But Wuthering Heights 2026 is still having its moment. Variety reports that it's still #1 at the UK and Ireland box offices. Warner Bros.’ “Wuthering Heights” remained at No. 1 at the U.K. and Ireland box office in its second weekend, taking £3.8 million ($5.3 million) and pushing its cumulative total to £16.2 million ($22.1 million), according to Comscore. (Naman Ramachandran) After opening in second place over Valentine’s Day last weekend, Emerald Fennell‘s Wuthering Heights suffered a minuscule 16 percent drop to rise to the top of the Czech box office charts in its second weekend of release, according to data from the Czech Film Distributors Union. The Gothic romance starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi as ill-fated lovers Cathy and Heathcliff earned CZK 4.61 million to bring its two-week total to just north of CZK 13 million. Brit + Co recommends '6 'Wuthering Heights' Adaptations to Watch After the Controversial Remake'. IOL claims that 'Emerald Fennell's bold reimagining of Wuthering Heights challenges literary traditions' but in fact simply discusses the context of the film. There's also a similar article in The Lantern. A contributor to Fashion Magazine supposedly 'Dressed as Cathy to See Wuthering Heights'. A contributor to Missing Perspectives might be one of those reading just a bit too much into the casting choices as a form of white supremacy (the fact that they know better than the actors themselves--who supposedly didn't realise they were being used for racist purposes--is pretty eloquent, we think though). A contributor to The Conversation thinks that the film's casting choices show the film's 'almost complete lack of depth'. 'From BDSM To Sordid Affairs: What Emerald Fennell's Wuthering Heights Gets Right About 18th Century Sex' on HuffPost.
Some more reviews:
Olivia Blake, MP, reviews it for Politics Home, giving it 3/5. (1/5 for the purists). As a Yorkshire lass, Wuthering Heights holds a visceral place in my heart. I chose to view this new 2026 film adaptation not as the book I love, however, but as a standalone vision by director Emerald Fennell. Absolute purists will not enjoy this disconnected fantasy; it is certainly not Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights. But if you suspend expectations, it is an indulgent treat. The verdict? Emerald Fennell’s ‘make believe’ lacks the scent of windswept heather but has its own strange, man-made shine. Shallow, yes; glossy, certainly. Is it worth a watch? Yes – as long as you don’t expect the earthy style, substance, or plot of the book.
Going in, I expected something far more explicit. Instead, the film handled intimacy with surprising restraint. It was tasteful. Charged, yes, but never exploitative. There are a few moments that feel more distracting than seductive. But even that doesn’t tip into the film’s success. It just briefly pulls you out of the mood. At most, they briefly disrupt the atmosphere before it tightens its grip again. Wuthering Heights isn’t a comforting watch. It’s gothic in the truest senses: obsessive and morally-murky. It doesn’t glamorize love. It interrogates it. Is this what soulmates look like? Or is it what happens when two people mistake trauma for destiny? The film never gives you a clean answer. It just leaves you with the wind, the red, the silence and that love echoing in your head. Pleasure or death in Wuthering Heights are almost indistinguishable. (Savannah Stickrod-Worthen)
I loved that I thought back to the work of the poetic Emily with a new interpretation. And that my daughter could approach an old story with a contemporary lens. And I love that women made this. And they knew they would be criticised and hung high in the town square. They’re too old. Too blonde. Too much like Barbie. Too different from the book…but they did it anyway. Unapologetic. It made me realise why I have always found that bloody story so unsettling. Because I know what it is to be Cathy. That the darkness and shadow is not separate to me. It is me. I’m Cathy. I’ve come home. (Only thing I would have added at the end was Kate Bush.) (Mandy Nolan)
Without revealing salient plot points, Emerald Fennell (“Saltburn,” “Promising Young Woman”) focuses on tumultuous, obsessive lust – choosing overtly erotic style-over-substance – graphically chronicled in VistaVision by cinematographer Linus Sandgren and extravagantly enhanced by production designer Suzie Davies, set decorator Charlotte Diricks, costumer Jacqueline Durran and composer Charli xcx. (Susan Granger) While Fennell may not have cared so much about the book-to-movie adaptation of it all, she nevertheless succeeded in making an entertaining and visually pleasing movie. (Liliana Hummel) Still, much of Fennell’s “Wuthering Heights” is a visual treat for the armchair traveler. You get to viscerally wander those wild, craggy Yorkshire moors (or wherever the film was shot). Cue the cheesy but irresistible image of Heathcliff (Jacob Elordi) riding off on a rearing steed against a flaming sunset after hearing of Cathy’s engagement to wealthy neighbor Edgar Linton (Shazad Latif). Fennell’s version of Thrushcross Grange, Linton’s estate, as