Patty Jenkins’ “Wonder Woman” is poised to make herstory yet again. The Gal Gadot-led superheroine film is quickly approaching a milestone: it’s about to become the top-grossing live-action film directed by a woman. Diana Price’s origin story “will eclipse the $609.8 million earned worldwide by Phyllida Lloyd’s ‘Mamma Mia!’ (2008) to become the top-grossing live-action film of all time from a female director, not accounting for inflation,” The Hollywood Reporter writes. Jenkins already holds the record for highest domestic opening for a female director for the critically acclaimed blockbuster.
“Wonder Woman” passed the $600 million benchmark as of Wednesday at the worldwide box office, taking in $601.6 million. It will probably surpass “Mamma Mia!’s” numbers today, Friday.
“‘Wonder Woman’ also has a strong shot of passing up [Jennifer Nelson’s 2011 animated film] ‘Kung Fu Panda 2’s’ $665.7 million to become the top-grossing film of all time from a female filmmaker with solo directing duties,” THR predicts. “In terms of a movie from female and male co-directors, Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck’s ‘Frozen’ (2013) is at the top of the box-office list with $1.28 billion in global ticket sales.”
“Wonder Woman” is just the second women-directed film to be released with a budget of $100 million-plus. The first was Kathryn Bigelow’s 2002 thriller “K-19: The Widowmaker.” When Jenkins was asked a question about the responsibility of stepping behind the camera for the most expensive film ever helmed by a woman she said, “I can’t take on the history of 50 percent of the population just because I’m a woman.” The “Monster” helmer explained, “I’m just trying to make the greatest version of ‘Wonder Woman’ that I can for the people who love the character as much as I do and hope that the movie lives up to all the pressure that’s on it.”
Editor’s note: “Wonder Woman” is now officially the highest-grossing woman-directed film ever released.
