Greta and Margot top the big screen super-league

Thanks to record-breaking Barbie, actor Margot Robbie and director Greta Gerwig have joined an elite team of female super heroes.

They might be Barbie girls, but they are out of this Barbie world, thanks to the smash-hit movie continuing to break box-office records. This week, director Greta Gerwig became the most successful female director ever in the USA, when the fun flick overtook Frozen II at the American box office.

Barbie, which has topped more than $1 billion worldwide and continues to climb, also knocked female-directed Captain Marvel off the worldwide top spot for the highest-grossing live-action movie by a female director.

But not only is Greta in the super-screen league, so is the movie’s Aussie star, Margot Robbie. According to Variety, Robbie is set to earn around $77 million in salary and bonuses, her highest payday to date. As well as starring in the movie, Robbie produced it through her company, LuckyChap Entertainment.

Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig. Picture: Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images

We take a look at the female big screen super-league …

BOX OFFICE SUPERSTARS

Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie, Barbie

As well as directing Barbie, Greta Gerwig penned the movie, alongside Noah Baumbach. The critics’ darling has previously been nominated for Oscars for writing and directing on 2017’s Lady Bird and 2019’s Little Women, but it took a doll to catapult her into the box office big-league. So, we can expect to see a lot more from the multi-talented American in the future. Likewise, Margot Robbie, who has twice been nominated for an Oscar for 2017’s I, Tonya and 2019’s Bombshell, but thanks to the blonde bombshell from Mattel, has enjoyed her biggest-payday yet.

ANIMATED QUEEN

Jennifer Lee, Frozen

Jennifer Lee. Picture: Supplied

Jennifer Lee became the first female director of a Walt Disney Animation Studios

movie when she got the Frozen gig, alongside Chris Buck, and we bet execs wondered why they hadn’t done it sooner. 2013’s Frozen took $US1.28 billion worldwide and became the biggest-grossing film by a female director, ever. It was surpassed by Lee’s Frozen II in 2019, which took $US1.45 billion worldwide. She’s now Disney’s chief creative officer and, while Frozen 3 has been confirmed, this time it isn’t being written and directed by Lee.

SUPERHERO

Anna Boden, Captain Marvel

Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck. Picture: Robyn Beck/AFP

The 2019 superhero movie starring Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson and Ben Mendelsohn smashed box-office records for directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck. Taking $US1.1 billion worldwide, it became the first female-led superhero movie to pass the billion-dollar mark and has only just been surpassed by Barbie, who is, I think we’ll all agree, a fashion superhero. Boden has teamed up with Fleck again, for new drama Freaky Tales, starring Pedro Pascal.

OSCAR-WINNING DIRECTORS

Kathryn Bigelow, Chloe Zhao and Jane Campion

Kathryn Bigelow.

Chloe Zhao.

Jane Campion. Picture: Frederic J. Brown/AFP

You might be forgiven for wondering why there aren’t more names on this list and why it took 82 years for a woman to win the Best Director gong at the industry awards. That honour went to Kathryn Bigelow, in 2010, for The Hurt Locker. She was followed by Chloe Zhao for Nomadland, who won it in 2021, and one year later, Kiwi Jane Campion was awarded Best Director for The Power of the Dog. She’d previously been nominated in 1994, for her masterpiece The Piano, which earnt her a Best Screenplay gong.

HIGHEST-GROSSING AND PAID MOVIE STAR

Scarlett Johansson, Black Widow

Scarlett Johansson. Picture: Antonin Thuillier/AFP

Topping the list of highest-grossing actors of all time is Scarlett Johansson. Thanks to the success of movies like Black Widow, she has been named the top-grossing actor, bringing in around $US14 billion of revenue. So, it makes sense she’s also the highest-paid female star, her legal stoush with Disney notwithstanding. According to Yahoo! Finance, her final salary for her Marvel movies is around $US95 million. She next appears in a much lower-budget movie, in drama North Star, which is Kristin Scott Thomas’ directorial debut.