a scarlet-and-gold candy box—with Cathy’s bedroom walls patterned after her skin—is preposterous but fun to gape at. As is Cathy’s elaborate, far-too-modern wardrobe, which features flounces, tinsel, and décolletage—call it Barbie Victorian. Gape is the operative word; this movie dumbs you down. [...] There’s been much verbiage about Fennell’s in-quotes version of “Wuthering Heights” and whether it violates the spirit of the original, blah blah. There’s no reason a film adaptation can’t create a parallel version of its primary source. I’ve always thought the film of The English Patient was perhaps better than the novel, thanks to Ralph Fiennes and Kristin Scott Thomas—particularly the way the film clarified certain scenes that were illegible in the novel. Fennell’s “Wuthering Heights” is notable for its ambition, production values, and the sheer chutzpah of attempting to bring such a cherished masterwork of English literature to the screen. But none of that has resulted in a good film. (Erica Abeel)
Taking into account these clashing elements and reviews, the film has shown itself to be complex, visually extravagant and emotionally charged, but often lacking in character depth and Brontë’s overall message regarding class, identity and the destructive nature of obsessive love. (Polina Akulova) If you want to look at something pretty, see Elordi be mildly freaky and lots of aesthetic color choices, go see the movie. If you want to see something romantic, tragic, and with the substance of the novel — particularly a layered tragedy based on the abuses society deals to its most marginalized, and how love can still grow despite this — skip it. (Nazjai Dickson) Rice Thresher gives 4 stars to Charli XCX's Wuthering Heights album. When looking at “Wuthering Heights” both individually and in the context of the career Charli xcx has enjoyed, it is impossible not to love it. Though not as strong as some of her previous works, it is a spectacular addition to her catalog that is deserving of immense praise. It is a reminder that, despite whatever happens, Charli will do what she wants to do to fulfill her artistic mission and create something extraordinary along the way. (Layne Heath)
A contributor to Her Campus reviews the film as well.
Great British Life has a tempting article on 'Why you should move to Haworth in West Yorkshire'. It’s a bright, crisp, perfect winter’s day as I cross the moors towards Haworth, and the north feels anything but grim as I take in the sweeping views before me. This is Brontë country, a landscape immortalised by the literary sisters in the pages of their world-famous novels. Some footpath signs to sites made famous through their association with the Brontë's books are written in Japanese and English, an indication of how popular this corner of Yorkshire is for enthusiasts worldwide. For many who visit, this isn’t just a day out, it’s a pilgrimage - a chance to step into the world that shaped some of the greatest novels in English literature. The charm of Haworth and the surrounding area is being appreciated by an even wider audience, thanks to social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram. (Felicity Macnamara)
'A Wuthering Heights-inspired weekend in Yorkshire' in The Week. A far less intense Wuthering sequel or prequel or retelling, or between-quotes-reimagining. A pure and simple colouring book:
Series: Colouring After Dark Imprint: Wren & Rook ISBN: 9781526368348 February 12, 2026
Enter the windswept world of Wuthering Heights in this richly detailed colouring book, inspired by one of literature’s most haunting love stories and the new feature film adaptation starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi. Perfect for snuggling up in cosy candlelight after dark, this beautifully illustrated colouring book features 20 atmospheric scenes to colour – from wild Yorkshire landscapes and grand manor houses to candlelit rooms, roaring fires and secret, stolen glances. Each page captures the passion, drama and intensity that define Emily Brontë’s timeless tale. Blending cosy comfort with dark academia aesthetics, this gothic romance colouring book is perfect for quiet evenings, mindfulness relaxation and literary escapism. Featuring selected quotes, excerpts and character profiles, it makes the perfect gift for classic literature lovers and anyone enchanted by brooding moors and star-crossed love.
Emerald Fennell's Wuthering Heights is no longer the only Brontë in town. A new adaptation of Jane Eyre (as a TV adaptation) is being developed, according to Deadline: Deadline hears that The White Lotus and Sex Education star Aimee Lou Wood is attached to star in a new TV adaptation of Charlotte Brontë’s classic novel Jane Eyre. Emmy nominee Wood will play the indomitable heroine in the buzzy adaptation, which we understand is being produced by UK powerhouse Working Title and is penned by Miriam Battye, a WGA Award winner for her work on Succession. We hear there are advanced discussions with a UK broadcaster to join the project. (Andreas Wiseman)
Plenty of other news outlets repeat the news: Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Harper's Bazaar...
