‘Wuthering Heights’ Opens to $83M Worldwide

MONDAY AM: Warner Bros/MRC’s Wuthering Heights global start is at $83M. As we indicated yesterday there was a chance for domestic to come in under, and overseas higher, hence $38M stateside and $45M foreign.

While alright for the $80M package plus $100M P&A, one of the reasons for this pic being a little lighter in North America and that B CinemaScore is because the movie is actually tamer in its naughtiness than marketed (a 51% definite recommend on PostTrak is still in a safe space in terms of word of mouth, though not over-the-moon). The assumption going in was that the pic would be something of a period Fifty Shades of Grey. Still, it’s working and the question becomes just how frontloaded it is. We can’t ignore that Wuthering Heights reps record openings for both Oscar winning filmmaker Emerald Fennell and leading man and Frankenstein Oscar nominee Jacob Elordi. The 3-day opening here is at $32.5M after an $8M Sunday (not $9.4M), which is just under the 2018 threequel Fifty Shades Freed ($38.5M). That movie opened before Valentine’s Day, hence its drop was only -55% in weekend 2 versus the -74% registered by the original Fifty Shades of Grey in 2015 (which went from an opening of $85.1M to a second weekend of $22.2M).

Sony’s Goat did fantastic with a 4-day of $35M, well above projections, which is about $100K higher than the 4-day of Pixar’s Elemental ($34.9M); very good for a movie in the post Covid era. Sunday was $8.3M ahead of the $7.1M forecasted. Revised global start is $50.6M.

Amazon MGM Studio’s Crime 101 is at $16.3M for the 4-day after a $3.5M Sunday (not the $4.4M that was forecasted). Revised global start is $28.2M. The North America opening is in the realm of the action guy meat and potatoes movies like Jason Statham’s Beekeeper and A Working Man, and it’s in the realm of what these original R-rated male leaning movies have done in the post Covid era. But given the $90M production cost, if this was Lionsgate, we’d be all over this feature as a P&L implosion. Again, it’s the $2.1 trillion company Amazon, and the movie was made at a streaming budget. They can withstand the first cycle blow and will defend the cost on merits of Prime analytics, ad sales and spending in the long run. That’s not a pass on Crime 101 but it’s how Amazon justifies their theatrical financial formula. It’s a hard paradigm for many to swallow including myself and only time will tell whether the streamer right-sizes its budgets for counterprogramming features. Two things: Exhibitors aren’t complaining about the business, and it was a great idea for the movie to be released on this weekend given the audience expansion (remember, the noir’s Valentine’s Day Saturday spiked the most out of the news stuff at +75% over Friday).

Even though this Presidents Day weekend is filing under last year’s realize, it’s been a success in regards to the diversity of product: a tentpole for women, the first family film since Christmas, and an older dude movie. It’s a weekend that has brought people out to the movies.

According to Comscore, the official register of box office, Briarcliff Entertainment’s The Honest Thief posted a 3-day in the U.S. of $3.6M. With Canada rolled in from a week prior, the cume was $4.1M. By a pure 3-day to 3-day, the distrib’s latest Gore Verbinski film, Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die is a record start in cents with $3.64M for the 3-day and $4.15M for the 4-day. Constantin financed and produced the 3 Arts Entertainment production.

SUNDAY AM: Warner Bros is calling the global opening of Wuthering Heights at $82M, that’s $42M international and $40M domestic.

Global is the magic number for the Burbank, CA lot and the figure they’re focusing on. Realize, rivals are seeing Wuthering Heights over 4-days in the mid $30M range at the North American B.O., but if that happens, the upside is foreign for the Emerald Fennell-directed movie.

And, yes, we can say it: It’s Jacob Elordi’s biggest opening at the box office ever, both global and domestic. His previous Hollywood movies have been arthouse releases, read Priscilla, Saltburn, On Swift Horses. His Oscar-nominated role in Frankenstein was a limited theatrical release (unreported grosses) meant for the Netflix service. For Margot Robbie, at the domestic B.O., Wuthering Heights is her fourth highest debut ($34.8M) after Barbie ($162M), David Ayer’s Suicide Squad ($133.7M) and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood ($41M).

