Wuthering Heights had an extremely successful opening weekend raking in US$76.8m (£56m) at the global box office.
The romantic drama from Emerald Fennell stars Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi as the star-crossed Catherine and Heathcliff and is a take on Emily Brontë’s novel.
New statistics state that the controversial film made US$34.8m in the North American box office in its first three days which makes it the year’s biggest opening so far.
According to PostTrak polling, an estimated 76 per cent of those ticket buyers were women.
By the end of Monday’s Presidents Day holiday, the total could rise to US$40m from its 3,682 locations.
The Warner Bros./MRC production cost a reported $80m to produce, not accounting for the millions spent on marketing and promotion.
Wuthering Heights had an extremely successful opening weekend raking in US$76.8m (£56m) at the global box office
The romantic drama from Emerald Fennell stars Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi as the star-crossed Catherine and Heathcliff and is a take on Emily Brontë’s novel
If the four-day totals match the estimates, that makes for a strong $82million global debut.
And the film still has several big openings on the horizon, in Japan and Vietnam on February 27, and in China on March 13.
The film has largely divided critics and currently sitting at a mixed 63 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes.
However many film fans are already hailing the sweeping period drama as the ‘movie of the year’, as they took to social media to share their thoughts on the moving plot, admitting they ‘cried their eyes out’.
Set against the wild Yorkshire moors, the passionate love story explores the intense and destructive relationship between the iconic pair of Cathy and Heathcliff.
The Daily Mail won’t spoil the ending – but given the novel has been studied in schools for generations and adapted countless times, viewers probably know what they’re in for.
Still, that didn’t stop audiences flocking to social media after the final credits rolled, with many admitting they ‘did not expect to love’ the film and were left ‘crying their eyes out’.
Some even confessed that the movie inspired them to finally finish reading the famous novel.
New statistics state that the controversial film made US$34.8m in the North American box office in its first three days which makes it the year’s biggest opening so far
One fan gushed: ‘Wuthering Heights, movie of the year.’; ‘I did not expect to love the movie. I enjoyed that… I cried my eyes out.’;
‘And so what if I sobbed for the last 20 minutes of wuthering heights.’; ‘idc wut anyone says, but I loved wuthering heights badddddd’
‘I just watched Wuthering Heights. I think the movie is like one big fanfic, and honestly, I loved it.’
‘Wuthering Heights was so incredible om**. I just saw it this afternoon and it seriously convinced me to FINALLY finish reading the book. If the movie made me this emotional, I can only imagine how much of a mess I’m gonna be after reading it.’
Speaking before the release, director Emerald Fennell, 40, revealed she was actively hoping audiences would have such an intense reaction.
She told Time Out: ‘I want lots of snogging [in the cinema]. I think whatever you can get away with – sorry, Cineworld. There will be some of that, there will also be a lot of people having to be carried out because they’re crying so much.
‘I really love seeing movies where people have a visceral experience. I think screaming and laughing and crying and gasping, we want a connected experience.’
However, the Oscar-winning filmmaker, who took home the Academy Award for Promising Young Woman, has warned fans her version is a loose, eroticised interpretation that ‘files the novel down to its pretty and sexy bits.’
According to PostTrak polling, an estimated 76 per cent of those ticket buyers were women
It came after Margot revealed she wasn’t originally meant to star as the lead in the film and was forced to undergo dialect coaching due to her ‘awful’ accent at the beginning of her career.
The Australian actress opened up while appearing on The Graham Norton Show earlier this month.
She explained: ‘I wasn’t always going to be in it. I was thrilled to be the producer, but at some point, we were talking about Cathy, and I decided to throw my hat into the ring.
‘I’ve always wanted to be one of Emerald’s actors, and fortunately, she felt the same way. It worked out wonderfully.’