The New York Times has an article on 'What Brontë Country Tells Us About Britain Today'. Nestled among the wide-open moors of West Yorkshire sits Haworth, the English village where Emily Brontë wrote “Wuthering Heights,” the gothic romance that inspired Hollywood’s latest steamy adaptation. The cobblestone streets and rugged hills here still conjure the hardscrabble life and wild forces of nature that underpin the novel. As it did in 1847, when the book was published, the region offers a window into the stark contrasts and economic struggles that challenge Britain. Now, as then, social and demographic change, rising food prices and widening wealth inequality are driving populist political movements, calls for reform and spasms of unrest. Haworth is eight miles from Bradford, a town that Emily’s father, Patrick, visited often in his role as an Anglican priest. In the mid-19th century, Bradford was a wealthy, fast-growing center of textile manufacturing, home to powerful parliamentary lawmakers and a destination for tourists and traders. The city’s decline is typical of the hollowing-out of many postindustrial towns and cities in northern England, fueling the poverty and frustration that are shaking up British politics. [...] One afternoon in November, tourists gathered to listen to a banjo player outside the Villette Coffee House in Haworth. Couples walked their dogs. Parents struggled to push their strollers along the deeply rutted cobblestones. Bradford’s woes can seem far from here. Many people believe, incorrectly, that the Brontë siblings grew up in a remote, backward place. As Juliet Barker writes in “The Brontës,” Haworth was actually “a busy, industrial township” with 13 small textile mills in the area when Patrick Brontë became curate in 1820. The village had its own surgeon, a wine merchant, a watchmaker and three cabinetmakers. It was overcrowded, however, and had primitive sanitation. An 1850 report found that more than 2 in 5 children died before their sixth birthday and average life expectancy was under 26 years. While Bradford now struggles economically, Haworth became a destination for literature fans around the world, exemplifying the value of Britain’s heritage to its tourism industry, which employs over a million people and contributes more than $100 billion a year to the economy. A local couple spent one Saturday stringing bunting from the wooden beams of Haworth’s recently refurbished old schoolhouse building, where Charlotte Brontë, Emily’s older sister and the author of “Jane Eyre,” had her wedding reception in 1854. Down the street, tourists quietly filed through the Brontë home that is now a museum. Outside, the moors stretch as far as the eye can see, rolling hills of dark green and brown divided by bare stone walls. (Michael D. Shear)
Daily Mail reports that ' Wuthering Heights fans go WILD after discovering Cliff Richard giving Jacob Elordi a run for his money with his own questionable Yorkshire accent to play Heathcliff in 90s musical: 'This is what Emily Brontë would have wanted!'' Wuthering Heights fans have gone wild after Cliff Richard's 90s musical based on the novel, which he co-wrote and starred in as Heathcliff, has gone viral. Aussie Jacob Elordi may be smouldering on screen in Emerald Fennell's new big screen adaption, but first came Sir Cliff, now 85, with his own strangely wig and questionable Yorkshire accent. Gone is the crooner's squeaky clean persona to play the rogue in the 1996 show which was a huge hit with fans but loathed by critics, who hit out at Cliff's casting. [...] Taking to TikTok fans joked: 'This is what Emily Brontë would have wanted!': 'Cliff heard a Yorkshire accent, once, in a dream': 'I'm screaming!!': 'Sorry but this is what all movie to musical adaptations sound like to me': 'Why didn't they call it Heathcliffe Richards?': 'I am only surprised that Cilla Black wasn't cast as Cathy'. (Geraint Llewellyn)
A contributor to Salon wonders about all the hate for the film. That’s a real shame, considering how interesting Fennell’s “Wuthering Heights” is if you can divorce yourself from the film’s source material, as its writer-director does with palpable glee. Her take is a maelstrom of splendid beauty and doomed love, colliding at a feverish pace that makes the fidelity to Brontë’s book moot. This is Fennell’s vision, her creation. Its bones are the same, but its cells are different. Why, then, is Fennell’s adaptation of a classic met with such ruthless scrutiny, when another recent Jacob Elordi-starring remix on an equally beloved, oft-remade tale — Guillermo del Toro’s “Frankenstein” — was lauded by both critics, viewers and awards bodies alike? Fennell’s “Wuthering Heights” pivots the novel toward fantastical anachronism and open-hearted femininity, while del Toro’s “Frankenstein” is a dour, dark spin that blunts the sentimentality of Mary Shelley’s book for an adaptation