“Wonder Woman” has long been awaited by many moviegoers and fans of superhero films in general. After all, she’s the most iconic superheroine of all. Ever since her breakout appearance in “Batman v Superman” last 2016 – considered a positive in that panned super-flick – people have been hankering for more of her.
The fact that Wonder Woman, aka Diana of Themyscira, is being played by hot badass Gal Gadot is a major selling point too, though not every country worldwide thinks so like Lebanon. Ultimately, however, their complaints don’t matter. The Warner Brothers’ latest installment to the DC Extended Universe has just made history by becoming the new biggest film opening yet for a female director, in this case, Patty Jenkins.
Records galore
Since its premiere on June 2 last Friday, “Wonder Woman” has earned an estimated $100.5 million across North America the following weekend. With that, several milestones were reached. In addition to being the biggest opening for a female movie director, “Wonder Woman" is now the biggest opening of a movie with a DC Comics character that is NOT Batman or Superman.
In the former, director Patty Jenkins has surpassed Sam Taylor-Johnson who helmed 2015’s “Fifty Shades of Grey,” and in the latter, it out-earned the opening box office of 2005’s “Constantine” starring Keanu Reeves.
Other records that “Wonder Woman” set in its early Jun 2017 release include opening-DAY earnings. For female directors, Jenkins also trumped Catherine Hardwicke of the first “Twilight” film from 2008 ($38 million on day one compared to Hardwicke’s then-$35.9 million).
Also, the largest opening-day take of a movie with a lead female comic-book character was formerly Paramount’s “Ghost in the Shell” starring Scarlett Johansson as a cyborg secret agent (from a Japanese manga). Premiering on March 31, that film reigned for only over two months ($7 million) before being toppled by Gal Gadot’s Amazon princess.
Positive implications
Needless to say, the Warner/DC super-heroine film has had a significant “girl power effect” on its first days in cinemas. Weekend surveys indicate that 52%, a tad over half, of the viewing audience were women and girls. It’s unexpected coming from a film genre that’s mostly favored by males.
Granted, the current haul for “Wonder Woman” is still a little lower compared to Super or Bat, but senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian from comScore opines that its achievement was much more major in comparison.
"Any ridiculous notion that a woman may not be suited to direct a big budget superhero movie is hopefully once and for all shattered," he said.
Starring Gal Gadot and directed by Patty Jenkins, Warner/DC’s “Wonder Woman” will next have major premieres in France and Germany this month, and Japan on August.
