Barbie has delighted audiences and critics alike – and has made history in the process. The Greta Gerwig-directed film has become the highest-grossing film that was directed or co-directed by a woman in U.S. box-office history, according to boxofficemojo.com.
Barbie has grossed $526.3 million in the U.S. as of Monday (Aug. 14), which puts it at No. 18 on boxofficemojo’s list of the 1,000 all-time top-grossing films. From that massive list, we extracted the 30 highest-grossing films that were directed or co-directed by women for this custom-made list.
While women have made great strides as directors of successful movies in recent years, men still dominate in the field. The film at No. 30 on our list – Angelina Jolie’s Unbroken – is far down at No. 637 on boxofficemojo’s top 1,000 list. But the barrier has been broken. All signs are that women directors will continue making gains in years to come.
The Wachowskis directed three of the 30-highest grossing movies by women directors – three films in The Matrix series. Lana Wachowski (formerly known as Larry Wachowski) and her sister Lilly Wachowski (formerly known as Andy Wachowski) are both trans women. Lana publicly revealed her transition in 2008. Lilly followed suit in 2016.
Nora Ephron, Nancy Meyers, Betty Thomas, Jennifer Yuh Nelson, Vicky Jenson and Jennifer Lee have each directed or co-directed two of the top 30 highest-grossing movies by women directors.
Barbie: The Album has climbed as high as No. 2 on the Billboard 200. The soundtracks to seven of the films on this list reached No. 1 on that chart – Wayne’s World, Sleepless in Seattle, Mamma Mia!, Pitch Perfect 2, Twilight, Frozen and Frozen 2.
Here are the 30 highest-grossing films in the U.S. that were directed or co-directed by women, according to boxofficemojo.com. These figures are not adjusted for inflation.
