The Box Office Sensation: Wuthering Heights Smashes Records
The highly anticipated film adaptation of Wuthering Heights has taken the global film industry by storm, raking in an impressive $77 million during its opening weekend. This new take on Emily Brontë's classic novel, starring Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie, has captivated audiences and sparked intense discussions among critics and fans alike.
Emerald Fennell's reimagined version of Wuthering Heights opened to great success, with a whopping $34.8 million in North America alone. While this fell short of initial projections, Warner Bros. remains optimistic, predicting a total of $40 million by the end of the extended President's Day weekend. Internationally, the film exceeded expectations, grossing $42 million across 76 territories, with a notable shift in audience demographics outside North America.
But here's where it gets interesting: Wuthering Heights found particular favor in Australia, the home country of its leading stars. The film's opening weekend haul of $6.07 million (or $4.3 million USD) was attributed to the stars' local appeal, a testament to the power of celebrity and cultural connections.
With a global total of $82 million, including the extended US weekend, Wuthering Heights has already recouped its reported $80 million production budget. And the film's journey is far from over, with major openings still to come in Japan, Vietnam, and China. This success couldn't have come at a better time for Warner Bros., whose future hangs in the balance amidst a hostile takeover bid from Paramount, with Netflix also in the mix.
Fennell's adaptation, which takes creative liberties with Brontë's novel, has divided critics. Currently sitting at a mixed 63% on Rotten Tomatoes, the film's reception has been a topic of debate. While audiences turned out in droves, only 51% of opening-weekend viewers said they would "definitely recommend" the film, and it received a modest B CinemaScore.
Paul Dergarabedian, head of marketplace trends at Comscore, commented, "This was a solid weekend, but without an MCU film, record-breaking numbers were unlikely."
In other box office news, GOAT, an animated film produced by basketball star Stephen Curry, landed in second place in North America, with an estimated $26 million. Crime 101, a thriller starring Chris Hemsworth and Mark Ruffalo, took third place, but has a long way to go to recoup its reported $90 million production budget.
And in a milestone moment, The Walt Disney Studios became the first studio to cross $1 billion at the global box office in 2026, largely thanks to the success of Avatar: Fire and Ash and the enduring popularity of Zootopia 2.
The final North American box office figures for the four-day long weekend will be released on Tuesday, providing a more detailed picture of the weekend's successes and surprises.
What do you think of the latest Wuthering Heights adaptation? Do you agree with the critics, or are you among those who loved the film? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
