Fails the Bechdel test

Zathura: A Space Adventure

Name: Zathura: A Space Adventure
Released: 2005

2005. Directed by Jon Favreau, written by Chris Van Allsburg and David Koepp and John Kamps.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

0 / 3

Fails

No 1. At least two women
Fewer than two women characters.
No 2. Who talk to each other
Our parser found no scene where two women talk to each other.
No 3. About something besides a man
Not reached: the film fails an earlier rule.

Second opinion

Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 0 out of 3.

The film

An old and forgotten game develops magical powers in this fantasy for the whole family. Ten-year-old Walter Budwing (Josh Hutcherson) and his younger brother, Danny (Jonah Bobo), figure they're going to be in for a boring time when their father (Tim Robbins), who was supposed to spend the day with them, is suddenly called away on business, and gives them strict orders not to leave the house. Walter, who doesn't have much use for Danny, is motivated by boredom more than anything else when he agrees to play a board game Danny has found in the basement during a round of hide-and-seek. However, the boys quickly discover the space-themed game Zathura has some unusual qualities -- a roll of the dice unexpectedly launches the Budwing home into outer space, and Walter and Danny are suddenly fending off menacing robots, angry aliens, and showers of interstellar debris outside the Earth's atmosphere. As the boys try to figure out a way back home, they get some unexpected help from an earthling astronaut (Dax Shepard) who has also lost his way.

Released: 11 Nov 2005
Genres: Action, Adventure, Comedy
Rated: PG
IMDb: 6.3 / 10
Metascore: 67 / 100
Awards: 3 wins & 3 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

Women
Men
Not in the cast list
Bigger name, more lines

Walter 244 lines, man
Danny 224 lines, man
Dad 82 lines, man
Minos 10 lines, man
Mom 10 lines, woman
Ariadne 7 lines
Robot 4 lines, man
Aegeus 2 lines, man
Zathura 2 lines, man
A Jumanji Game 1 lines, man

Full cast, 11 people

Josh Hutcherson as Walter Budwing
Jonah Bobo as Danny Budwing
Dax Shepard as Astronaut
Kristen Stewart as Lisa Budwing
Tim Robbins as Dad (Mr. Budwing)
Frank Oz as Robot (voice)
John Alexander as Robot
Derek Mears as Lead Zorgon
Douglas Tait as Zorgon
Joe Bucaro III as Zorgon
Jeff Wolfe as Zorgon

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 2% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 109

Hover, tap or tab to a bar to see those scenes: where they happen and who's talking.

Show the numbers

Scenes	Women's lines	Men's lines
1 to 3	0	23
4 to 6	0	4
7 to 9	0	1
10 to 12	0	12
13 to 15	0	19
16 to 18	0	22
19 to 21	0	22
22 to 24	0	18
25 to 27	0	4
28 to 30	0	49
31 to 33	0	39
34 to 36	0	4
37 to 39	0	20
40 to 42	0	35
43 to 45	0	2
46 to 48	0	2
49 to 51	0	2
52 to 54	0	30
55 to 57	0	33
58 to 60	0	2
61 to 63	0	14
64 to 66	0	56
67 to 69	0	6
70 to 72	0	0
73 to 75	0	25
76 to 78	0	1
79 to 81	0	2
82 to 84	2	6
85 to 87	5	12
88 to 90	3	12
91 to 93	0	18
94 to 96	0	56
97 to 99	0	0
100 to 102	0	1
103 to 105	0	1
106 to 108	0	10
109 to 109	0	8

The evidence

Straight from the script
Counted from the script and the credits

Tap an exhibit to open it.

Exhibit A: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 2 are women's.

10 lines from women, 571 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit B: who's in it

1 women and 10 men in the cast. 0 women and 5 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 464 of 595. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 463 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 3% of the words (119), men 97% (4,356). Women have 2% of the lines, so their lines run longer than men's.

Exhibit D: the test the other way

Two named men talk to each other about something besides a woman. It passes the reverse test.

Conversations between two named characters

Two women

Two men

Exhibit E: behind the camera

2 of the 12 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 18% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Jon Favreau (man)
Written by: David Koepp (man), John Kamps (man)
Produced by: Michael De Luca (man), Scott Kroopf (man), William Teitler (man)
Shot by: Guillermo Navarro (man)
Edited by: Dan Lebental (man)
Music by: John Debney (man)
Production design by: J. Michael Riva (man)
Costumes by: Laura Jean Shannon (woman)
Cast by: Avy Kaufman (woman)