'Wonder Woman' Shatters Box Office With Biggest Female Director Opening. Ever.

“Wonder Woman” smashed records this weekend to become the biggest domestic opening for a female director ever. Directed by Patty Jenkins and starring Gal Gadot under Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment, the film grossed an estimated $100.5 million at more than 4,000 theaters domestically, according to a statement from Warner Bros. Sunday. Thursday night’s pre-show raked in $11 million alone.

Lana and Lilly Wachowski previously held the record for “The Matrix Reloaded,” which opened May 15, 2003, and grossed $91,774,413 in its first weekend. The Hollywood Reporter previously pegged Jenkins’ “Wonder Woman” debut at $95 million in North America and upward of $100 million internationally, based on pre-release tracking.

Jenkins said she was intent on getting the character of Wonder Woman right because of what the representation of heroism means.

“I’m such a believer in the genre because I’m a believer in mankind turning stories into about what it means to be a hero and what would I do if I was a hero and how would that feel,” she told Screen Rant. “And so, you know, there is always that opportunity in any movie with a metaphor to use to make something beautiful that really touches people. And this is such an important time in the world for people to think about what kind of hero they would want to be and what we’re going to do to save this world that I was honored to get to join in the dialogue.”

And that representation matters to viewers young and old alike.

Wonder Woman edition pic.twitter.com/eI5kh3Xc4j — nerdy (@nerdyasians) June 1, 2017

Genesis at 2 almost 3. She wanted to keep her fro. #WonderWoman

We're ready!!! #TBT pic.twitter.com/AHzuDMPgA0 — Viola Davis (@violadavis) June 1, 2017

This is a good representation for kids #WonderWoman #Supergirl

You can do whatever you want pic.twitter.com/LfsEYaoP6B — Misslane ∞ (@misslane_es) May 28, 2017

Reaching Hollywood’s biggest opening weekend for a female director is certainly a glass-ceiling-breaking milestone, but Jenkins says there is still more that needs to be done when it comes to who gets to tell Hollywood’s stories.

“Until studios change their ways and stop only generating from within the same small group of people — and until they become interested in attracting more diverse kinds of stories and audiences — women directors will continue to be one of the many, many kind of collateral damage,” she told LeanIn. “If you are still focused on attracting young men to the box office, you will continue to hire mostly (formerly) young men to speak to them. The irony is that the data now clearly shows that this audience is no longer the most powerful in the world. Middle-aged women are. Yet the studio system still seems very slow to figure out how to shift their approach.”

After the weekend’s box office numbers came out, Twitter users wanted to remind the world that female directors and superhero fans are ― and have always been ― awesome.

52% of #WonderWoman's opening day audience were women, 53% age 35 and under. First modern Marvel or DC film w/ female majority. #BoxOffice — Shawn Robbins (@ShawnRobbinsWho) June 3, 2017

Director @PattyJenks is breaking the box office and making herstory! WONDER WOMAN in theaters now! A triumph! Brava! pic.twitter.com/UWPd0aNS4a — Ava DuVernay (@ava) June 3, 2017

I want to print the Wonder Woman box office returns on a piece of paper and hand it to every exec in town that doesn't hire women to direct — Minhal Baig (@minhalbaig) June 3, 2017

When #WonderWoman slays the box office this weekend, let's all remember that female driven action has worked for a long, long time. — Franklin Leonard (@franklinleonard) June 2, 2017