The DC Universe has been saved by their only female member of Justice League – Wonder Woman. The Gal Gadot starrer has won big at the worldwide box office this weekend alone, grossing over $100 million in collections, and steadily rising. The movie has also managed to become the highest grossing movie by a female director. Patty Jenkins beat out the previous holders, The Matrix Reloaded by Lana and Lilly Wachowski.
Patty Jenkins had spoken about her aim to getting Wonder Woman right, considering that it was more than just a movie for her. It was a matter of representing women in the film industry. She said, “I’m such a believer in the genre because I’m a believer in mankind turning stories into about what it means to be a hero and what would I do if I was a hero and how would that feel. And so, you know, there is always that opportunity in any movie with a metaphor to use to make something beautiful that really touches people. And this is such an important time in the world for people to think about what kind of hero they would want to be and what we’re going to do to save this world that I was honored to get to join in the dialogue.”
Wonder Woman has managed to garner male audience ire, especially since it was screened for women-only audiences in certain areas. Also, lead star Gal Gadot is Israeli by origin, so the film was banned from screening in Lebanon. However, the rest of the world is enjoying the film, considering it got a 93% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Patty Jenkins, director of Wonder Woman also told another media outlet: “Until studios change their ways and stop only generating from within the same small group of people – and until they become interested in attracting more diverse kinds of stories and audiences – women directors will continue to be one of the many, many kind of collateral damage. If you are still focused on attracting young men to the box office, you will continue to hire mostly young men to speak to them. The irony is that the data now clearly shows that this audience is no longer the most powerful in the world. Middle-aged women are. Yet the studio system still seems very slow to figure out how to shift their approach.”
