Controversial or not, Emerald Fennell’s new adaptation of classic novel Wuthering Heights is hitting, well, heights at the box office for its opening weekend: a staggering $76 million globally.
The film, which stars Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie in the iconic roles of Heathcliff and Cathy, managed to gross $34.8 million in the United States, which brings the worldwide total for the film’s debut to $76.8 million. Interestingly enough, though, those numbers do actually fall under the projections set for the film reported by Deadline. Warner Bros. expected the project to open to closer to $40 or $50 million domestically, but it still falls within their $70 to $80 million global projection.
That said, the movie’s opening weekend is technically a four-day one, with the day of this writing (Monday, February 16) being President’s Day — so there’s a chance that Wuthering Heights hits that initial domestic projection by the day’s end.
The competition is stacked right now at the box office with two other new releases on offer alongside Wuthering Heights: the animated kids comedy Goat, which is holding onto the second spot domestically under Fennell’s film, and Crime 101, a star-studded thriller that is also a literary adaptation, believe it or not, with a claim to the No. 3 slot at the box office.
There are several new and exciting titles coming in the next week, though — projects like Psycho Killer and How to Make a Killing — so those more recent additions might threaten a little of the profits of Wuthering Heights. But we won’t know until we see what happens at the box office next weekend.
Wuthering Heights was written and directed by Fennell, adapted from Emily Brontë’s 1847 novel of the same name. Alongside Elordi and Robbie, Hong Chau, Alison Oliver, and Ewan Mitchell star. It debuted in theaters in the United States and United Kingdom on February 13, just in time for Valentine’s Day.
Lex Briscuso is a film and television critic and a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @nikonamerica.
