Box Office definitely loved “Wonder Woman” and welcomed it with open arms. Let us count the ways in Box Office loved “Wonder Woman”



First, in its opening weekend “Wonder Woman” earned over $100 million in North America thanks in part to nearly universal support from the critical community. But that was just the beginning. Patty Jenkins’ movie went on to become the top earning live-action film directed by a woman, and passed earnings of its fellow DC Comics movies “Suicide Squad” and “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.”



This Weekend alone “Wonder Woman” added to its growing list of accomplishments as the highest grossing movie of the summer by earning $389 million from the domestic market



It’s also the second largest earner of 2017 behind another film centred on a female protagonist, “Beauty and the Beast” ($504 million domestic). As conversation surrounding gender equality and equity in Hollywood reaches a fever pitch, the fact that these two films are leading the box office at the midway point hammer home a point that has been made before, but should be made again — female-led and centered films don’t just have a place in the marketplace, they’re key to the profit-making equation. But will Hollywood notice?



Recent studies have hinted that maybe Hollywood is already leaning towards that direction.



There has been some progress toward making female protagonists more visible, according to a recent report from the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University. The study found that females made up 29% of protagonists in the 100 highest-grossing films of 2016, a 7% rise from 2015 and recent historical high. Still, that’s far from reflecting a demographic that makes up more than half of the population.



Hollywood’s gender issue is further complicated, though, when it comes to directors. The same institution released another recent report that found women made up only 7 percent of all directors working on the 250 highest-grossing domestic releases in 2016. That represented a decline of two percentage points from the year before.



And then there’s qualitative data. A survey from the Sundance Institute and Women in Film found women are far more likely to work in independent film than on mainstream studio movies. Of those surveyed, 44% said female directors are perceived to make films for a subset and/or less significant portion of the marketplace. Tell that to Patty Jenkins.



“Wonder Woman” and “Beauty and the Beast” may be two vastly different films, but that’s also part of the point — a movie with a woman or women at the centre can and should be many different things. And even as women occupy space at the very top of the box office in recent years, there is plenty of room for more diversity. The women at the centre of movies that have reached the top tier of box office success in recent years have been white, including Felicity Jones in “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” and Jennifer Lawrence in the “Hunger Games” movies.


COMPLETE POST: http:///2gZJqSA