EXCLUSIVE: Score one for the theatrical film experience. After a fierce bidding war, Warner Bros Motion Pictures Group has won MRC’s feature adaptation of Wuthering Heights from Oscar winner Emerald Fennell and starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi. LuckyChap is producing, and Fennell wrote the script and will direct and produce the adaptation based on the Emily Brontë novel.
This was a hotly contested property, and its likely landing place might have been Netflix or Amazon, where Fennell’s last film Saltburn became one of its biggest ever streaming titles. The bids were dizzyingly high, but the problem was that Fennell and Robbie were determined to see this one go the theatrical route with P&A spend. In the continuing push and pull between theatrical, streaming and the will of artists, Netflix had the highest bid with a commitment rumored to be in the $150 million range, but the streamer has made clear that wide theatrical releases are not the business Netflix is in. Warner Bros Pictures is believed to have paid a bit less, but the studio has committed to distribute Wuthering Heights in theaters globally.
Coming off of the success of Saltburn, Wuthering Heights marks the second collaboration among MRC, LuckyChap and Fennell, and the third collaboration with LuckyChap and Fennell.
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“We are thrilled to partner with MRC, Emerald Fennell, and LuckyChap for this feature film adaptation of Wuthering Heights,” said Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group’s Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy in confirming the deal to Deadline. “From the moment we were introduced to Emerald’s vision for the film, and with an incredible cast led by Margot and Jacob, we were instantly committed to forging a partnership with this team to ensure the movie was brought to theaters around the world.”
Said MRC film heads Brye Adler and Jonathan Golfman: “From our first conversations with Emerald about Wuthering Heights, we were inspired by her vision to make something that channels the longing and heartache of the novel while adding her distinctive sensibility and beautiful aesthetic. We are thrilled to partner with Warner Brothers and our friends at LuckyChap to help bring Emerald’s film to audiences around the world.
The buzz has been building on Wuthering Heights since Fennell herself teased last summer that it would be her next project and that she’d set it with MRC. Published by Brontë under the pseudonym Ellis Bell a year before her death, Wuthering Heights is set in the Yorkshire moors and revolves around the intense and often destructive relationships between two families: the Earnshaws and the Lintons. The narrative is framed by Mr. Lockwood, a tenant at Thrushcross Grange, who learns about the tumultuous history of Wuthering Heights through Nelly Dean, a longtime servant. The core of the novel is the passionate and tragic love story between Heathcliff, an orphan adopted by Mr. Earnshaw, and Mr. Earnshaw’s daughter, Catherine.
Fennell won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for Promising Young Woman, the scathing dark drama that starred Carey Mulligan that stamped the writer-director as a major new voice to watch. She made a provocative follow-up with Saltburn, working with Elordi as the Euphoria star began his transition to the big screen.
“I’m so excited to be working with the amazing team at Warner Bros, and to once again be partnering with the brilliant MRC and LuckyChap.” Fennell said.
The Warner Bros landing makes perfect sense. Robbie and LuckyChap principals Margot Robbie, Tom Ackerley and Josey McNamara have a multiyear first-look feature deal at WB, and are coming off the smash hit and Best Picture nominee Barbie.
MRC is coming off American Fiction, Fair Play and Blink.
Fennell is represented by UTA, Entertainment 360, United Agents and Hansen, Jacobson, Teller, Hoberman; Robbie is represented by Entertainment 360, CAA, Aran Michael Management and attorney Jeff Bernstein.
The post Warner Bros’ Global Theatrical Commitment Wins Emerald Fennell’s ‘Wuthering Heights’; Margot Robbie & Jacob Elordi Star In MRC Package With LuckyChap Producing appeared first on Deadline.
