suave. SALT was written for a male star, and still made close to three times its budget worldwide. Proving that if you write a movie for a compelling action hero and then cast a woman — rather than write for a “female action hero” — you can do really well.

 

6. The Hunger Games

Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games

Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games

Jennifer Lawrence is the hope-bearer of many taking on whomever in the fight for her life. This is one of the most successful films of all time at this point, with audience salivating for the three sequels that are already in production. This movie made more money than Man of Steel, on a much smaller budget.

 

7. Kill Bill Movies

Uma Thurman in Kill Bill

Uma Thurman in Kill Bill

 

The Kill Bill movies cost about $30 million each to make, and were extremely successful, with the first movie taking in about $180 million (in 2003 dollars) worldwide. Pretty amazing. Uma Thurman plays the assassin type martial arts sword wielding disaster that pretty much kills anything and everyone that crosses her path.

 

8. Charlie’s Angels

Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz and Lucy Liu in Charlie's Angels

Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz and Lucy Liu in Charlie’s Angels

As ridiculous and over the top as these movies where, they are action movies, and they do contain a lot of woman who are hot and can seriously kick ass. Making $264 million worldwide (in 2000 dollars) on a budget of $93 million.

 

9. Point of No Return

Bridget Fonda in Point of No Return

Bridget Fonda in Point of No Return

A personal favourite of ours. Bridget Fonda plays a hot woman as a trained assassin. The U.S. remake of La Femme Nikita made about $44 million in today’s dollars — not great, but apparently good enough to make a cable TV series worthwhile.

 

10. The long Kiss Goodnight

Geena Davis in The Long Kiss Goodnight

Geena Davis in The Long Kiss Goodnight

An absolute classic movie. Geena Davis plays an unknowing super skilled and talented trained soldier/assassin. With a budget or roughly $65,000,000 and a total gross of £4,543,100 the movie was extremely successful.

 

Worthy contenders

  • Sucker Punch
  • G.I. Jane

 

Did we miss any? Let us know in the comments.

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