Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi’s Wuthering Heights won the crowded Thursday preview race with $3 million in sales. That’s a solid showing for a literary adaptation that’s hardly a conventional tale of Emily Brontë’s iconic novel as Warner Bros. movie chiefs Pamela Abdy and Michael De Luca once again roll the dice on an auteur filmmaker, this time Emerald Fennell.
The movie — which also marks a key test for Robbie in the post-Barbie era — is expected to top the long Valentine’s Day/President’s Day weekend with $40 million to $50 million for the four days. That’s a stellar start for a title based on a book known best by older females. Warners marketing team is also working hard to seduce Gen Zers and younger Millennials, as reflected by much of the ad campaign.
Warners and partner MRC paid $80 million to pick up rights to the project, reportedly beating out a far larger offer of $150 million from Netflix. Critics are somewhat divided over Fennell’s steamy reinterpretation of the 1847 Brit-lit classic about obsessive love, possession and doomed passion on the West Yorkshire moors as the worlds of the brooding Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw collide.
“Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi Set Hearts and Loins Aquiver in Decidedly Non-Gothic Brontë Adaptation,” headlined David Rooney’s The Hollywood Reporter review.
The holiday marquee is a sight for sore eyes after a sluggish start of the year.
Sony Animation and producer Stephen Curry‘s GOAT is expected to open to $20 million or more after earning $1 million in Thursday’s previews. To boot, it boasts stellar exits and strong reviews (don’t forget that Sony animation is home of both the the Spider-Verse movies and cultural sensation Kpop Demon Hunters).
Inspired by a tale from Curry’s childhood, the original family pic follows Will, a small goat with big dreams (Caleb McLaughlin) who gets a once-in-a-lifetime shot to join the pros and play roarball – a high-intensity, co-ed, full-contact sport dominated by the fastest, fiercest animals in the world. Will’s new teammates aren’t thrilled about having a little goat on their roster, but Will is determined to revolutionize the sport and prove once and for all that “smalls can ball
Directed by Tyree Dillihay and co-directed by Adam Rosettee, the voice cast includes Gabrielle Union, Nicola Coughlan, Nick Kroll, David Harbour, Jenifer Lewis, Aaron Pierre, Patton Oswalt, Andrew Santino, Bobby Lee, Eduardo Franco, Sherry Cola, Jelly Roll and Jennifer Hudson. (Curry voices the role of a giraffe roarball player.)
Appealing to critics the most appealing so far is Amazon MGM Studio and director Bart Layton’s ensemble crime noir pic Crime 101, which earned a combined $1 million in previews, including previous sneaks. The Chris Hemsworth, Halle Berry, Mark Ruffalo pic is targeting a $15 million-plus launch over the four-day holiday weekend.
The L.A.-set move, based on author Don Winslow’s novella of the same name, follows detective Lou Lubesnick as he attempts to solve a string of multimillion-dollar jewel heists by tracking the perpetrator who follows a strict set of rules known as “Crime 101.” As the fates of the various characters converge, the line between hunter and hunted blurs.
Working Title produced Crime 101 alongside The Story Factory, RAW and Wild State. Amazon MGM paid $90 million-plus for rights to the project.
The film’s current Rotten Tomatoes score is 86 percent, compared to 65 percent for Wuthering Heights and 79 percent for GOAT. (THR‘s review of Crime 101 more skeptical than of the others.)
Preview numbers at this level don’t deliver a verdict in either direction. Rather, studios will get a sense of where they stand as matinee business starts and early evening shows get underway, along with pressales. Wuthering Heights is seeing brisk sales for Saturday, or Valentine’s day.
