Wonder Woman “breaks the glass ceiling” for female superheroes and directors
WONDER Woman hasn’t just saved the world and the grim DC Universe, she’s broken the glass ceiling with a record-breaking box office debut.
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WONDER Woman — and its director Patty Jenkins — have been praised for breaking the glass ceiling for female-led films after the superhero blockbuster opened around the world at the weekend.
The DC comic book hero lassoed No. 1 at the Australian box office with a $6,768,064 opening weekend — the fifth biggest opening of 2017 so far.
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The movie left the weekend’s other big debut, Dwayne Johnson and Zac Efron’s Baywatch($3.48 million), in its shade.
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Worldwide, Wonder Woman grossed just under $300 million for the weekend.
In the US, it scored a $134.7 million (US$100.5 million) weekend, an opening industry site Deadline proclaimed “breaks the glass ceiling for female directors”.
The previous best opening weekend for a film directed by a woman in the US was Sam Taylor-Johnson’s Fifty Shades Of Grey with $114.3 million (US$85.2 million).
Locally, Wonder Woman was unable to better the 2015 openings of Fifty Shades with $10.44 million and the Elizabeth Banks-directed Pitch Perfect 2 with $9.42 million.
Wonder Woman also failed to match the opening weekend of previous instalments in the DC Extended Universe: Man Of Steel ($8.87 million), Batman v Superman ($13.12 million) and Suicide Squad ($13.92 million).
Still, the praise has been strong for both Jenkins and her film, which stars Gal Gadot as the super Diana Prince.
A headline in Variety declared “Patty Jenkins saved the DC Extended Universe” — not only for defying early critics and claims of trouble, but for the “shift in tone” away from the DCEU’s “dark and dour” films to date, which have all been box office hits but critical duds.
Distributor Warner Bros’ Jeff Goldstein said: “Wonder Woman is a woman for our time, and her message and the tone that Patty Jenkins set forth connects with now.”
Ava DuVernay, who will become only the third woman after Jenkins and Kathryn Bigelow to direct a US$100 million-plus budgeted film when Disney fantasy A Wrinkle In Time opens next year, gave the Wonder Woman director a shout-out on Twitter, saying Jenkins is “breaking the box office and making herstory!”
“A triumph! Brava!” she added of the film.
Jenkins also won Twitter praise from Banks, Marvel turned DC director Joss Whedon and Marvel directors Scott Derrickson and James Gunn.
Director @PattyJenks is breaking the box office and making herstory! WONDER WOMAN in theaters now! A triumph! Brava! pic.twitter.com/UWPd0aNS4a
— Ava DuVernay (@ava) June 3, 2017
Wonder Woman is the fourth film in the rebooted DCEU. Hollywood Reporter’s Josh Spiegel pointed out that 15 films in, Marvel — maker of The Avengers, Iron Man, Captain America and Co. — still hasn’t had a female direct or headline any of its Cinematic Universe releases.
Jenkins was initially attached to direct 2013’s Thor: The Dark World until she parted ways with Marvel over creative differences.
“It shouldn’t have taken until 2017 for a major studio to hand over the reins of a big-budget blockbuster to a female director as well as a female star,” Spiegel wrote, “and DC deserves credit for beating Marvel to the punch.”
Originally published as Wonder Woman “breaks the glass ceiling” for female superheroes and directors
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