This is a reminder of what Hollywood studios are missing out on when they exclude women from directing jobs.
Emerald Fennell’s lacquered new take on “Wuthering Heights” was on pace to sell roughly $40 million in tickets from Friday through Monday in the United States and Canada, according to Warner Bros., which distributed the film. The movie, starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi, was expected to take in an additional $42 million over that period overseas, giving Ms. Fennell’s film a pulse-pounding $82 million global debut.
Warner Bros. spent an estimated $80 million on the R-rated romance, not including hefty marketing costs.
Netflix had offered roughly $150 million for the project, which Ms. Fennell adapted from Emily Brontë’s classic novel. Ms. Fennell and Ms. Robbie, who produced the movie with MRC, an independent film company, went with Warner Bros. because it promised a wide theatrical release, something Netflix had refused. In the end, Warner Bros. booked “Wuthering Heights” into 18,028 theaters worldwide.
Ms. Fennell is a rarity in Hollywood — a woman who has received steady and substantial support for her filmmaking, despite a lack of box office success early on.
Her first feature film, “Promising Young Woman,” was a critical darling in 2020, earning Ms. Fennell an Oscar for best original screenplay and a nomination for best director. But that movie was released when the Covid-19 pandemic had forced many theaters to close; the film collected only $6.5 million in the United States and Canada. Ms. Fennell’s second movie, “Saltburn,” arrived in 2023 and took in about $11 million.
“The studios routinely take risks on inexperienced male directors, giving them first and often second chances,” said Martha Lauzen, who leads the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University. “The same can’t be said for women who direct.”
Last year, women made up 13 percent of directors working on the top-250 films at the domestic box office, down from 16 percent in 2024, according to Ms. Lauzen’s “celluloid ceiling” research.
“Given declining box office revenues and the pervasive creative malaise in the business, one would think the studios would aggressively seek out and nurture directors, including women, with fresh perspectives and promising first features,” Ms. Lauzen said. (Movie theaters in North America sold $8.9 billion in tickets in 2025, a 2 percent increase from a year earlier. But the domestic box office remains roughly 20 percent below totals for prepandemic years.)
Warner Bros., the studio that Netflix and Paramount Skydance are fighting each other to purchase, has become one exception. Next month, Warner Bros. will release “The Bride!” an $80 million movie directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal and inspired by the 1935 classic “Bride of Frankenstein.”
For the holiday weekend in the United States, which included Valentine’s Day on Saturday and Presidents’ Day on Monday, “Wuthering Heights” was No. 1, according to Comscore, which compiles box office data. The film’s audience was roughly 76 percent female and 68 percent white, according to PostTrak, a film industry research service. Ticket buyers gave it a B grade in CinemaScore exit polls.
“Goat,” an original animated movie about an animal with dreams to play in the basketball big leagues, was a strong second, with expected ticket sales from Friday through Monday of about $32 million. Sony spent about $80 million to make “Goat,” which took in an additional $16 million in partial release overseas.
“Crime 101,” a $90 million thriller from Amazon MGM Studios, took in about $18 million in third place, with overseas ticket sales adding another $12 million.
Brooks Barnes is the chief Hollywood correspondent for The Times. He has reported on the entertainment industry for 25 years.
The post ‘Wuthering Heights’ Gallops Toward $82 Million in Global Ticket Sales appeared first on New York Times.
