box office

Meet the Most Successful Female Director Ever

Photo: Lisa Maree Williams/2011 Getty Images
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - JUNE 13: Director Jennifer Yuh Nelson arrives at the Australian premiere of "Kung Fu Panda 2" at Event Cinema on George Street on June 13, 2011 in Sydney, Australia.  (Photo by Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images)
Jennifer Yuh Nelson. Photo: Lisa Maree Williams/2011 Getty Images

Kung Fu Panda 2 was a bit of an underperformer domestically, but it’s done terrific business overseas, and its $650 million worldwide take just surpassed the global gross of the first movie, placing it at No. 51 on the all-time box-office list. The box-office take is cause for another, perhaps more significant celebration: As DreamWorks announced today, that worldwide number makes helmer Jennifer Yuh Nelson the highest-grossing female director ever — and it happened on her feature directorial debut, to boot. Still, it appears that Nelson actually passed the $609.8 million take of Mamma Mia’s Phyllida Lloyd quite a while ago, so why was that press release so long in coming, guys?

Meet the Most Successful Female Director Ever