Emerald Fennell’s reimagining of ‘Wuthering Heights’ has opened at the top of the North American box office, earning $34.8 million in its first three days and marking the biggest debut of the year so far.
The Warner Bros. release, starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi as Catherine and Heathcliff, drew a predominantly female audience over the Valentine’s Day and Presidents Day holiday weekend. According to PostTrak, around 76 percent of ticket buyers were women. With Monday’s holiday takings included, the four-day total is expected to reach approximately $40 million from 3,682 cinemas.
Saturday, which coincided with Valentine’s Day, proved to be the film’s strongest day, generating $14 million in ticket sales. Internationally, the romantic drama is performing even more strongly, with a projected $42 million from 76 territories. That would bring its global debut to an estimated $82 million.
Produced by Warner Bros. and MRC at a reported cost of $80 million, excluding marketing expenses, the film still has major international launches ahead, including Japan and Vietnam on February 27 and China on March 13.
The strong opening arrives at a turbulent moment for Warner Bros., as Paramount continues efforts to strengthen its hostile takeover bid amid competition from Netflix. Wuthering Heights represents the studio’s ninth consecutive No. 1 opening.
Fennell’s adaptation, which takes significant liberties with Emily Brontë’s novel, has divided critics and currently holds a 63 per cent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Audience enthusiasm has been more measured. Just 51 per cent of opening weekend viewers said they would “definitely recommend” the film, while CinemaScore audiences awarded it a B grade.
The mid-February holiday weekend has previously been dominated by major superhero releases such as Black Panther and Deadpool. However, industry analysts suggest a closer comparison may be the Fifty Shades of Grey franchise, whose first instalment opened to over $85 million, with the third debuting to $38.6 million.
Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore, described the frame as solid rather than spectacular. “This was a solid if not record-breaking Presidents Day and Valentine’s weekend,” he said. “That was to be expected without a Marvel Cinematic Universe film.”
In second place, Sony’s animated feature GOAT, produced by basketball star Stephen Curry, earned $26 million from 3,863 locations. It is projected to reach $32 million by the end of Monday, marking the strongest animated opening since Elemental in 2023. International earnings stand at $15.6 million, lifting its global total to $47.6 million. The family film received an A CinemaScore from audiences.
Third place went to the heist thriller ‘Crime 101’, starring Chris Hemsworth and Mark Ruffalo. The Amazon MGM Studios release took $15.1 million over its first three days and is expected to reach $17.8 million by Monday.
However, with a reported production budget exceeding $90 million, it faces a challenging road to profitability. Audiences, 56 per cent of whom were men, awarded it a B CinemaScore.
Rounding out the top five were ‘Send Help’ with $9 million and ‘Solo Mio’ with $6.4 million. Further down the chart, Briarcliff Entertainment’s science fiction comedy ‘Good Luck’, ‘Have Fun’, ‘Don’t Die’, starring Sam Rockwell and Haley Lu Richardson, debuted in seventh place with $3.6 million from 1,610 cinemas.
Elsewhere, Walt Disney Studios passed a significant milestone, becoming the first studio in 2026 to surpass $1 billion at the global box office. The achievement was driven largely by the continued performance of ‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’, alongside the sustained success of ‘Zootopia 2’, which remains in the top 10 after twelve weeks in cinemas.
Although this year’s Presidents Day weekend fell well short of last year’s launch of ‘Captain America: Brave New World’, industry observers note that momentum may be building, with upcoming releases including ‘Scream 7’ and ‘Project Hail Mary’.
“It’s been a rather slow first quarter,” Dergarabedian said. “But this could ignite a spark at the box office.”
