10 Films That Saved Directors From 'Movie Jail'

To date, Wonder Woman is the highest grossing film directed by a woman, not including the Frozen films and Captain Marvel which were co-directed by women. However, despite the success of this boundary-breaking 2017 superhero film, its director Patty Jenkins had been in Movie Jail for 15 years prior to its release.

Jenkins was in her early 30s when she wrote and directed debut film Monster, which expertly told the story of serial killer Aileen Wuornos, mixing genres like romance and thriller. The film won its star Charlize Theron an Oscar for her transformative portrayal of Wuornos, but left its director Jenkins $100,000 in debt. She recently addressed the studios who would not finance her projects from 2003 to 2017, despite being an established director, stating, "You're not really interested in my point of view. You want me to walk around on set so you can take a picture of me, but you don't actually trust in and believe in women-driven content being anything but tampon commercials."

During these years struggling to make movies, Jenkins was relegated to filming countless TV pilots once she was convinced the film industry had turned its back on her.

Finally, after nearly helming Thor: The Dark World in 2011, Jenkins was given a seat at the table when DC offered her the chance to direct Wonder Woman. As well as being a hit at the box office and among critics, it managed to end Jenkins' years in the wilderness and finally allowed her to be part of the cultural conversation.