Wonder Woman has arrived and it just saved the DCEU! Not only is it extremely well received amongst critics – 94% on Rotten Tomatoes – it’s also breaking box office records.
Wonder Woman currently holds the trophy for the largest opening weekend of all-time for a female director. Sure, there haven’t been a lot of blockbuster films directed by females, to begin with (non-blockbuster films too), as most movies are directed by men. Having said that there have been some big movies directed by women too. Sam Taylor-Johnson’s Fifty Shades of Grey opened to 94 Mil USD, while Catherine Hardwicke’s Twilight made slightly more than 69 Mil USD. Pitch Perfect 2 directed by Elizabeth Banks grossed over 69 Mil USD too, while Jennifer Yuh Nelson’s Kung Fu Panda 2 made 47.6 Mil USD worldwide.
Wonder Woman, on the other hand, made an astounding 100 Mil USD opening weekend!
While it made less than Batman V Superman (166 Mil USD), Suicide Squad (133 Mil USD) and Man of Steel (116 Mil USD), those movies have characters that are very well known amongst mainstream audiences, even Suicide Squad which featured The Joker. However, Wonder Woman did make more money in its opening weekend than the likes of the first two Thor (65.7 Mil USD & 85.7 Mil USD) and Captain America (65 Mil USD & 95 Mil USD) movies, as well as the first Iron Man movie in 2008 which grossed 98.6 Mil USD. This is a huge win for the folks at Warner Bros, especially considering the fact that Wonder Woman’s 149 Mil USD production budget, 100 Mil cheaper than Batman V Superman.
Congratulations to Patty Jenkins and gang! And hopefully, this paves the way for more female directors to helm bigger movies.
