Wonder Woman Grosses Over $100 Million on Opening Weekend

The numbers are in, and the Warner Bros. box office smash hit Wonder Woman has grossed over $100.5 million in North America during its opening weekend.

CNN claimed that these numbers are record-shattering, establishing Petty Jenkins, the female director behind the film, as holder of the title for biggest opening weekend for a female director. Not only is that huge for the film and feminism, this is the first superhero movie to completely center around a female character.

“Any ridiculous notion that a woman may not be suited to direct a big budget superhero movie is hopefully once and for all shattered,” Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at comScore, told CNN.

This calls attention to the fact that a lot of the notions in Hollywood and media, such as the concept that a superhero blockbuster can’t have a female lead, are simply untrue. Clearly, a movie made by a woman about a female superhero can completely annihilate the box office.

But unfortunately, female representation in mainstream media is still a struggle. Almost half of the blockbusters in 2016 did not pass the Bechdel test, meaning that whenever two female characters were interacting on screen, the only thing they discussed was a man.

Still, over half the films last year did pass that test, and the success of this film certainly shows that mainstream audiences are ready to see women in the spotlight portray non-traditional roles. Let’s make 2017 an even better year for female and LGTBQ representation.