Wonder Woman becomes highest grossing live-action movie from a female director

It had to happen: ‘Wonder Woman’ is now officially the biggest live action box office hit of all time from a female director.

The Warner Bros/DC comic book movie from director Patty Jenkins had already broken box office records for a female-directed film on its opening weekend. Now, Variety confirm that the film’s global haul has exceeded that of Phyllida Lloyd’s 2008 musical ‘Mamma Mia!,’ which had previously held the record for highest grossing film from a female director.

Although Variety do not reveal the current total box office of ‘Wonder Woman,’ we are assured it is in excess of ‘Mamma Mia!’s final take of $609.8 million (approx £476.5 million). UPDATE: as of Sunday 25 June, Box Office Mojo put ‘Wonder Woman’s global take at $652.8 million.

At present the highest grossing film ever from a female director is Disney’s animated hit ‘Frozen,’ co-directed by Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck, which made $1.276 billion worldwide.

The chances of ‘Wonder Woman’ matching that are slim indeed – but it looks likely it could surpass the haul of the biggest box office hit from a solo female director, Jennifer Yuh Nelson’s ‘Kung Fu Panda 2,’ which made $665.7 million.

And, should ‘Wonder Woman’ beat ‘Kung Fu Panda 2’s record, it might also overtake ‘Man of Steel’ (final haul $668 million) to become the third highest grossing film of the DC Extended Universe to date.

‘Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice’ remains the biggest box office hit of the DCEU thus far, having made $873.3 million worldwide. ‘Suicide Squad’ comes in second with $745.6 million.

Patty Jenkins is already at work developing a ‘Wonder Woman’ sequel, which will see Gal Gadot reprise the title role.

Before that, we can look forward to seeing Gadot’s Wonder Woman again in the next DCEU movie, ‘Justice League,’ opening 17 November.

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