Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi‘s Wuthering Heights prevailed in winning the love-filled Valentine’s Day/President’s Day weekend with a four-day haul of $37.5 million in North America and a better-than-expected $45.5 million overseas for a global launch of $83 million, according to final numbers released by the studio early Tuesday.
That’s only off slightly from Monday estimates, which showed the Warner Bros. movie debuting to $38 million in North America for the four days (Friday through Monday) and $45 million overseas for the three-day weekend since it wasn’t a holiday across the globe. When factoring in the $5.5 million earned at the foreign box office Monday, Wuthering Heights‘ early worldwide total rises to $88.5 million.
Filmmaker Emerald Fennell’s decidedly unconventional literary adaptation of Emily Brontë’s iconic novel came in slightly behind expectations in the U.S., where Warners Bros. was predicting a $40 million debut. The R-rated pic still earned more than enough to stay safely ahead of Sony Animation’s GOAT, which sits in second-place with an estimated four-day haul of as much as $35 million, far more than anyone anticipated.
In the final weeks before Fennell’s latest film unfurled, some tracking services were far more bullish and had Wuthering Heights starting off with as much as $50 million stateside as Robbie — also a prolific producer — returned to the big screen in her first leading role in a major studio film since Warners’ blockbuster Barbie. (Last year, Robbie starred in A Big Bold Beautiful Journey, which began as an indie project that was later acquired by Sony Pictures Releasing. The $45 million movie bombed in cinemas, earning just north of $20 million.)
Warners’ distribution chief Jeff Goldstein worked overtime trying to temper expectations by sticking to his forecast of $40 million domestically and $80 million globally. It proved an almost impossible task. And as the weekend unfolded, rival studios with access to grosses cautioned that Wuthering Heights might instead land in the $33 million-$35 million range after not-so-great reviews, a B CinemaScore and middle-of-the-road exit polls conducted by PostTrak. There was another twist when Sony Animation and Stephen Curry’s new animated film GOAT started to over-perform. By Sunday, some box office pundits believed it even had a shot at winning the four-day weekend.
Wuthering Heights is a reminder to never underestimate the instincts of Warners’ chiefs Pamela Abdy and Michael De Luca, who have pulled a rabbit out of the hat more than once in tapping a director who comes more from the auteur side of the aisle (Fennell previously directed Saltburn and A Promising Young Woman) as well as betting on original stories that others may deem too risky. As an example, look no further than this year’s two Oscar frontrunners — One Battle After Another, from Paul Thomas Anderson, and Ryan Coogler’s Sinners, an original story many questioned before it both succeeded at the box office and picked up the most Academy Award noms ever for an individual film.
While the most obvious go-to target audience for Wuthering Heights is older females, the studio’s marketing team also worked hard to seduce Gen Zers and younger Millennials, as reflected by much of the ad campaign. Their efforts paid off. Now the trick will be to get older females to show up as well (in movie parlance, that means anyone over the age of 45, or even 35). Throughout much of the weekend, 53 percent of the audience was between ages 18 and 34, yet the R-rated film was slapped with a B CinemaScore by a demo group the filmmakers assumed would be more sympathetic. (All told, femmes made up 76 percent of all ticket buyers.)
Reviewers are also divided, which prompted a rash of stories last week as the film’s Rotten Tomatoes critics score began dropping sharply (it currently rests at 63 percent, yet began in the low 70 percent range), while the audience ranking on Rotten Tomatoes is 84 percent for Fennell’s reinterpretation of the 1847 Brit-lit classic about obsessive love, possession and doomed passion on the West Yorkshire moors as the worlds of the brooding Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw collide.
Sony also has plenty to celebrate in regards to GOAT, which boasts the biggest start for an original animated studio pic since Elemental, not adjusted for inflation. Overseas, it opened to $15.6 million from 41 markets. GOAT marks another win for Sony Animation, home of the hit Spider-Verse universe and KPop: Demon Hunters.
GOAT was the only new film of the frame to earn an A CinemaScore, along with near-perfect PostTrak exit scores.
Inspired by a tale from Curry’s childhood, the original family pic follows Will, a small goat with big dreams (Caleb McLaughlin), who gets a once-in-a-lifetime shot to join the pros and play roarball, a high-intensity, co-ed, full-contact sport dominated by the fastest, fiercest animals in the world. Will’s new teammates aren’t thrilled about having a little goat on their roster, but Will is determined to revolutionize the sport and prove once and for all that “smalls can ball.”
Amazon MGM Studio’s Crime 101 came in third domestically with an estimated $16.4 million for the four days. Its early foreign total is $12 million for a global start of $18.4 million. Amazon MGM paid $90 million-plus for theatrical and streaming rights. Working Title produced the pic alongside The Story Factory, RAW and Wild State.
While Wuthering Heights is popping among younger women, Crime 101 got a larger share of older females. Translated: the heist pic was a popular Valentine’s Day date-night choice for the 55 and older age set. Overseas, it opened to $12 million from 60 markets.
Chris Hemsworth, Halle Berry and Mark Ruffalo star in Crime 101, which is based on author Don Winslow’s novella of the same name that follows detective Lou Lubesnick as he attempts to solve a string of multimillion-dollar jewel heists by tracking the perpetrator who follows a strict set of rules known as “Crime 101.” As the fates of the various characters converge, the line between hunter and hunted blurs.
Crime 101‘s current Rotten Tomatoes score is a steady 86 percent. (THR‘s review of Crime 101 is more skeptical than the others.)
Three movies from the Disney empire, Send Help, Zootopia 2 and Avatar: Fire and Ash, populated the top 10 chart over the holiday weekend, propelling it to become the first Hollywood studio to cross the $1 billion mark in 2026 global ticket sales.
Send Help came in fourth for the four days with an estimated $10.4 million to end its third weekend with a domestic tally of $49.2 million.
Angel Studios’ Kevin James feel-good comedy Solo Mio rounded out the top five with an estimated $7.4 million for a 10-day domestic tally of $17.9 million.
Distributor Briarcliff is reporting its biggest domestic debut to date thanks to Gore Verbinski’s sci-fi action pic Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die, which launched to $4.1 million for an eighth-place finish.
Final holiday grosses will be announced Tuesday.
Feb. 16, 7:45 a.m.: Updated with revised estimates.
Feb. 17, 8:00 a.m.: Updated with final numbers for Wuthering Heights.
This story was originally published Feb. 15.
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