This weekend, a lot of ladies went to see Emerald Fennell's daring new version of "Wuthering Heights." According to studio estimates from Sunday, the Warner Bros. film topped the box office rankings and had the year's highest debut, bringing in $34.8 million in ticket sales in its first three days in North American theaters. According to PostTrak polling, almost 76% of the people who bought tickets were women. By the end of Presidents Day on Monday, the number may go up to $40 million from its 3,682 sites.
The romance drama with Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi as the star-crossed Catherine and Heathcliff beat over the other new movies that came out over the weekend, such the animated "GOAT" and the heist thriller "Crime 101." Valentine's Day, which was Saturday, was its best day, when it made $14 million. “Wuthering Heights” is also doing much better in the world, where it expects to make an extra $42 million from 76 countries.
The Warner Bros./MRC movie cost $80 million to make, not considering the millions spent on advertising and Business. If the four-day totals are close to the forecasts, that means a strong $82 million opening around the world. The movie still has a lot of significant openings coming up, like in Japan and Vietnam on March 27 and in China on March 13.
While Warner Bros.' future is uncertain, Paramount is still trying to win out over Netflix by making its hostile acquisition proposal more attractive. The studio's ninth No. 1 opener in a row is "Wuthering Heights."
Fennell's adaptation of "Wuthering Heights," which doesn't stick to the book of Emily Brontë very closely, got mixed reviews from critics. Right now, it has a 63% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Even while that didn't stop people from buying tickets, only 51% of the people who saw it on opening weekend said they would "definitely recommend" it to friends. People who saw the movie also gave it a B CinemaScore, which isn't very good.
There have been blockbuster superhero movies on the weekend in the middle of March, including "Black Panther" and "Deadpool." But a better parallel is "Fifty Shades of Grey" and its two sequels. The first movie made nearly $85 million, and the third made $38.6 million.
Paul Dergarabedian, who is in charge of Comscore's marketplace trends, stated, "This was a solid Presidents Day/Valentines weekend, if not a record-breaking one." "But that was to be expected since there wasn't an MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) movie."
"GOAT," an animated movie from Sony made by basketball star Stephen Curry, came in second with about $26 million from 3,863 theaters. It is expected to make another $6 million on Monday, bringing its total for the four days to $32 million. This would be the highest animated opening since "Elemental" in 2023. It also made $15.6 million outside of the US, increasing its total to $47.6 million worldwide.
The family-friendly movie was the only new release over the weekend to achieve an A CinemaScore. "KPop Demon Hunters" was also made by Sony Pictures Animation.
"Crime 101" came in third with an estimated $15.1 million in its first three days. Amazon MGM Studios opened the thriller starring Chris Hemsworth and Mark Ruffalo in 3,161 screens in Los Angeles. By the end of Monday, it should have made around $17.8 million, but it still has a long way to go to make back its production budget, which was reportedly above $90 million. The audience, which was 56% men, similarly gave "Crime 101" a B CinemaScore.
"Send Help" and "Solo Mio" were the last two in the top five, with $9 million and $6.4 million, respectively. At number seven in the charts came Briarcliff Entertainment's sci-fi comedy "Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die," which starred Sam Rockwell and Haley Lu Richardson. It is thought that it made $3.6 million from 1,610 places.
This weekend, the Walt Disney Studios also reached a milestone: they became the first studio to make more than $1 billion at the global box office in 2026. This was mostly thanks to "Avatar: Fire and Ash," but "Zootopia 2" also did well and is still in the top 10 after twelve weekends in theaters.
The weekend is far slower than the same weekend last year, when "Captain America: Brave New World" opened, but things are starting to pick up as theaters are getting ready for "Scream 7" and "Project Hail Mary."
Dergarabedian said, "The first quarter has been pretty slow." "But this could start a fire at the box office."
