Hollywood can boast of a rich history of movies starring women

Once upon a time, Hollywood made movies starring women, and many of those women were the biggest movie stars in the studio system.

There's a lot of talk these days about how few modern movies star women. And it’s true in terms of mainstream Hollywood movies. The number rises dramaticmoally when you factor in low-budget independent films with limited audience reach.

But there was a time when Hollywood studios made lots of movies starring women. And those women were among the studios’ biggest stars. And their movies were among the studios’ biggest hits.

Take 1939, for example, which is considered a seminal year in the history of moviemaking, 12 months littered with films that became undisputed classics.

The top two moneymakers that year were films starring women as strong cinematic characters that remain hugely popular today — Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O’Hara in “Gone With the Wind” and Judy Garland as Dorothy Gale in “The Wizard of Oz.”

Other films in the 1939 box-office top 20 include “The Old Maid” starring Bette Davis and Miriam Hopkins, “Ninotchka” starring Greta Garbo, and another with Judy Garland as she shares top billing with Mickey Rooney in “Babes in Arms.”

Also in the 1939 top 20 are the films “Union Pacific,” “Drums Along the Mohawk,” “Hollywood Cavalcade,” “Destry Rides Again” and “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” which the casual movie buff might immediately associate with, respectively, Joel MCrea, Henry Fonda, Don Ameche and, in the latter two films, James Stewart.

But it might surprise you to know that those guys all had second-billing beneath their female co-stars — Barbara Stanwyck was top-billed in “Union Pacific,” Claudette Colbert in “Drums Across the Mohawk,” Alice Faye in “Hollywood Cavalcade,” Marlene Dietrich in “Destry Rides Again” and Jean Arthur in “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.”

And we mustn’t forget one last member of the 1939 top-20 club: “The Women,” with an all-star female cast (Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, Rosalind Russell, Paulette Goddard, Joan Fontaine) and not a man in sight.

So, here we are in 2014, during what we suppose to be a more enlightened age, and there have actually been a lot of movies headlined by female movie stars this year. But very few of their movies were major-studio productions, and fewer still impressed at the box office.

Only five women-driven flicks earned blockbuster status by landing in this year’s top 22 (which I’m stretching from 20 for reasons that will become obvious). And only one of the five is not a fantasy; it’s a doomed-teen romance. So all five obviously played well with the desired younger demographic but probably didn’t bring in many mature moviegoers. (Not that anyone in Hollywood cares about that anymore.)

The biggest hit, to no one’s surprise, is Jennifer Lawrence in “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1.” What may be surprising, however, is that it’s not from a major studio, but rather from an upstart independent, Lionsgate.

“Mockingjay” has already landed in the year’s box-office top five and should climb to the No. 2 spot (after “Guardians of the Galaxy”) — unless there’s an upset by “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies” next week or if some other upcoming movie opens bigger than expected.

The second biggest 2014 box-office hit headlined by a woman is Angelina Jolie in “Maleficent,” which is Disney’s live-action riff on “Sleeping Beauty,” perched at No. 6. “Maleficent” will doubtless drop down a slot or two as December progresses, but it should remain in the top 10.