As published on LinkedIn Influencers on May 25th, 2017

May 25th, 2017. I’ve only been waiting for this day since I was eleven years old. What day exactly is it you might ask? It’s the day that Wonder Woman finally makes it to the big screen. If you’re thinking, “Jacki, the film opens on June 2nd” you would be right, but the opening night in Los Angeles is on May 25th, today, and I will be there. And yes, I am over the moon about that.

Earlier this week I shared something I wrote many years ago about my obsession with Wonder Woman. About how I quit my job at Goldman Sachs to, in part, write a superhero screenplay. Well that did not happen, but it is kind of spooky how much of the narrative for my made up screenplay has manifested itself in real life. But that is not what this post is about. This post is about the history of the film that I will be seeing TONIGHT. And for those of you who are thinking, “What does this have to do with business?”, let me assure you, this film is big business!

Warner Brothers first began development on a Wonder Woman film back in 2001 at the dawn of the superhero boom in cinemas, and since then we’ve had three Spider Mans, two Batmans, two Supermans, and 14 Marvel movies and counting. Hollywood has also managed to make a whopping nine movies featuring Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, but no Wonder Woman. Until now. Sure she popped up last year for about 10 minutes to be the only good part of the otherwise dreary Batman vs Superman, but it is not until tonight that she gets her own story. I will finally get to watch my favourite superhero kick ass across the big screen.

I would love nothing more for Wonder Woman’s opening weekend to break records as the largest opening weekend in history, but I’m pretty sure nothing can touch Star Wars at this point, so I’m going to settle for something even better. I want this movie to be the one that puts Hollywood executives on notice that they can no longer ignore the buying power of women. I want women, and men, but especially women to show up en mass and prove to Hollywood (again!) that female fronted content is a lucrative business. I want to remind these executives that we are currently living through a golden age of content creation, with over 400 scripted television shows and counting currently available to viewers, meaning it gets harder and harder every day to convince people to get up off the couch and head to the cinema. According to the MPAA, women make up more than half of moviegoers and buy more than half the tickets, so with their entire business model dependent on wooing customers away from Netflix binge marathons, Hollywood can continue to ignore women at their own peril.

I’ve long been an advocate of shopping your values and using your spending dollars to support the causes and issues most dear to you, and equal representation onscreen happens to be one of mine. The research shows that only 29% of protagonists in 2016 films were women, and only 32% of all speaking parts belonged to women. Yet a quick scroll through the cast list of Wonder Woman reveals the opposite, as the overwhelming majority of its cast members are female, so hopefully this film will help bring 2017’s overall score closer to parity.

However, it’s not just in front of the camera where Wonder Woman is going against the grain in Hollywood. Wonder Woman is a DC property, and DC Entertainment is currently headed by a woman, Diane Nelson, and the film is being directed by a woman, Patty Jenkins. Girl power! In an industry where only 4% of the top 100 grossing films of 2016 were directed by women, this is a big step in the right direction to have a female director for one of the most high profile releases of the year. Especially considering this is only the second time in history that a female director has been given a budget of over $100 million. Furthermore, early indications online indicate that not only is Wonder Woman the first female fronted superhero film since 2005’s Elektra, but it is also the best female fronted superhero film ever. Some are even calling it the best DCEU film to date. These early reviews are great news, because Wonder Woman has a lot riding on its release, and I’m thrilled that she appears to be rising to the pressure.