Cathy and Heathcliff won the weekend, but barely. Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights opened at No. 1 over the Valentine’s Day and Presidents’ Day holiday, earning $37.5 million in North America over four days and $45.5 million overseas for an $83 million global launch, according to final studio numbers reported by The Hollywood Reporter.
That is a slight miss at home: Warner Bros. had forecast about $40 million, and some tracking services had it as high as $50 million. Overseas it beat expectations. It is the studio’s ninth consecutive No. 1 opening, Deadline notes, an unprecedented streak that includes Sinners, Weapons and One Battle After Another, and it is a record opening for both Fennell and Jacob Elordi.
The goat in the room
The surprise was Sony Pictures Animation’s GOAT, a family comedy about a small goat with big roarball dreams. It took $35 million over the four days, Variety reports, the biggest debut for an original animated film since Pixar’s Elemental, and, per The Hollywood Reporter, the only new release to earn an A CinemaScore. Deadline says it even beat Wuthering Heights on Sunday, $8.3 million to $8 million, and could win next weekend. Chris Hemsworth’s heist thriller Crime 101 opened third with about $16 million, against a reported $90 million production cost.
A tamer film than the marketing
Fennell’s film cost $80 million to make, plus roughly $85 million in global marketing, per Deadline. The audience was 76% women and 53% aged 18 to 34, but it earned a B CinemaScore and its Rotten Tomatoes critics’ score had slipped to 63%. Deadline’s read on the gap between what was sold and what was shown:
the assumption going in was that the pic would be something of a period Fifty Shades of Grey.
Deadline, Deadline
The film’s cultural footprint was bigger than its ticket sales. Charli xcx’s companion album arrived on Feb. 13, and Deadline counts her 26.1 million followers as part of a campaign that included more than 1,700 creator posts and more than 49 brand partnerships. It also nearly didn’t happen in theaters: Variety reports that Netflix offered $150 million for Fennell to make it as a streaming film in 2024, and she and Robbie took a smaller Warner Bros. budget for a theatrical release instead. Our February guide has the rest of the month.
The next major studio release is Paramount’s Scream 7 on Feb. 27, per Variety. Until then, theaters are leaning on Fennell’s film and the goat.
- Opening (4-day)
- $37.5M domestic, $45.5M international, $83M worldwide
- Next three
- *GOAT* ($35M), *Crime 101* ($16.3M)
- Budget
- $80M production, about $85M global marketing
Sources
Added to the High Grailed archive on October 12, 2026.
