'Hunger Games' to "Prometheus,' ladies come out swinging

Hollywood’s offering up a flurry of female action roles this year, and how these fighting ladies fare at the box office will have a lot to do with whether tough-girl roles become an ongoing part of the pop culture parade.

The first female action star of the year knocked it out of the park, obviously. Jennifer Lawrence led “The Hunger Games” to $642 million worldwide and nearly $400 million domestic.

But that movie was building on a well-established trilogy of books. The ladies who will be doing battle in the coming weeks are pretty much on their own.

First up there’s Kristen Stewart as a kick-butt Snow White in “Snow White and the Huntsman,” a lush, surprisingly straight-faced reworking of of the fairy tale. Donning armor and swinging a sword, Stewart ends up far from her mushy “Twilight” comfort zone.

Then next week it’s “Prometheus,” with Noomi Rapace (still far and away the best “Girl with a Dragon Tattoo”) donning a space suit and assumedly battling aliens. The film may or may not be a prequel to “Alien,” but Sigourney Weaver is nowhere in sight so Noomi’s one her own.

Then on June 22 Pixar trots out “Brave,” featuring its first female lead, a fiery rebellious princess named Merida who wields a bow as if she was preparing for “The Hunger Games.”

The success of “The Hunger Games’ means the female action hero will likely be popping up a lot more in the near future. If one or more of these other films picks up major traction — and both “Brave” and “Prometheus” seem set to do just that — female action heroes may no longer be a rarity. You go girls.