First, the good news: according to a report by the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film, there are more ladies in the top 100 domestic grossing flicks of 2011 than there were a decade ago. That's progress, right?

The answer is... sort of. Closer study reveals that though these women are part of the top movies, they aren't necessarily nabbing the best, brightest roles in these flicks, The Wrap reports. In fact, the sad truth is that the vast majority of the roles actresses get a chance to play are just not up to par with their male counterparts. 'Twilight' heroine Bella staring at the moon and brushing her hair whilst the vampire and werewolves do the fighting, for example.

Why is that you ask? It probably has a lot to do with the fact that the female characters tend to be younger than their male counterparts—and thus, less powerful. (Sorry, girls.)

On top of that, the number of women among the biggest grossing films in the United States only improved by a modest five percent since 2002. To put that in perspective, the ladies still make up a paltry one-third of all characters in last year's top grossing films, so even though it's an improvement, it's modest at best.

So… what's the bottom line? Things are better, but still not great. (That's our analysis, not the scientific terminology.) Still, the study's author is encouraged. "People may say, 'Gosh, it's just 5 percentage points,' but when I see a jump, that's very encouraging to me, because I know how absolutely resistant to change the film industry is," Martha Lauzen explained.

Maybe this year's girl-power newcomer, Katniss, can shift the tides even more.