Wonder Woman Breaks Box Office Record, Heads Past Man of Steel's Domestic Total

CBR

Wonder Woman Breaks Another Record, Heads Past Man of Steel's U.S. Total

By Kevin Melrose

Published Jun 23, 2017

Patty Jenkins' Wonder Woman is poised to pass Man of Steel's domestic total, even as it becomes the top-grossing live-action film directed by a woman.

Wonder Woman heads into its fourth weekend of release with another box-office record under its belt, becoming the highest-grossing live-action film directed by a woman. At the same time, the Patty Jenkins feature will surpass the domestic total of Man of Steel, which in 2013 launched the DC Extended Universe.

The Warner Bros. film, which crossed $600 million globally on Wednesday, glided past the $609.8 million grossed in 2008 by Phyllida Lloyd's Mamma Mia! to seize that live-action record, with The Hollywood Reporter noting that the overall record for a film helmed by a woman with solo directing duties -- $665.7 million, earned in 2011 by Jennifer Yuh Nelson's Kung-Fu Panda 2 -- is certainly within Wonder Woman's grasp.

If that wording seems a bit tortured, that's because it differentiates the record for a female solo director versus a co-director: That belongs, quite comfortably to 2013's Frozen, helmed by Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck, which raked in $1.28 billion worldwide.

As of Wednesday, Wonder Woman has earned $289.2 million in North America, just shy of the $291 million total banked by Zack Snyder's Man of Steel. That film's worldwide haul of $668 million is also within Wonder Woman's reach.

In theaters now, Wonder Woman stars Gal Gadot as Diana, Chris Pine as Steve Trevor, Robin Wright as General Antiope, Danny Huston as General Erich Ludendorff, David Thewlis as Ares, Connie Nielsen as Queen Hippolyta, Elena Anaya as Doctor Poison and Lucy Davis as Etta Candy.