Women take charge in Hollywood's hottest 2020 movies: survey

LOS ANGELES, United States — Female directors look set for a breakthrough year in Hollywood in 2020, according to a survey published Friday that found the four most anticipated films of the year are all helmed by women.

It is a rare trend in a town which has only ever nominated five women for the best director Oscar, and whose sometimes ambivalent attitude toward misogyny was laid bare by the #MeToo movement which brought down Harvey Weinstein.

"Wonder Woman 1984," the Gal Gadot-starring sequel out in June, was selected as the year's most anticipated film by more than 2,000 moviegoers polled by Fandango website.

Patty Jenkins returns to direct after the first film, based on the DC Comics' Amazonian heroine, took a spectacular $820 million worldwide in 2017.

The next two on the list are also superhero movies.

"Black Widow," which kicks off a new phase of Marvel movies, gives Scarlett Johansson's popular recurring character her own film. Out in May, it is helmed by Cate Shortland. 

It is followed by Chloe Zhao's "The Eternals," which in November will introduce a host of new Marvel characters played by a star-studded ensemble cast including Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek and Kit Harington. 

The new year's fourth-most anticipated film is "Mulan" from Niki Caro, the latest in Disney's string of live-action remakes of cartoon classics, out March.

Another female-directed superhero movie "Birds of Prey," a spinoff from 2016's "Suicide Squad" which sees Margot Robbie return as Harley Quinn, also appears on the list, in seventh. Cathy Yan oversees the February movie.

Other 2020 films piquing interest include James Bond title "No Time to Die," Pixar's otherworldly jazz animation "Soul" and "Fast & Furious 9" -- the latest in the evergreen petrolhead franchise.