Patty Jenkins, who led Wonder Woman to both critical acclaim and a more than $800 million gross at the box office worldwide, has, unsurprisingly, also been tapped to direct Wonder Woman 2. Jenkins will write, produce, and direct the still-untitled sequel, and if reports are correct, she’ll get paid a bundle to do it: Variety is reporting that Jenkins will receive “in the $8 million dollar range” in fees while the Hollywood Reporter has that number “somewhere in the $7 million to $9 million range.” Both outlets add that Jenkins will also receive a substantial portion of the movie’s box office gross, and either estimate would make Jenkins the highest-paid female director in Hollywood.
This is an important step toward closing Hollywood’s gender wage gap, but it’s worth noting that sources told the Hollywood Reporter that the negotiation was “unusually lengthy and tough” and that arriving at that final number was “challenging.” As THR points out, Zack Snyder made about the same as Jenkins is getting now after he directed Man of Steel, which earned mixed reviews and less at the box office than Wonder Woman, so there’s still a long way to go. Hopefully Gal Gadot, who as the face of the film would be much harder to replace than Jenkins, can also get her due before the movie hits theaters in 2019.
