Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi’s Wuthering Heights prevailed in winning a love-filled Valentine’s Day/Presidents Day weekend with an an estimated haul of $38 million domestically for the four-day holiday and a better-than-expected $45 million overseas for a global launch of $83 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.
In the final weeks before Fennell’s latest opened, 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 — returns to the big screen in her first studio leading role since Warners’ blockbuster Barbie. Warners worked overtime in trying to temper expectations by sticking with its forecast ($40 million domestically and $80 million globally).
But as the holiday weekend unfolded, rival studios with access grosses grew concerned that Wuhering Heights might only get to between $33 million and $35 million after not-so-great reviews, a B CinemaScore and solid, but not spectacular, exit polls conducted by PostTrak.
And there was a new twist when Sony Animation and Stephen Curry’s new animated film GOAT started over-performing. On Sunday, estimates from several studios even showed GOAT shooting more baskets than Wuthering Heights for the four days.
While that didn’t happen, Sony had plenty to celebrate in the film’s estimated $35 million opening — the biggest start for an original animated studio pic since Elemental, not adjusted for inflation. Overseas, the family pic debuted to $15.6 million from 41 markets. GOAT marks another win key win for Sony Animation, home of the hit Spider-Verse universe and Kpop: Demon Hunters, the super-size kit which released by Netflix as part a larger deal stuck between the two companies. Overseas, GOAT opened to $15.6 million from 41 markets.
Amazon MGM Studio’s Crime 101 came in third with a solid $16.4 million; the big caveat is the $90 million paid to pick up the project.
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), or betting on an original film that others may deem too risky theatrically. Look no further than their current Oscar frontrunner, One Battle After Another, from Paul Thomas Anderson; Warners is also home to Ryan Coogler’s fellow Oscar frontrunner 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. 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. (Overall, 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 preciitously (it currently rests at 63 percent), 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.
Warners and partner MRC paid $80 million to pick up global rights to the project, reportedly beating out a far larger offer of $150 million from Netflix.
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.”
While Wuthering Heights is popping among younger women, Crime 101 got a larger share of older females, a demo Warners is also courting. Translated: the heist pic was a popular Valentine’s Day date-night choice for the 55 and older age set. Director Bart Layton’s ensemble crime noir pic. Overseas, it opened to $12 million overseas 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.
Working Title produced Crime 101 alongside The Story Factory, RAW and Wild State. Amazon MGM paid $90 million-plus for rights to the project. Some in media have taken at the the amount, but Amazon’s financial modeling is different from a legacy studio and doesn’t factor in the value of having both a theatrical and streaming run.
Crime 101‘s current Rotten Tomatoes score is a steady 86 percent, compared to Wuthering Heights‘ 63 percent and 79 percent for GOAT. (THR‘s review of Crime 101 is more skeptical than the others.)
Angel Studios’ Kevin James feel-good comedy Solo Mio rounded out the top five with an estimated $6.4 million for the there-day weekend.
Three movies from the Disney empire populated the top 20 chart as it became the first Hollywood studio to cross the $1 billion mark in 2026 global ticket sales, thanks to Send Help, Avatar: Fire and Ash and Zootopia 2. The latter two were released over the year-end holidays.
Final holiday grosses will be announced Tuesday.
More to come.
Feb. 16, 7:45 a.m.: Updated with revised estimates.
This story was originally published Feb. 15.
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