FARMERSBURG, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) — With the Barbie movie recently surpassing $1B in global ticket sales and overtaking 2017’s Wonder Woman for the biggest box office total brought in by a movie directed by a woman, it’s fair to say movies directed by women are getting a bit more mention in the press.
Analysts with CenturyLinkQuote.com recently broke down the data to determine each state’s favorite movies directed by women. The report gathered IMDB data to first determine the most popular female-directed films, then used search data to determine what film is most searched for in each state.
The films directed by women that made the list were; The Woman King, The Power of the Dog, The Hurt Locker, Sleepless in Seattle, A League of Their Own, Little Women (2019), Clueless, American Psycho, Turning Red, Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey, The Matrix, and Wonder Woman.
Indiana was one of 12 states to be most interested in the 1999 sci-fi/action classic The Matrix. Directed by sisters Lana and Lilly Wachoski, The Matrix would go on to spawn numerous sequels and video games as well as a boatload of pop-culture references still used regularly 24-year’s later.
The Matrix would also receive 42 awards including four Oscars and a Grammy for best soundtrack album. The film had a total box office (US and Canada: $172,076,928) that, not accounting for inflation, seems almost quaint when compared to the big blockbuster films of the 2020s.
The film that captured the attention of the most states was Patty Jenkin’s Wonder Woman, which was recently dethroned as the highest-grossing film from a solo woman director.
“Director Patty Jenkins broke new ground in the superhero genre as the first female director to direct a film with a budget greater than $100 million—and became the highest-paid female director in history when she signed on to direct the sequel WW84.”
CenturyLink Quote report
Mary Harron’s American Psycho, which is potentially distinguished as the “most-memed” film of the bunch depending on your internet algorithm, came in third as the top searched-for film in eight states, including neighboring Ohio and Michigan.
Upon release, American Psycho was criticized for its violence and misogyny—director Mary Harron disagrees, calling it a subversive and feminist film. Its condemnation of toxic masculinity is still relevant more than 20 years later.
CenturyLink Quote report
While Illinois joined Indiana in searching the most for The Matrix. To the south, Kentucky was one of just three states to search most for Amy Heckerling’s film Clueless.
To learn more about the methodology used in this report, visit CenturyLink Quote’s website here.
