Top-grossing films by female directors

[Peter T Chattaway]

Link to our thread on 'Why Best Actor and Actress, but not Best Female Director?' (Aug 2003).

I started a thread on this at Facebook but wouldn't mind input here, too.

I'm trying to compile a list of films by female directors that have grossed at least $100 million in North America. That's a bit arbitrary, I guess -- especially given that $100 million nowadays doesn't mean what it did 25 years ago (back then, only a few films earned that much in any given year, but nowadays 30+ films do that every year) -- but box-office success is, in theory, a sign of a filmmaker's commercial viability, and nothing, in theory. breeds success like success. (Then again, the Twilight sequels were taken away from Catherine Hardwicke and given to a bunch of guys, and the Fifty Shades of Grey sequels were taken away from Sam Taylor-Johnson, too.) Maybe a more interesting list would focus on budgets rather than grosses, but budgets can be very difficult to nail down.

In any case, here's the list I've got so far, focusing on *solo* female directors. It lists the films in the order of their North American grosses, but it also includes the foreign and overseas revenues (current releases in bold; I will update those stats in the weeks to come) (updated June 17, 2018):

2017 -- Wonder Woman -- $412.6 + 409.3 = 821.8 million -- Patty Jenkins

2009 -- Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel -- $219.6 + 223.5 = 443.1 million -- Betty Thomas

2008 -- Twilight -- $192.8 + 199.8 = 392.6 million -- Catherine Hardwicke

2015 -- Pitch Perfect 2 -- $184.3 + 103.3 = 287.5 million -- Elizabeth Banks

2000 -- What Women Want -- $182.8 + 191.3 = 374.1 million -- Nancy Meyers

2015 -- Fifty Shades of Grey -- $166.2 + 404.8 = 571.0 million -- Sam Taylor-Johnson

2011 -- Kung Fu Panda 2 -- $165.2 + 500.4 = 665.7 million -- Jennifer Yuh Nelson

2009 -- The Proposal -- $164.0 + 153.4 = 317.4 million -- Anne Fletcher

1998 -- Doctor Dolittle -- $144.2 + 150.3 = 294.5 million -- Betty Thomas

2008 -- Mamma Mia! -- $144.1 + 465.7 = 609.8 million -- Phyllida Lloyd

1998 -- Deep Impact -- $140.5 + 209.0 = 349.5 million -- Mimi Leder

1989 -- Look Who's Talking -- $140.1 + 156.9 = 297.0 million -- Amy Heckerling

1993 -- Sleepless in Seattle -- $126.7 + 101.1 = 227.8 million -- Nora Ephron

2003 -- Something's Gotta Give -- $124.7 + 142.0 = 266.7 million -- Nancy Meyers

1992 -- Wayne's World -- $121.7 + 61.4 = 183.1 million -- Penelope Spheeris

1998 -- You've Got Mail -- $115.8 + 135.0 = 250.8 million -- Nora Ephron

2014 -- Unbroken -- $115.6 + 45.8 = 161.5 million -- Angelina Jolie

1988 -- Big -- $115.0 + 36.7 = 151.7 million -- Penny Marshall

2009 -- It's Complicated -- $112.7 + 106.4 = 219.1 million -- Nancy Meyers

1992 -- A League of Their Own -- $107.5 + 24.9 = 132.4 million -- Penny Marshall

2017 -- Pitch Perfect 3 -- $104.9 + 79.8 = 184.7 million -- Trish Sie

2018 -- A Wrinkle in Time -- $100.0 + 32.1 = 132.1 million -- Ava DuVernay

2013 -- Zero Dark Thirty -- $95.7 + 37.1 = 132.8 million -- Kathryn Bigelow

2001 -- Bridget Jones's Diary -- $71.5 + 210.4 = 281.9 million -- Sharon Maguire

2004 -- Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason -- $40.2 + 222.3 = 262.5 million -- Beeban Kidron

2016 -- Bridget Jones's Baby -- $24.3 + 187.7 = 212.0 million -- Sharon Maguire

I cheated a bit by including Zero Dark Thirty, because I wanted to include Kathryn Bigelow -- the only woman to win a Best Director Oscar -- and that is her top-grossing film. And I also cheated a bit by including the Bridget Jones films, but they were big hits overseas, so maybe this list should include films that made over $100 million in North America *and* films that made over $200 million worldwide...? (In which case including Zero Dark Thirty is cheating either way, but oh well.)

If you count films that were directed by at least one woman and at least one man, then the list would also include:

2014 -- Frozen -- $400.7 + 873.5 = 1,274.2 million -- Jennifer Lee (+1 other)

2001 -- Shrek -- $267.7 + 216.7 = 484.4 million -- Vicky Jenson (+1 other)

2012 -- Brave -- $237.3 + 301.7 = 539.0 million -- Brenda Chapman (+ 1 other)

2004 -- Shark Tale -- $160.9 + 206.4 = 367.3 million -- Vicky Jenson (+2 others)

2016 -- Kung Fu Panda 3 -- $143.5 + 377.6 = 521.2 million -- Jennifer Yuh Nelson (+ 1 other)

1998 -- The Prince of Egypt -- $101.4 + 117.2 = 218.6 million -- Brenda Chapman (+ 2 others)

Note that all six of those co-director credits were for animated films. Note also that Brenda Chapman was famously bumped from Brave but got to keep a directorial credit even though she apparently wasn't that involved in the making of the film for the final year or two before its release.

