No, it’s not just teenage boys who drive the box office. Hollywood is full of sexist myths about who goes to see movies and who they want to see stories about. Hopefully “Wonder Woman’s” outstanding success will help dispel those myths: The woman-directed, female-led blockbuster has grossed over $356.7 million domestically and $720 million worldwide. And unlike most other superhero movies, it’s women who have pushed it to an unpredicted, record-breaking place. “The stellar box office performance by ‘Wonder Woman’ has been propelled by strong support among female moviegoers and older patrons, according to a study by marketing data analytics firm Movio,” Variety reports.
“‘Wonder Woman’s’ audience evolved in a similar manner as most blockbusters but with some trends notably magnified,” observed Matthew Liebmann, Movio’s senior VP for the Americas. “While the female and 50+ segments of the audience generally grow over the course of the run, ‘Wonder Woman’s’ female audience nearly reached parity with the male audience by the third week.”
“Liebmann told Variety that it’s unprecedented for a superhero tentpole movie to reach male-female parity at any point of its run — due to propensity of male moviegoers to support those titles,” the source details. “The average superhero movie draws a 62 percent male audience.”
In general, women account for 52 percent of moviegoers, according to the MPAA’s latest findings. The (relatively) smaller numbers of female moviegoers supporting superhero movies isn’t exactly surprising when you consider how the genre has largely been marketed as being for men and about men. But Liebmann pointed out that “even ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens,’ which had a strong female lead with Daisy Ridley, never got closer than 56–44 male.”
“Wonder Woman” is also attracting more older moviegoers than most blockbusters. Liebmann explained that “the audience share for moviegoers over 50 increased from 12 percent to 22 percent over the first weeks — 20 percent higher than other tentpoles.” And the Gal Gadot-led origin story is even getting people who don’t ordinarily head to the theaters into seats. Twenty-two percent of “Wonder Woman” viewers “are infrequent moviegoers (who see one to four films a year), compared to a 16 percent average for that group,” Variety notes.
Director Patty Jenkins recently made herstory. “Wonder Woman” now holds the record as the highest-grossing live-action film directed by a woman.