Get this, some rivals see GOAT coming close to grazing into Heathcliff and Cathy’s pastures. The competition is throwing furniture over Warner’s 4-day number with a “how could they?” this AM. It’s not upsetting Wuthering Heights entirely, but some believe there’s a $1M margin between the 4-day results of Wuthering Heights ($35M est) and GOAT ($34M). The last time that Sony’s counter-programming nearly threatened a Warner Bros. tentpole from No. 1 was Memorial Day weekend 2024 when Garfield ($31.2M) came close to scratching Furiosa out of first place ($32.3M). Sony is calling their original Stephen Curry animated production at $32M for Friday-Monday. Global start on GOAT is $47.6M — and it still has 40% of international still to play on the $80M-$90M+ production. Warners believes they’re bound to have a good Sunday that’s well in excess of $7.5M.

Valentine’s Day was beneficial for everyone, grossing $51.8M per ComScore (though behind last year’s $66.5M for all titles when the holiday fell on a Friday. While holdovers in the top 10 saw 100%-plus surges in the Saturday over Friday, Wuthering Heights was +31% yesterday over Friday stateside, Crime 101 surged +75% while GOAT was up 66%. It turns out those great reviews for Crime 101 (the best of the wide entries at 87%) truly were a catalyst in getting adults and couples to the cinema; the revised outlook over 4-days now $17.8M. Worldwide was $29.8M, with foreign coming from 60 territories. While that was the top of the pic’s range in tracking stateside, remember this noir cost $90M before P&A. In linear, iSpot shows that Amazon MGM Studios outspent the competition with $21.6M for TV spots on Crime 101 to Warner Bros’s $5.4M for Wuthering Heights and Sony’s near $10M for GOAT. But know that the overall global P&A for Wuthering Heights was at luxury prices—~$100M—with a global tour for talent to Paris, UK and Australia.

Valentine’s Day was a big driver for Wuthering Heights around the world in 76 territories on 14,346 screens, the UK being the best of course with $10.3M after a very noisy campaign there, repping a third of the European box office. The pic’s opening outshined the first Downton Abbey ($6.2M).

We’re told that the movie is playing to a broader audience in Europe than the US, meaning more dudes attended. Still, I’m hearing it was an overall younger audience abroad. In the EMEA, Wuthering Heights was No. 1 in 22 territories overall. Italy is the No. 2 territory for the pic in Europe with $4.4M. The Asia-Pacific region is led by Australia ($4.3M) due to Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi’s “home field advantage,” repping around 70% of the region’s B.O. It was always Wuthering Heights‘ job to win over UK and Australia.

India, Thailand and Singapore were also No. 1 for Wuthering Heights. For Latin America, which drove 44% of the marketshare, Wuthering Heights was the No. 1 pic in the region, except for Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru. Mexico led with $3.3M, Brazil did $1.1M, and Argentina did $564K (arthouse type pics fare well in the country). Wuthering Heights was not No. 1 in France ($1.9M, up against a local title), Korea, UAE and Turkey. Why wasn’t it No. 1 in France? I understand audiences there are precious about the pic’s adaptation, and this version of Heathcliff isn’t doing it for them. Germany wound up being No. 1 with $2.4M (against a local title), Spain did $2.2M, Poland was also very strong at $2.2M, Holland did $954K and Sweden was $573K rounding out the top 12 territories for the Robbie and Elordi love fest. Yet to open are Japan (Feb. 27—U.S. campaigns are always fine-tuned there from other global marketing campaigns), Vietnam (Feb. 27) and China on March 13. We hear that Wuthering Heights could be front-loaded, filling the bill of its younger and female audience. While the offshore comp was Housemaid going into the weekend, that Lionsgate movie played more male, more older abroad.

Back in the states, premium screens and Imax repped 31% of the weekend. Top ten multiplexes were 1. AMC Lincoln Square New York, 2. AMC Century City Los Angeles, 3. AMC Burbank, 4. Regal Union Square New York, 5. AMC Kips Bay New York, 6. AMC Empire New York, 7. AMC Grove Los Angeles, 8. AMC 34th Street New York, 9. AMC Glendale Americana Los Angeles and 10. AMC Boston Common.