Some people would also include the Wachowskis on one or both of these lists list because the brothers transitioned to sisters sometime after the Matrix trilogy came out, but none of their post-Matrix films have come close to $100 million (or even $50 million) in North America so far (though Cloud Atlas -- which the Wachowskis co-directed with Tom Tykwer -- did crack $100 million overseas).

So... are there any other directors I'm missing?

Edited June 17, 2018 by Peter T Chattaway

[Tyler]

What Women Want (dir. Nancy Meyers) made over $180 million in 2000.

[Peter T Chattaway]

Oh, good call, Meyers has *three* films in the $100m+ club (the last of which came out just a bit over five years ago). I'm adding them to the list.

[Peter T Chattaway]

A quick bit of Googling just reminded me of Mimi Leder (Deep Impact), Amy Heckerling (Look Who's Talking) and Penelope Spheeris (Wayne's World), so I've added them to the list, too.

[Peter T Chattaway]

I've updated the list above to include Wonder Woman (which just became the first film by a female director to gross $100 million in a single weekend, assuming the estimates hold), as well as a few other films that came out over the last two years.

Edited June 5, 2017 by Peter T Chattaway

[Peter T Chattaway]

I have updated the list to take into account the fact that Betty Thomas has directed *two* $100 million grossers, including the current North American female-directed champ, Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel (the only female-directed film so far, that I know of, to gross over $200 million in North America).

Thomas's other $100 million grosser is Doctor Dolittle. Apparently I don't pay enough attention to the computer-animated animals genre.

[Peter T Chattaway]

I have added the three Bridget Jones movies to the list above. None of them came close to making $100 million in North America, but they all made around $200 million overseas, give or take, so they were bona fide hits on the *global* level, at least. And yes, all three of them were directed by women.

[Peter T Chattaway]

Just a quick note to say that Wonder Woman has now passed Kung Fu Panda 2 to become the top-grossing film worldwide directed by a female director solo. (It is still behind Frozen, which was co-directed by a man and a woman.)

Overseas, however, it is still behind Kung Fu Panda 2, Mamma Mia! and Fifty Shades of Grey. (It is also a notch behind Kung Fu Panda 3, which was co-directed by a woman and a man, and it is also, of course, well behind Frozen.)

[Peter T Chattaway]

I was recently reminded that Shrek and Shark Tale were co-directed by Vicky Jenson, so I have added those films to the list (in the "female director plus at least one male co-director" section, where all the films so far are animated films).

[Peter T Chattaway]

Bumping this thread to note that Wonder Woman has now passed Frozen in North America and is thus, unequivocally, the top-grossing movie by a female director in North America (live action or animated, with or without a male co-director).

Globally, however, it is still behind Frozen, which made more than twice as much money as Wonder Woman overseas (and was co-directed by a man and a woman); and overseas, it is also still behind Kung Fu Panda 2, Mamma Mia! and Fifty Shades of Grey (all of which were directed by women solo).

Edited August 14, 2017 by Peter T Chattaway

[Peter T Chattaway]

Just a quick note to say that I updated the list above to include Pitch Perfect 3, which has grossed over $100 million in North America.

Time will tell whether A Wrinkle in Time joins that list. It made an estimated $33.3 million this week, which is the 15th-biggest opening weekend (as far as I can tell) of any film (co-)directed by a woman, and the 10th-biggest opening weekend of any film directed *solely* by a woman, but appears to have been smaller than the studio had hoped.

   2017  Wonder Woman (dir. Patty Jenkins)              $103.3 million
   2015  Fifty Shades of Grey (dir. Sam Taylor-Johnson)  $85.2 million
   2008  Twilight (dir. Catherine Hardwicke)             $69.6 million
   2012  Pitch Perfect 2 (dir. Elizabeth Banks)          $69.2 million
   2013  Frozen (co-directed)                            $67.4 million
   2012  Brave (co-directed)                             $66.3 million
   2009  Alvin & the Chipmunks 2 (dir. Betty Thomas)     $48.9 million
   2011  Kung Fu Panda 2 (dir. Jennifer Yuh Nelson)      $47.7 million
   2004  Shark Tale (co-directed)                        $47.4 million
   2001  Shrek (co-directed)                             $42.3 million
   2016  Kung Fu Panda 3 (co-directed)                   $41.3 million
   1998  Deep Impact (dir. Mimi Leder)                   $41.2 million
   2009  The Proposal (dir. Anne Fletcher)               $33.6 million
   2000  What Women Want (dir. Nancy Meyers)             $33.6 million
   2018  A Wrinkle in Time (dir. Ava DuVernay)           $33.3 million
   2014  Unbroken (dir. Angelina Jolie)                  $30.6 million
   1998  Doctor Dolittle (dir. Betty Thomas)             $29.0 million
   2008  Mamma Mia! (dir. Phyllida Lloyd)                $27.8 million

Edited March 11, 2018 by Peter T Chattaway

[Mos33]

good to know about this

[Peter T Chattaway]

Just a quick note to say that I have added A Wrinkle in Time to the list, because it inched across the $90 million threshold today and, while it might not make it to $100 million, it will probably get at least as close as Zero Dark Thirty did. Note, though, that A Wrinkle in Time not only underperformed at the North American box office, but it has done *very* badly overseas.

[Peter T Chattaway]

Just a quick note to say that I have updated the list to reflect the fact that, as of this weekend, A Wrinkle in Time has joined the $100 million club in North America after all. It's still a flop overseas and worldwide, though, especially considering the amount that was spent on it.