2016 wasn’t a great year for female filmmakers at the domestic box office. Women directed or co-directed 24 of the top 250 highest grossing films in the U.S. this year, amounting to about ten percent.There’s still about two weeks left of 2016, but it’s unlikely that these numbers will change in any significant way. We calculated these numbers using data from Box Office Mojo retrieved today, December 19.
“Kung Fu Panda,” co-directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson, came in at number 17, making it the top earning woman-helmed film of the year. Nelson is set to make her live-action directorial debut with next year’s adaptation of YA hit “Darkest Minds.”
The highest-grossing live-action feature directed by a woman is Patricia Riggen’s faith-based “Miracles from Heaven,” starring Jennifer Garner. The drama was the 48th biggest money maker in the U.S.
In total, five women-directed films cracked the top 100. Joining “Kung Fu Panda 3” and “Miracles from Heaven” are Thea Sharrock’s romance “Me Before You,” Jodie Foster’s ensemble drama “Money Monster,” and Sharon Maguire’s romantic comedy “Bridget Jones’s Baby.” The third installment of “Bridget Jones” drew significantly bigger audiences in the UK: it’s the second-highest grossing film of the year there.
“Kung Fu Panda 3” is the only animated film directed by a woman on the top 250 list. Four women-helmed documentaries made the cut: Toni Myers’ “A Beautiful Planet,” “Weiner,” co-directed by Elyse Steinberg, Louise Osmond’s “Dark Horse,” and Laura Gabbert’s “City of Gold.”
Women-directed films won’t make a bigger mark at the box office until more female directors are hired to direct films, and particularly high-profile, big-budget projects. The vast majority of studio films are directed by men. In 2015, 107 directors helmed the top-grossing 100 movies (some were co-directed), and just eight of them were women (7.5 percent). That means there were 12.4 men to every woman.
Here are 2016’s top-grossing women-directed films as of December 19. The only potential addition we foresee is Maren Ade’s “Toni Erdmann,” due December 25. We believe that the comedy has a chance of landing on the top 250, especially if it lands an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film.
17. “Kung Fu Panda 3” — Co-Directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson: $143,528,619
48. “Miracles from Heaven” — Directed by Patricia Riggen: $61,705,123
52. “Me Before You” — Directed by Thea Sharrock: $56,245,075
65. “Money Monster”— Directed by Jodie Foster: $41,012,075
87. “Bridget Jones’s Baby”— Directed by Sharon Maguire: $24,139,805
110. “The Edge of Seventeen” STX — Directed by Kelly Fremon Craig: $14,249,369
128. “Queen of Katwe” — Directed by Mira Nair: $8,785,681
131. “A Beautiful Planet” (Documentary) — Directed by Toni Myers: $7,813,994
143. “Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie” — Directed by Mandie Fletcher: $4,761,241
147. “The Meddler” — Directed by Lorene Scafaria: $4,267,218
162. “Maggie’s Plan” — Directed by Rebecca Miller: $3,351,735
168. “Our Kind of Traitor” — Directed by Susanna White: $3,153,157
173. 2016 Oscar Nominated Short Films — Co-Directed by Serena Armitaget: $2,816,816
185. “The Dressmaker” — Directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse: $2,020,516
197. “Weiner” (Documentary) — Co-Directed by Elyse Steinberg : $1,676,108
199. “Equity” — Directed by Meera Menon: $1,605,463
218. “The Innocents”- Directed by Anne Fontaine: $1,065,665
219. “Certain Women” — Directed by Kelly Reichardt: $1,064,011
220. “Elvis & Nixon” — Directed by Lisa Johnson: $1,055,287
223. “Baar Baar Dekho” — Directed by Nitya Mehra: $981,947
224. “Dark Horse” (Documentary) — Directed by Louise Osmond: $940,715
“Chongqing Hot Pot” — Directed by Yang Qing: $779,818 (Note: Title added after blog post’s original publication. We’re unable to identify its place on Box Office Mojo at the date of publication, so its exact number on this list is unclear.)
243. “American Honey” — Directed by Andrea Arnold: $663,246
249. “City of Gold” (Documentary) — Directed by Laura Gabbert: $611,702