Meanwhile, Wuthering Heights‘ top ten markets were 1. New York, 2. Los Angeles, 3. Dallas, 4. Chicago, 5. San Francisco, 6. Washington DC, 7. Boston, 8. Toronto, 9. Philadelphia and 10. Atlanta.

We’ll have more updates for you in the international column.

SATURDAY AM UPDATE: Warner Bros/MRC’s Wuthering Heights is heading to an $80M opening around the globe. On the foreign side with an expected $40M in 79 territories, that’s slightly ahead of the likes-for-likes start of The Housemaid‘s ($34.8M) in its first foreign weekends. Some rivals believe the Emerald Fennell-directed take of the Emily Brontë novel will fall into the mid $30M range at the end of four days stateside, but the see-saw between domestic and foreign is expected to land at $80M, which is the same exact price that Warners won the Margot Robbie-Jacob Elordi package for over Netflix. Last night was $11M (including $3M previews). Warners sees a path to $40M in four days. The question in North America remains walk-up business and an expansion of the audience as 55% of the audience bought their tickets in advance. Also, men only gave the pic a 39% definite recommend next to 54% women.

Overall CinemaScore is B, which is alright for a sudsy love story: It’s above Fifty Shades of Grey (C+) but a tad lower than 2017’s Fifty Shades Darker and 2018’s Fifty Shades Freed which both notched B+s. Definite recommend with the overall audience is 51% which is OK, but not electric. The best definite recommend came from Elordi fans (13-17) at 60% and Latino and Hispanic audiences at 62%.

It’s going to be a big moviegoing day today. Some of the top grossing Valentine’s Days have fallen on a weekend per Comscore, i.e. 2015 (the last time the holiday fell on a Saturday) owns the record with $95.3M led by Fifty Shades of Grey. Next was 2016 when it fell on a Sunday with Deadpool, all titles that day earning $84.9M, followed by 2009 when the holiday was on a Saturday and the day’s business racked up $83.7M. Last year’s Valentine’s Day fell on a Friday when Marvel Studios’ Captain America: Brave New World opened with all movies doing $66.5M; the fifth best ever for a Valentine’s Day at the domestic B.O.

Who has attended Wuthering Heights so far in the states? Women of course at 76%, according to Screen Engine/Comscore’s PostTrak, with women over 25 at 53% and women under 25 at 23%. Fifty-four percent women watched the movie with anywhere from one friend or more. Only 22% came with a date or a hubby. The 18-34 Euphoria set repped 63% of those attending so far. The over 45 crowd only repped 21%. Diversity demos were 58% Caucasian, 22% Hispanic and Latino, Black at 7%, and Asian American at 7%. Thirty-one percent of the audience prefer to watch Elordi and Robbie make out on the biggest, most prestigious screens possible, meaning that was the turnout at Imax and PLF auditoriums.

AMC Lincoln Square in NYC is the top grossing location so far with $56K. Overall, Wuthering Heights is seducing those in the East, South and Mountain regions.

Sony Pictures Animation’s Goat is trotting to a $25M 4-day ($21M 3-day) after $7.1M yesterday plus previews. Of the new stuff, it’s the only movie to get an A Cinemascore. Great exits indicate over-performance potential, i.e. 76% definite recommend for the general audience, kids under 12 96% positive and 59% must see it right away. Female leaning at 51% indicates moms with the 13-17 set the biggest among the general audience at 25% with 18-24 and 25-34 not far behind at 24% apiece. Very diverse audience here at 31% Caucasian, 27% Latino and Hispanic, 26% Black, 9% other/Native American and 7% Asian American.

Goat has PLFs (8% of sales) and 3D (13%); most family fare underperforms on up-charge screens of late. Goat‘s best grazing is in the Mountain, Midwest and South-Central regions with the Regal Stonestown Galleria in San Francisco the pic’s top grossing venue with around $20K.

