Film

Wonder Woman Has Smashed The Box Office And Confused Male Critics Everywhere

The film is a bonafide hit in the only area that really matters to Hollywood: $$$$$$$$.

by Matilda Dixon-Smith  5 June 2017
Wonder Woman

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Good news for fans of women succeeding at things: Wonder Woman has taken in a record-breaking USD$223 million this weekend at the box office. Not only has the film largely won over fans and critics (including this critic), it is also a bonafide hit in the only area that really matters to Hollywood: $$$$$$$$.

The film made USD$100.5 million at the US box office in its opening weekend, making it the highest-grossing opening weekend for a female-directed film (the title previously held by 50 Shades Of Grey, directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson). The film topped takings in most domestic box offices in its first weekend, and has also beaten out Thor, Guardians of the Galaxy, Iron Man and Man Of Steel.

Basically, Jenkins’ smash-hit Wonder Woman film just spent the weekend doing this to the haters:

The film has mostly raked in stellar reviews from critics and the public alike, but, as with most things centred on women in our charmingly male-dominated world, there are some outliers — and those outliers are, for the most part, men.

The few male critics who have written sexist/poor reviews of the film (for reasons that are generally nothing to do with its calibre just FYI) have been roundly dragged by the Wonder Woman fans online. The worst of which came from Vulture’s David Edelstein; the writer has garnered a fair amount of negative attention for his scathing, salivating review of the film, in which he objectifies Gal Gadot (the film’s star) and accuses positive critics of “grading on a big curve” (um, ouch!).

The disparity in writings on the film between male and female critics (although many male reviewers have also written great reviews of the film, to be fair) echoes a similar disparity between male and female critics writing about HBO’s recent smash-hit TV success, Big Little Lies. These little juxtapositions make glaringly clear the need to have more diversity among critics.

Meanwhile, as Wonder Woman continues to smash the pitifully low expectations Hollywood had for its success, we remember again that women control the box office, and good movies by and for women make cold hard cash.