Overview
- Opening over the Presidents’ Day and Valentine’s frame, the Warner Bros. release grossed about $38 million in North America and $83 million worldwide against an estimated $80 million budget.
- Critic scores sit in the low-to-mid range on aggregators (around 59–60% on Rotten Tomatoes), while audience enthusiasm remains notably higher, underscoring a sharp divide in reception.
- Emerald Fennell’s version is a loose, sexually explicit reimagining that compresses the novel and reframes it stylistically with anachronistic costuming, a Charli XCX score and BDSM-tinged marketing.
- Casting choices—especially Jacob Elordi as Heathcliff—have drawn allegations of whitewashing and concerns about downplaying the book’s race and class dimensions, even as some scholars argue the film works on its own terms.
- The film is driving a cultural ripple effect, with book clubs programming new reads and Circana BookScan showing Emily Brontë sales surpassing 100,000 units in the year’s first two months.