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Wonder Woman is a box office giant

Wonder Woman is a box office giant

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The biggest opening weekend for a film directed by a woman, ever

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Wonder Woman

The numbers are in for Wonder Woman’s first weekend, and they’re even bigger than the projections.

With $100.5 million in North America and an additional $122.5 million internationally, Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman can boast the biggest-ever opening weekend for a film directed by a woman, Variety reports. With a budget of $150 million (which it has already more than recouped), Wonder Woman was already the most expensive film ever directed by a woman.

Wonder Woman unseats Sam Taylor-Johnson’s Fifty Shades of Grey, which nabbed the record in February 2015, opening to a domestic take of $81.7 million. Before that, the record belonged to Catherine Hardwicke’s Twilight (2008), which brought in $69.6 million in the crucial first three days.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Wonder Woman’s audience was a break from tradition for tentpole superhero movies — 52 percent of first weekend audiences were women, whereas previous DC and Marvel properties have counted on audiences with a male majority of 60 percent or more. As the first solo movie for a female superhero since Jennifer Garner’s Elektra in 2005, there was plenty of obnoxious speculation as to whether Wonder Woman would sink or swim at the box office.

Wonder Woman is only the 16th superhero movie ever to break $100 million dollars domestically in its opening weekend, and beats out several major Marvel debuts, including Thor (and Thor: The Dark World), Captain America (and Captain America: The Winter Soldier), and even Iron Man. As for its place in the fairly young DC Extended Universe, Wonder Woman’s first weekend wasn’t quite as big as Man of Steel ($117 million) Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice ($166 million), or Suicide Squad ($133 million), but the difference in critical reception is staggering, with many critics calling it the best superhero movie since Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight films, or even one of the best superhero movies ever.