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Nearly Half of 2016’s 25 Biggest Films Passed the Bechdel Test — But Plenty Failed

The test sees if a work of fiction involves two or more women talking about something other than a man.
Top Movies in 2016 That Pass the Bechdel Test Include Bad Moms and Trolls
"Bad Moms"
STX Entertainment

The Bechdel-Wallace Test was developed in 1985 by Alison Bechdel and Liz Wallace to see if a work of fiction featured at least two women talking about something other than a man. Looking at the 25 top-grossing films of 2016, The Hollywood Reporter decided to conduct the test to see if those movies passed. 

The test has three requirements: 1. Does it have more than two female characters (with names) in it? 2. Do those characters engage in a conversation with each other? 3. And is that conversation about anything other than a man?

The results were put into four categories, Pass, Incomplete, Fail and Seriously, which meant that the film didn’t achieve any of the three requirements. According to THR only half of the movies passed, with “Ghostbusters” having 36 scenes involving two or more women talking about something other than a man and “The Conjuring 2” having 27 scenes.

Other films that checked all the requirements were “Bad Moms,” “Trolls” and “Sausage Party.” Movies that quite didn’t were “Doctor Strange,” “The Secret Life of Pets” and “Sully.”

READ MORE: Margot Robbie, Millie Bobby Brown and Tom Hardy Top IMDb’s Top 10 Stars of 2016 List

Check out the full results below.

Pass! (achieved all three things)

• “Ghostbusters”

• “The Conjuring 2”

• “Bad Moms”

• “Zootopia”

• “Sausage Party”

• “Finding Dory”

• “Suicide Squad”

• “Trolls”

• “Captain America: Civil War”

• “Batman v. Superman”

• “X-Men: Apocalypse”

• “Independence Day: Resurgence”

• “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”

Incomplete (achieved only two out of three)

• “The Secret Life of Pets”

Fail (achieved only one out of three)

• “Doctor Strange”

• “The Angry Birds Movie”

• “Sully”

• “Central Intelligence”

• “Kung Fu Panda 3”

• “Star Trek Beyond”

• “Jason Bourne”

• “Deadpool”

• “The Jungle Book”

Seriously? (achieved none)

• “The Magnificent Seven”

• “The Legend of Tarzan”

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