And people said female superhero movies couldn’t work. With “Wonder Woman” reaching more than $600 million worldwide, Warner Brothers has a sure-fire hit on their hands.

Considering that it’s still on track to reach $800 million by the end of its theatrical run, moviegoers may soon see a shift in the power balance between male and female talent within the film industry. 

Much like how 20th Century Fox’s “Deadpool” showed that R-rated comic book movies can be successful, “Wonder Woman” has illustrated how woman-led superhero movies can be just as, if not more, successful than other films within the genre.

This is undoubtedly a major win for all women in Hollywood, both on-camera and behind it. Gal Gadot proved women are fully capable of leading big-budget action movies, and director Patty Jenkins showed that women have every right to lead large-scale productions.

However, before Hollywood begins changing current business practices, it’s essential that the lessons they gathered from the success of “Wonder Woman” are the correct ones. (Hint: The lesson isn’t just make more movies with strong female leads.) The 2016 “Ghostbusters” flop can be used as a means of comparison, and the two films can help Hollywood higher-ups understand how to make effective female empowerment movies.

1. Strong female characters can coexist with strong male characters

A major area where “Ghostbusters” faltered was in its male characters. Throughout the movie, every roadblock and issue is caused by men. Chris Hemsworth’s character Kevin is the most prominent man in the main group, and he’s relegated to goofy comic relief mixed with a complete absence of intelligence. He never helps the group in any way, and when the Ghostbusters save the day, he tries to take all of the credit. Overall, none of the men in the movie are at all redeemable or have any character arcs. In comparison, the male characters in “Wonder Woman” are essential to the plot and help Diana (Wonder Woman’s real name) achieve her goals every step of the way.

Diana’s love interest, Steve Trevor (played by Chris Pine), works side-by-side with her so that she develops from a naïve optimist into a fully capable hero. She’s not the only one who progresses either, as Steve also grows and develops from Diana’s presence, leading to a thoroughly engaging relationship.

Thanks to the script allowing time for both leads to develop, the audience can care about both Diana and Steve. Through the movie’s strong female and male leads, audiences can appreciate each character, rather than just the protagonist. When developing these ensemble films, it’s important that future woman-prominent movies don’t feel the need to put down male characters in an effort to make the women appear even stronger.

2. Don’t burn bridges with your audience

If you paid any attention to the media coverage of “Ghostbusters” leading up to its release, you would think it could have started a large-scale battle between the sexes. Internet personalities from all corners of the web engaged in pretty intense verbal battles on how people didn’t like the trailers and promotional material for the film because they were secretly sexist. No matter what the counter-argument was from the other side, these heated discussions continued.

The situation didn’t quite reach its boiling point until the director, Paul Feig, joined the online fights and vicious comment sections. Instead of assuring everyone that the finished product would be good and that they should wait to judge, he immediately disparaged anyone who took issue with his film. This led to a greater vitriol-filled banter between those against the project and the people responsible for said project.

Once “Ghostbusters” was finally released, it ended up underperforming financially, and it was a massive disappointment for the production studio. There’s no way to be certain if Feig’s comments were entirely to blame for the disappointing box office, but it didn’t help the audience numbers either.

While “Ghostbusters” was always fighting an uphill battle (it was a reboot of a beloved series, after all), “Wonder Woman” had plenty of expectations to meet as well. It was tasked with “saving” the DC Extended Universe from crumbling and ensuring that woman-led superhero films would be a certainty for years to come.

Although the internet trolls were undoubtedly present, and harmful rumors arrived in full-force during the whole pre-release period, director Patty Jenkins and company held their tongues. She only spoke up when it was called for, but her words never led to insults or petty comments. Because of this, there wasn’t a massive call to boycott the film (outside of certain small-time groups), allowing it to achieve the financial success it is currently enjoying.

3. Avoid gender politics and embrace commonality

This part is especially important, as many empowerment movies like these two have to fight the urge to disparage one sex to promote the other. The male characters in “Ghostbusters” were severely weakened so that the female leads could clearly be identified as the heroes.

“Wonder Woman,” both within the film and during the film’s development, served as a joint effort between men and women. Diana, with the help of Steve and the rest of the male soldiers, is able to accomplish her goals while simultaneously helping out with their own personal grievances. Jenkins worked with male screenwriters to ensure a fair and balanced film character-wise.

Don’t force people to focus on differences between genders and instead build up that sense of commonality from person to person. Establish a common ground between the sexes and allow the film to be enjoyed on its own rights. Because of gender politics, “Ghostbusters” became a movie that couldn’t be criticized or disliked because women were the leads in it, and Hollywood doesn’t do that very often.

Not only that, but instead of just being a light-hearted comedy, it became a movie whose defining trait was that it starred women and promoted girl power. “Wonder Woman” was a greatly entertaining, heartfelt film with a strong protagonist who happened to be a woman.

If there’s one thing Hollywood must remember, it’s that any lead character shouldn’t be defined only by their sex. Instead, allow them to rise above being “just” a man or woman so that future generations have plenty of role models to look up to. If they’re lovable, well-rounded and interesting characters, then who cares what gender they are?