Amazon MGM Studios Crime 101 arrested $3.9M from 3,161 theaters on Friday (including those $1M previews). 3-day is $11.8M and 4-day is $13.8M. Cinemascore for the noir is B ala last year’s A Working Man and just under the Den of Thieves movies (both B+). Imax and PLFs are repping a quarter of ticket sales so far with best areas of play in the West and South Central. The AMC Grove in LA is the leading single-location gross with just under $20K. A 59% definite recommend and guy leaning at 59%. The best definite recommends came from those 45-54 (74%), those over 55 (73%) and Latino and Hispanic moviegoers (75%). Those under 25 have the weakest definite recommend for the Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Halle Berry and Barry Keoghan thriller at 33%. The 25-34 set was the biggest demo at 27% with the over 45 crowd at 43%. Couples did go to see the movie at 44%.

Gore Verbinski’s return to the big screen with Constantin/3 Arts/Briarcliff Entertainment’s Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die is on its way to a $4M 4-day at 1,610 locations after $1.4M yesterday which includes $450K previews (previous big 4-day for Briarcliff was 2020’s Honest Thief with $4.3M). B CinemaScore and PostTrak pretty good with 85% positive and a 63% definite recommend. Best areas of play were the West, East and Midwest, with standout markets being Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and Phoenix. AMC Grove was the top grossing location at $11,1K on Friday followed closely by the AMC Lincoln Square ($10,1k) and AMC Century City ($9,3k). PLFs are repping 15% of ticket sales. The 18-34 set is showing up at 52%. Diversity demos are 56% Caucasian, 19% Hispanic and Latino, 12% Black, 9% Asia and 4% Native American/other. Constantin funded the pic for around net $20M, shot in South Africa, with Briarcliff taking North America. Gersh and CAA Media Finance repped the sale. The pic has the second-best reviews of Verbinski’s career at 84% certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes behind Oscar winner Rango‘s 88%.

The entire Presidents Day weekend looks to come in at $124.1M over four days for all films which is 32% off from a year ago when Captain America: Brave New World led all titles to a 4-day of $181.3M. We always knew this weekend was going to come up short. It’s hard to compete with a Marvel movie, even if it was a lackluster one.

The chart:

FRIDAY PM UPDATE after exclusive: What’s clear this weekend is that Valentine’s Day Saturday is going to be big — the question is how big. The bell-shaped trajectory of the weekend is becoming a hard one for some to forecast. Currently, Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights from Warner Bros/MRC is eyeing $11M-$12M today (that includes Thursday’s previews of $3M) with a 4-day of $40M still a possibility at 3,682 theaters. As is standard with female-skewing titles, this Jacob Elordi-Margot Robbie movie could be frontloaded. The pic has seduced Imax, Dolby Cinema, drive-ins, dine-Ins and premium large-format theaters in regards to bookings, putting ticket upcharges in their favor.

Says ComScore Head of Marketplace Trends Paul Dergarabedian: “Ordinarily, having a holiday fall on the biggest moviegoing day of the week is a negative as most people are out doing something other than going to the movies, for instance on the Fourth of July. However, this year the planets have perfectly aligned to put Valentine’s Day on a Saturday, which makes for the perfect romantic night out. And with Wuthering Heights on the marquee, there could not be a better option.” 

The pic’s social media reach, per RelishMix, stands at 381.2M across TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and X, which is 2½ times above romantic-drama genre norms. That figure is above It Ends with Us‘ 337.4M social media universe at opening weekend, Anyone but You‘s 98.8M and Saltburn‘s 213.9M (who knew that Fennell’s 2023 arthouse movie was that high?). Wuthering stars Robbie and Elordi are off the grid on social, while other cast members are fully activated, with Owen Cooper at 1.1M fans and Alison Oliver at 990K.

RELATED: All The Songs In Emerald Fennell’s ‘Wuthering Heights’: Charli xcx’s Soundtrack & More

Charli xcx is a big bullhorn for the motion picture, pushing the pic and her soundtrack to her 9M on Instagram, 5.4M on TikTok and 3.8M on X. She’s working off not just one Moment but two: