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Women’s Summer Box Office Recap

posted by Women & Hollywood
Tuesday, September 7, 2010 at 10:20pm CDT

The weather is changing here in NYC, the kids are getting ready to go back to school and the fall film festivals are upon us, so before too much time passes let’s take a look at how women fared this summer at the box office.

We all know that in general there are still many fewer films that star women both at the multiplex and at the art house. That still needs to change.

The big movies starring women this summer kicked off with Sex and the City 2 which got the shit kicked out of it by the critics. But even though it was a disappointment creatively and everyone thinks assumes it was a flop, it has grossed $95 million in the US and $194 million overseas. So the gross is now almost $300 million and it cost $100 million to make, so it will ultimately make money.

The Twilight Saga’s third film, Eclipse, has now grossed $298 million domestically and $356 million overseas. That’s a total of almost $656 million and the budget for the film was $68 million. A huge hit. It will be in the top 10 of the year. And it has beaten the domestic gross of New Moon which was doubtful when the film first opened because it did not beat the New Moon opening weekend.

Angelina Jolie topped Salt which has now grossed $115 million in the US and $130 overseas for a total of $245 million on a budget of $110 million. And let’s not forget Eat Pray Love which opened last in mid August. Its gross is now at $70 million in the US on a budget of $60 million.

None of the films listed above was directed by a woman.

But things are a bit different in the indie world which seems to let some women directors in the door. According to IndieWIRE’s summer box office analysis Summer Box Office Report: Women Rule The Art Houses, Peter Knegt argues that the success of women directors this summer is unprecedented. Four of the top ten grossing films at the art house this summer were directed by women including:

Nicole Holofcener’s Please Give, (which opened in April)
Debra Granik’s Winter’s Bone,
Ricki Stern and Anne Sundberg’s Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work,
Lisa Cholodenko’s The Kids Are All Right.

And remember that Cholodenko’s film is the top grossing specialty film of the year at almost $20 million.

He notes:
Turning over to the summer’s top grossing specialty releases, women dominated: In audience seats, in the front of the camera and, perhaps to an unprecedented degree, behind it…One would be hard-pressed to find an example of such a dominance in specialty summers of yore.

And women starred in (but did not direct) some of the summer’s other big successes including: The Girl Who Played With Fire and I Am Love.

It’s great to see women centric film and women directors do so well and acknowledged for their success.

Summer Box Office Report: Women Rule The Art Houses (IndieWIRE)