Weekend Box Office: Wuthering Heights takes the top spot but opens (slightly) under expectations
As expected, Emerald Fennell’s controversial, loose adaptation of Wuthering Heights easily topped the box office this weekend. Yet its $34.8 million three-day opening is being viewed as somewhat underwhelming. Industry insiders had projected a $50 million four-day haul over the President’s Day holiday, but the film will be lucky to hit $40 million — which is exactly what we predicted.
Now, a $34 million debut still sounds terrific for a period epic with a relatively reasonable $80 million production budget. However, reports suggest the marketing spend may have exceeded the production cost (some estimate it at $85 million). Add in two major stars — Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi — and many expected a bigger splash.
While the film likely benefited from solid Valentine’s Day turnout, its B CinemaScore suggests mixed word-of-mouth. The big question now: will it have legs next weekend?
Sony’s GOAT Nips at the Heels
Sony’s animated feature GOAT opened strong with $26 million, and its four-day total is expected to come within a few million of Wuthering Heights. Many believe it could leapfrog the period romance by next weekend, especially with a relatively quiet frame ahead.
The film’s stylish animation — reminiscent of Spider-Verse and KPop Demon Hunters — appears to be resonating with younger audiences.
Crime 101 Delivers Solid Counterprogramming
Amazon/MGM’s Crime 101 debuted to a solid $15.1 million, landing on the higher end of expectations. The Don Winslow adaptation is benefiting from strong reviews (including ours), though it faces a long road toward recouping its reported $90 million budget.
That said, Amazon likely views the film as a long-term streaming asset rather than a pure theatrical play.
Send Help Holds Exceptionally Well
Sam Raimi’s Send Help posted one of the weekend’s most impressive holds. In its third frame, it grossed $8.9 million — just a 1% drop from last weekend — bringing its total to just shy of $50 million. That’s an excellent result for an R-rated thriller.
Meanwhile, Kevin James’ Solo Mio dipped only 9% to $6.4 million, pushing its total to $16.9 million. A strong hold for Angel Studios.
Family and Genre Titles Continue Steady Runs
Zootopia 2 added another $3.7 million, bringing its total to $419 million.
Avatar: Fire and Ash landed in eighth place with $3.3 million and is just shy of $400 million total — a milestone it should cross next weekend.
Iron Lung is beginning to wind down with $3.1 million, bringing its impressive total to $37.2 million.
Rounding out the top ten, Luc Besson’s Dracula held solidly, dropping only 32% to $3 million, with a $9 million total — making it one of Vertical Entertainment’s higher-grossing releases.
Specialty Releases: Mixed Results
Briarcliff’s release of Gore Verbinski’s Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die (which we loved) earned a decent $3.6 million on 1,610 screens.
It outperformed Cold Storage, starring Liam Neeson and Joe Keery, which opened outside the top ten with $1.1 million.
Interestingly, Neon’s Nirvana the Band the Show the Movie pulled in $1.2 million on just 365 screens — a strong per-screen average and a notable specialty success (per Exhibitor Relations).
What did you see this weekend? Let us know in the comments!
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