One runs a ruthless mob. Another commands an army. They’re wielding guns, swords and fury, and fighting everything from zombies to corporate capitalism. Another slew of male-dominated films? Not quite. Some of the most exciting, diverse and original characters to be depicted on screen for years are going to be played by women. Let’s hear it for the new female role models: the superheroines.

The mob leader, in something of a departure for her, is Kate Winslet. In February, she plays Russian-Israeli mafia moll Irene in the heist thriller Triple 9. In April, Helen Mirren stars as a military intelligence officer in drama Eye in the Sky. In Pride, Prejudice and Zombies, Lily James’s shiny new Elizabeth Bennett joins Mr Darcy not in the ballroom but on the battlefield, taking on an army of the undead.

Mad Max: Fury Road's strong women won't surprise true genre fans Read more

The films are the latest evidence that, at last, the range of female roles in the cinema is significantly expanding. A big 2015 Hollywood success story was Mad Max: Fury Road – the big-budget remake of Mel Gibson’s iconic franchise took $375m at the box office, but it was Charlize Theron’s Furiosa who took the plaudits. In drug-war thriller Sicario, Emily Blunt won critical acclaim in her lead role as FBI agent Kate Macer, even though the makers admitted they’d come under pressure to rewrite the role for a man.

Sandra Bullock has said she will only consider roles written for men and in January, she will play political strategist Jane Bodine in Our Brand Is Crisis. The character was inspired by Bill Clinton’s consultant James Carville, and originally written for a man, but Bullock convinced the film’s producer, George Clooney, that it belonged to her. “I don’t want the male roles to change but I will go after a role if I think a woman can play it,” she said.

Meanwhile, over in comedy, Bridesmaids director Paul Feig will deliver a gender-reversed Ghostbusters remake, with Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones as the leads, and Chris Hemsworth playing their secretary.

“We’ve seen a huge cultural shift,” says Alison Owen, producer of this year’s Suffragette. “But it’s not simply a question of film-makers forcing more diverse female roles on the public; it’s that the public are more ready to accept it.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Sandra Bullock says she will only consider roles written for men . Photograph: Mario Anzuoni/Reuters

Why? It has partly been a question of colonising and succeeding in new terrain. In 2011, Bridesmaids proved that gross-out comedies were as popular with female audiences as with men – and comediennes were delivering the laughs. In 2012, Pitch Perfect, scripted by Kay Cannon, gave us Rebel Wilson and Anna Kendrick among an all-female posse and, with this year’s sequel, made over $300m worldwide.

On TV, Tina Fey catapulted Saturday Night Live to new fame with younger, female viewers, and her 30 Rock was wildly popular with both sexes. Lena Dunham and Amy Schumer’s unapologetic stances on sex and imperfect bodies heaved female-driven comedy further into the spotlight.

Where comedy led, others have followed. While top place in Forbes’ Best Actors for the Buck 2015 list (based on box office earnings) goes to Captain America star Chris Evans, the rest of the top five is taken up by women: Mila Kunis, Scarlett Johansson, Gwyneth Paltrow and Emma Stone. Spy, Trainwreck, Carol and Mad Max: Fury Road dominate the Golden Globes nomination categories this year, a sure indicator for what’s ahead at the Oscars. This time last year, male-focused Boyhood, Birdman, The Theory of Everything, Whiplash and American Sniper filled those categories.

Film has long given women meaty roles – Katherine Hepburn, Vivien Leigh and Lauren Bacall weren’t exactly waiting in the wings – but Hollywood has been, and still is, a male-dominated industry. According to a 2014 study by the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, in both the US and UK just 30% of the highest-grossing movies had female leads or co-leads. “The percentage of female speaking characters in top-grossing movies has not meaningfully changed in roughly a half a century,” said the study. “Women are often stereotyped and sexualised when they are depicted in popular content.”

Dr Margherita Sprio, senior lecturer in film at the University of Westminster, says that women rising up the film ranks is not new. “In times of global insecurity, women traditionally take on more interesting roles on screen,” she argues. “Look at the postwar era in America and the fantastic roles for women in film noir and melodramas, such as Joan Crawford in Mildred Pierce [1945]. We now have different generations of women working in the film industry who are feminist aware, and this is seeing some slow changes in how women are represented on screen.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Cara Delevingne features in next summer’s DC Comics blockbuster Suicide Squad. Photograph: Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images for Burberry

The Geena Davis Institute report says: “While Hollywood is quick to capitalise on new audiences and opportunities abroad, the industry is slow to progress in creating compelling and complex roles for females.”

Owen agrees: “Hollywood does a lot more talking about change, but in Britain there is a lot more doing. There is still an extraordinarily long way to go, not just in lead roles but in supporting roles and even extras.”

On Suffragette, Owen’s on-set crew had an almost equal man-to-woman ratio. “It was encouraging, and many productions are seeing the same change. We still need to get a lot more women behind the camera and in the electrical department.”

Geena Davis predicts 'historic' rise in number of female film characters Read more

Off-camera, progress is also being made. In 2012, Reese Witherspoon set up Pacific Standard Productions, which made this year’s Oscar-nominated Wild. And while accepting her best supporting actress, for Boyhood, Patricia Arquette publicly condemned the pay inequality between male and female actors, to huge applause.

“We’re lucky in the UK that we have fantastic actresses who work often and hone their craft, moving between film, television and theatre,” says Bafta chief executive Amanda Berry. “The more we see Helen Mirren, Judi Dench and Maggie Smith make films, the more it inspires the next generation of talent, also reminding the directors, writers and producers that this talent exists. I’m seeing much stronger self-belief – women saying ‘yes, we can do this’.”

The successful Divergent and Hunger Games franchises, both derived from bestselling young adult novels, see, respectively, 24-year-old Shailene Woodley and 25-year-old Jennifer Lawrence save the day, while Cara Delevingne, 23, plays a powerful sorceress in next summer’s DC Comics blockbuster Suicide Squad, and Gal Gadot, 30, is Wonder Woman in 2017.

“Education and the politics of feminism are central to any shift,” says Spiro. “It’s important for actresses to speak out about their treatment and not be fearful of the consequences.”

As the new Mr Bennett says in Pride, Prejudice and Zombies: “My daughters are trained for battle, not the kitchen.”

LEADING FROM THE FRONT

JOY

Released: 1 January

Jennifer Lawrence could be in line for her second Oscar in the story of the woman who invented the Miracle Mop.

OUR BRAND IS CRISIS

22 January

Sandra Bullock plays a strategist hired to take Bolivian presidential candidate Pedro Castillo to victory. Based on the 2005 documentary by Rachel Boynton.

TRIPLE 9

19 February

Kate Winslet, Gal Gadot and Teresa Palmer join Woody Harrelson, Anthony Mackie and Chiwetel Ejiofor in this violent mob heist thriller.

TRUMBO

5 February

Bryan Cranston plays the Hollywood screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, who was blacklisted in the 1940s for his Communist beliefs and jailed for contempt of Congress, while Helen Mirren plays the wonderfully ruthless gossip columnist Hedda Hopper.

ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS: THE MOVIE

1 July

Sweetie, darling! Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley return as Ab Fab’s Edina and Patsy. There are cameos from Rebel Wilson, Kate Moss and Kim Kardashian.

GHOSTBUSTERS

15 July

The reworking of the 1984 classic is still in production, though recently released slick, black, moody posters of the female squad sent the internet into meltdown.

THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN

7 October

Starring Emily Blunt and newbie Rebecca Ferguson and set in New York, even the bestselling novel’s author Paula Hawkins admits that the film is spookier than the book.