“Wuthering Heights” Divides Critics and Audiences in $50 Million Valentine’s Debut

Summary:

• Emerald Fennell’s “Wuthering Heights” adaptation earns $3 million in previews, projected to open to $50-55 million domestically. International markets to add $30-40 million.

• Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi star in a $80 million Warner Bros. release, generating debate for its departure from the original material.

• Critics praise the film’s visuals but are divided on Fennell’s approach, with strong opinions on both sides.

Emerald Fennell’s adaptation of “Wuthering Heights” earned $3 million in Thursday previews and is projected to open between $50 million and $55 million domestically over the four-day President’s Day weekend, according to Variety. International markets are expected to contribute an additional $30 million to $40 million.

The Warner Bros. release, which cost $80 million to produce, stars Margot Robbie as Catherine Earnshaw and Jacob Elordi as Heathcliff in a contemporary interpretation of Emily Brontë’s 1847 novel. The film has generated significant debate among critics and audiences regarding its departure from the source material.

The film currently holds a 71 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a score of 60 on Metacritic, based on reviews from 65 and 31 critics respectively. The reviews reflect widely divergent opinions on Fennell’s approach to the material.

Wuthering Heights (2026), dir. Emerald Fennell pic.twitter.com/aP1XcFgYvH

— cinesthetic. (@TheCinesthetic) September 3, 2025

Brian Truitt of USA Today called the film “the first must-see movie of 2026” and praised its visual presentation. Peter Debruge, writing for Variety, described Fennell’s approach as “bold and engaging,” noting that she “has her way with the iconic characters.”

Negative assessments were equally strong. Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave the film two out of five stars, describing it as an “emotionally hollow, bodice-ripping misfire.” The Independent’s review called it “astonishingly bad,” while Collider awarded it two out of 10 stars.

Critics generally agreed on the technical achievements. Cinematographer Linus Sandgren’s work was described as “spellbinding” by multiple reviewers, according to The Hollywood Reporter’s roundup of reviews. The film’s production design by Suzie Davies and costumes by Jacqueline Durran also received widespread praise. Pop artist Charli XCX’s score, which blends orchestral arrangements with electronic music, was cited as a standout element across both positive and negative reviews.

The casting of Elordi, who is white, as Heathcliff drew criticism from several outlets. Northeastern University professor Tarushi Sonthalia told Northeastern Global News that Heathcliff’s racial ambiguity in Brontë’s novel is “a core part of the outsider status” and “a very intentional part of the transgression of the love that existed between him and Cathy.”

Online Discussion and Controversy

The film has generated substantial discussion on social media platforms. Early reactions from press screenings on X (formerly Twitter) in early February were largely positive, with film critics describing it as a “god-tier new classic” and praising the performances of Robbie and Elordi, according to coverage by The Hollywood Reporter.

When full reviews were published Feb. 9, the response became more polarized. On IMDB, user reviews range from one to 10 stars, with some calling it “one of the worst movies I have ever seen” while others described it as “exquisite.”

Newsweek reported that the film has sparked debate on TikTok and Instagram regarding casting choices, the ages of the lead actors, costume design, and Fennell’s decision to style the title with quotation marks. The outlet noted that the punctuation choice has led some to question whether the film should be considered an adaptation or a reinterpretation of the source material.

Literary scholars have weighed in on the adaptation’s approach. Lawrence Evalyn, a lecturer in Northeastern University’s English department, told Northeastern Global News that Brontë’s novel explores “themes of race, class, intergenerational trauma and revenge,” elements that some critics suggest are minimized in Fennell’s version.

At a Thursday evening screening, the audience was highly engaged throughout the film’s two-hour-and-16-minute runtime. Viewers audibly gasped during intense scenes, laughed at moments of dark humor, and fell silent during emotional confrontations. The energy in the theater reflected the film’s polarizing nature.

As someone who has read Brontë’s novel, it was clear this is not a direct adaptation. But that departure felt intentional rather than careless. Fennell has crafted something closer to Guillermo del Toro’s 2025 “Frankenstein” – a film that captured the gothic and romantic elements of its source material without slavish fidelity to plot.

The film’s visual presentation was stunning. Sandgren’s cinematography and the production design created an immersive world that felt both period-accurate in its griminess and heightened in its aesthetic choices. The performances by Robbie and Elordi conveyed genuine chemistry and emotional intensity, even as their characters descended into increasingly toxic behavior.

What Fennell appears to understand is that one powerful reading of Brontë’s novel centers on a specific kind of obsessive love shaped by an era when women’s economic survival often depended on marriage, when class divisions were insurmountable, and when choosing passion over security could mean death. The film doesn’t romanticize this dynamic – it presents it as both intoxicating and destructive, showing audiences a form of desire that feels almost alien to contemporary relationship norms.

The film foregrounds the politics of scarcity, the weight of betrayal in a world with no escape routes, and the genuine madness that desperation can breed. These themes, present in Brontë’s text, come through in Fennell’s interpretation despite the changed narrative structure.

For viewers seeking a faithful adaptation, this film will disappoint. But for those interested in what a contemporary filmmaker might find urgent and relevant in a 19th-century text about destructive passion, Fennell has succeeded in making the material feel immediate, even if her methods remain debatable.

“Wuthering Heights” is expected to finish the weekend as the top film in North America, according to industry tracking. It will compete against Sony Pictures Animation’s “GOAT,” which made $1 million in previews and is projected to earn $20 million to $25 million over the four-day weekend, and Amazon MGM’s “Crime 101,” starring Chris Hemsworth, which is tracking for $15 million to $17 million.

The film’s performance will be closely watched as an indicator of audience appetite for literary adaptations with auteur directors. Warner Bros. won the distribution rights with an $80 million bid, beating out a $150 million offer from Netflix by agreeing to a theatrical release and substantial marketing campaign, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Fennell, who won an Academy Award for “Promising Young Woman” and directed the viral sensation “Saltburn,” has established herself as a filmmaker whose work generates strong reactions. Whether “Wuthering Heights” will be remembered as a successful reimagining or a controversial misstep remains to be seen, but its opening weekend suggests significant commercial appeal regardless of critical division.