{"id":472705,"date":"2026-02-16T22:52:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T22:52:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/472705\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T22:52:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T22:52:08","slug":"wuthering-heights-box-office-beats-expectations-with-83-million-globally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/472705\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Wuthering Heights’ Box Office Beats Expectations With $83 Million Globally"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t\u201cWuthering Heights<\/a>\u201d is the new box office queen. <\/p>\n

\n\tDirector Emerald Fennell\u2019s bold take on the classic novel has collected $38 million over the Presidents\u2019 Day holiday weekend in North America and a promising $45 million internationally, delivering a global tally of $83 million. Those ticket sales are slightly above Sunday\u2019s estimate of $82 million worldwide.<\/p>\n

\n\tAlthough the domestic figure is below projections (which Warner Bros. placed around $40 million<\/a> for the four days), \u201cWuthering Heights\u201d enjoyed a bigger-than-expected start at the international box office. With the softer turnout in North America, the R-rated film might just rely on international crowds for staying power. Warner Bros. spent $80 million to produce \u201cWuthering Heights,\u201d not including the tens of millions for the global promotional tour.<\/p>\n

\n\tMargot Robbie and Jacob Elordi star as toxic lovers Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff in the remake of Emily Bront\u00eb\u2019s romantic drama. Unsurprisingly, \u201cWuthering Heights\u201d was the de facto choice for women around Valentine\u2019s Day on Saturday, with females representing more than 75% of opening weekend crowds. <\/p>\n

\n\tThis marks the ninth consecutive No. 1 debut for Warner Bros. following a slew of 2025 theatrical winners such as \u201cA Minecraft Movie,\u201d \u201cSinners,\u201d \u201cFinal Destination Bloodlines\u201d and \u201cWeapons.\u201d Back in 2024, Netflix (which is currently fighting with Paramount<\/a> to buy Warner Bros.) had offered a hefty $150 million for Fennell to make \u201cWuthering Heights\u201d for the streamer. However the director and Robbie, who produced the film with MRC, opted for a smaller budget from Warner Bros. in exchange for a theatrical release and full-scale marketing campaign.<\/p>\n

\n\tDuring the Valentine\u2019s Day and Presidents\u2019 Day weekend, \u201cWuthering Heights\u201d was easily No. 1 in North America over two fellow newcomers, Sony\u2019s original animated sports adventure \u201cGOAT\u201d and the Chris Hemsworth and Mark Ruffalo-led heist thriller \u201cCrime 101.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cGOAT\u201d impressed in second place with $35 million over the four-day frame, including $27.2 million over the traditional weekend. Those ticket sales mark the biggest debut for an original animated film since Pixar\u2019s 2023 film \u201cElemental.\u201d That movie, which debuted to $29 million over the traditional weekend, became a slow-and-steady box office hit and eventually powered to $496 million globally. Since \u201cGOAT\u201d carries an $80 million production budget, Sony Pictures Animation is hoping the kid-friendly film about an aspiring roarball champion (it\u2019s like basketball, but different)\u00a0enjoys a similar endurance at the box office. Audiences, most of whom were families, gave the movie an \u201cA\u201d grade on CinemaScore exit polls, which bodes well for staying power. Overseas, \u201cGOAT\u201d earned $15.6 million for a better-than-projected worldwide tally of $50.6 million.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cCrime 101\u201d arrived behind expectations with $16.3 million through the holiday frame, including $14.2 million over the traditional weekend. Those ticket sales were enough for third place on domestic charts. Internationally, the movie collected $12 million from 60 territories for a global total of $28.3 million. While a decent start for an R-rated movie aimed at older audiences, it\u2019s less encouraging knowing that Amazon MGM spent $90 million to produce the film. Since theater owners keep about 50% of ticket sales, \u201cCrime 101\u201d needs a long theatrical life to justify that price tag. Although reviews were positive, moviegoers were mixed, as evidenced by the \u201cB\u201d grade on CinemaScore. Bart Layton (\u201cAmerican Animals\u201d) directed \u201cCrime 101,\u201d which stars Hemsworth as an elusive jewel thief who plots high-stake heists across the Los Angeles freeway.<\/p>\n

\n\tOverall, the box office is 8% ahead of last year\u2019s total, according to Comscore. That year-over-year percentage has been shrinking because, although this weekend was solid for counter-programming, attendence levels didn\u2019t compare to 2025\u2019s Presidents\u2019 Day holiday weekend when Marvel\u2019s \u201cCaptain America: Brave New World\u201d launched to $100 million. The next major studio release is Paramount\u2019s \u201cScream 7\u201d on Feb. 27. Until then, movie theater operators are banking on \u201cWuthering Heights\u201d and \u201cGOAT\u201d to keep heating up the box office.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cWuthering Heights\u201d is the new box office queen. Director Emerald Fennell\u2019s bold take on the classic novel has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":472706,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[88,82685],"class_list":{"0":"post-472705","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-wuthering-heights"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=472705"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472705\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/472706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=472705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=472705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=472705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}