The Most Controversial Movie of 2026 Just Passed a Major Box Office Milestone

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WUTHERING HEIGHTS, Hong Chau, 2026. © Warner Bros. /Courtesy Everett Collection

Published Mar 10, 2026, 12:36 PM EDT

Rohan Naahar is a Weekend News Writer for Collider. From Francois Ozon to David Fincher, he'll watch anything once.

He has covered everything from Marvel to the Oscars, and Marvel at the Oscars. He also writes obsessively about the box office, charting the many hits and misses that are released weekly, and how their commercial performance shapes public perception. In his time at Collider, he has also helped drive diversity by writing stories about the multiple Indian film industries, with a goal of introducing audiences to a whole new world of cinema.

After completing nearly a month in theaters worldwide, Oscar-winning writer-director Emerald Fennell's Wuthering Heights has passed what will likely be its final major box office milestone. The movie opened to divisive reviews around Valentine's Day, and rode a wave of controversy to bona fide blockbuster success. It has surpassed its reported break-even point after accounting for the exhibitor–studio revenue split. However, Wuthering Heights was the final win in a nine-movie success streak for Warner Bros., which ended this past weekend with the disappointing debut of Maggie Gyllenhaal's equally divisive The Bride!

Effectively targeted at the same demographic, The Bride! made just $13 million worldwide against a reported budget of $90 million in its first four days of release. It has little chance of hitting the $100 million mark worldwide in its theatrical run. The Bride! is currently sitting at a similar Rotten Tomatoes score as Wuthering Heights; the Gothic crime movie also cost around the same as Fennell's Gothic romance. Wuthering Heights is a loose adaptation of Emily Brontë's 19th-century novel, while The Bride! takes Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" and reinterprets it as a feminist call-to-action. The Bride! might have sealed its fate with that poor debut, but Wuthering Heights will probably hit the $250 million mark by the end of its run.

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Here's How Much 'Wuthering Heights' Has Grossed at the Global Box Office

With around $80 million domestically and another $130 million-plus from overseas markets, Wuthering Heights has grossed $213 million worldwide so far. Starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi, the movie was produced on a reported budget of $80 million, with Warner Bros. having also committed to spending another $100 million on marketing. This was part of the deal that the studio struck with Robbie, after she and her producing partners rejected Netflix's higher bid for the film's distribution rights because they wanted a theatrical release for it. Wuthering Heights now holds a 58% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, where the critics' consensus reads, "Liberally adapting Emily Brontë's classic story with a heavy dose of carnality and chic stylization, Emerald Fennell's Wuthering Heights might not be the stuff of high literature, but it is a visually vibrant pleasure."

You can watch the film in theaters. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.