Is this summer’s box office a sign that women will be better represented in film?

Women-led films and female moviegoers were heavily influential at the box office this summer. Is this a sign of better things to come for women and film?

This month, the world was rattled by revelations of systemic sexual abuse and harassment in Hollywood, at the hands of Harvey Weinstein and others. It has become wrenchingly clear that the industry has profound issues to address regarding the exploitation of women. But on the bright side, some have called the media firestorm and public outrage at Weinstein a “tipping point,” forecasting that positive change is on the way for the industry.

As it turns out, the film industry landscape may be changing for the better on a few other fronts, as well. A new study by Movio, a media-oriented data analytics firm, shows that a common thread between six of the biggest hits of the summer — two of which had mostly women in their starring roles — was the ability to attract female moviegoers.

In reviewing demographic audience data, Movio found that audiences for the six top-grossing films, including Wonder Woman, Dunkirk, and Girls’ Trip, consisted of an average of 25% infrequent female moviegoers (those who don’t go more than four times a year to the box office), while the average movie audience is about 15% infrequent female viewers.

The films have little in common other than drawing out women who don’t often hit the theaters, as Variety notes . Given that Wonder Woman and Girls’ Trip placed women in strong leading roles, this correlation could be evidence that — unsurprisingly — women may go to the movies more when they are better represented on screen.

Those who pay any attention to the state of women in the film industry, such as Manohla Dargis, co-chief film critic at the New York Times, have long been saying that women are “starved” for representations of themselves on film. In a recent piece, Dargis lamented that the film industry “consistently denies female directors employment [citing this study] and contemptuously treats the female audience as a niche, a problem, an afterthought.”

Clearly, the industry still has a long way to go. In addition to the shockingly small number of films directed by women — only 7% of the 250 top-grossing films of 2016 had female directors, which was a 2% drop from 2015 — studies show that people of color are also wildly underrepresented in production roles, and that white male characters still get the most speaking time in most films.

But maybe, just maybe, as women show up in larger numbers for female-driven films, studios will finally see that female leads are not a risk, and that women are not a niche or illusive demographic.

Next: Wonder Woman joins the Oscar race: Predictions

At the moment, we are cautiously hopeful. Presumably, going to movies that do have strong, multidimensional female characters or are directed by women would result in a change. After all, what could be more persuasive to a Hollywood executive than dollar signs?