US cinema sticks to female-only ‘Wonder Woman’ showing

Management at a Texas movie theater laughed off criticism over alleged sexism in their decision to hold a women’s-only premiere of the film “Wonder Woman” starring the Israeli actress Gal Gadot.

The backlash, which prompted the film theater chain to expand its women’s only program to other franchises, took place on Facebook against the Austin franchise of the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema chain of theaters following the Austin theater’s announcement on social media that it will be hosting a women’s-only screening Wednesday.

Alamo Drafthouse creative manager Morgan Hendrix told Mashable that his company is “very excited” that its “providing an experience where women truly reign supreme has incurred the wrath of trolls only serves to deepen our belief that we’re doing something right.”

Tony Lee, one of several hundreds of people who reacted critically to the news, wrote on the Austin theater’s page: “Imagine the xxxtstorm if there was any male-only showing or a private shoring of any race or sexual orientation… ah, it’s SJW approved,” the user added, using the acronym for “social justice warrior.”

The theater’s management replied on Facebook: “We’re actually still waiting on our SJW certification of this event but crossing our fingers.”

Bill Fairbrother wrote: “Have you ever a men’s only showing of any film?”

The theater replied: “We’ve never done showing where you had to be a man to get in but we did show the ‘Entourage’ movie a few years ago.”

Following the criticism, Hendrix said the chain will be “expanding this program across the country and inviting women everywhere to join us as we celebrate this iconic superheroine in our theaters.”

Activists for gender equality have praised the Warner Bros. Pictures production starring Gadot. Whereas film studios have released dozens of major feature film productions centered on male super heros, only a few titles have done the same with female characters.