that plays more like a superhero origin story. Both filmmakers chose to make Elordi their 6 ‘6 muse, using his imposing stature to their gain — strong and rugged as Fennell’s Heathcliff, while towering and intimidating as del Toro’s Creature — and the cinematic story arcs for both characters regularly deviate from their respective novels. Despite these and other glaring similarities between these films released just four months apart, only one movie was met with virulent animosity from the jump, and somehow, it wasn’t the worst movie of the two. This isn’t just the latest layer in the longtime double standard for films made by women compared to those made by men; the reaction also indicates a frightening lack of curiosity among stubborn viewers unwilling to consider a reality beyond a prevailing narrative. [...] That may be the most disturbing aspect of all. Whether people enjoy Fennell’s work is a matter of personal taste. But refusing to keep an open mind and stay curious about a film simply because of a filmmaker’s reputation for (relatively tame!) smuttiness is detrimental to the cinema that Fennell’s critics purport to uphold. “Wuthering Heights” may not be to many people’s taste, but what Fennell has done is irrefutably interesting. She’s made something different from your typical adaptation, a movie that brings a fresh perspective to a very old and frequently retold tale. How very frustrating that so many people have closed off their minds and hearts to the film before they’ve even seen it, or before the credits rolled. Such baseless reticence only makes us more defiant and less inquisitive. Social media might be the modern watercooler — the dominating force of cultural conversation — but taking its narratives as gospel without considering art for ourselves only reinforces our worst instincts and upholds the systems that a surprising, offbeat and altogether different film like “Wuthering Heights” rallies against. (Coleman Spilde)
Thred has an article on how 'Wuthering Heights yearning feels out of step with Gen Z dating'. Wuthering Heights may be romantic for some, but in today’s culture, no one ought to regard the relationship between Cathy and Heathcliff as something to aim for; it’s at best absent, and at worst innately toxic. (Annie Dabb) Marie Claire thinks that 'Isabella and Her BDSM Ribbons Are What Hold "Wuthering Heights" Together'. It’s Alison Olivier’s character, Isabella, in particular, whose journey embodies the symbolism behind the ribbons. At her residence, Thushcross Grange, the wealthy, sheltered young woman spends her days in a room dedicated to sashes and bows, making creations like dolls crafted from human hair. While her proclivities may make her appear naive, her girlishness ultimately comes to represent her own self-discovery and how she revels in control. [...] In the second part of Isabella’s arc, her hair is now worn loose, but bows and rosettes still line her gowns. Oliver plays the character like she’s constantly frothing at the mouth, eager for something more, but she’s still the woman with the ribbon room in these fetishistic scenes; she’s just now allowed herself to come undone. (Sadie Bell)
A contributor to Her Campus discusses 'The Withering of Wuthering Heights: Deviation from Brontë’s Original Vision'. Another contributor to Her Campus reviews the film. Woman Alive uses the film to discuss 'Faith, truth and the temptation to romanticise in Wuthering Heights'. Herald Sun has 'Acclaimed sex historian,' and author Dr Esme Louise explain whether the film is historically accurate. El Diario (Spain) discusses Heathcliff's race. El Confidencial Digital (in Spanish) has an AI-illustrated article on the filming locations of Wuthering Heights 2026. The rise of 'Brontë beauty' on Body and Soul. The Irish Independent suggests readers 'Go wild with the Wuthering Heights trend' when it comes to interior decoration. Independent reports that 'Corsets are back in fashion – and it’s all because of Wuthering Heights'.
We have some more reviews of Wuthering Heights 2026:
If one can separate Fennell’s adaptation from its source material, it’s altogether captivating. However, the film’s title, enclosed in quotation marks, emphasizes an important point: It is only “Wuthering Heights” in essence. Fennell’s version raises a consequential question — if you replace a story’s substance, is it still the same story? How much can creative liberty justify before an adaptation becomes a rip-off? (Abbey Conley) Actually, the whole film is probably best enjoyed as a kind of offshoot of Barbie. Call it “Wuthering Heights Barbie,” featuring the famous doll boxed up in a tightly corseted nineteenth-century gown with BDSM accessories like whips and hangman’s nooses and horse’s bridles. It’s also sold with an elaborate new Barbie’s Dreamhouse, the glamorously dreary Gothic version, with a dark-haired Ken in heavy sideburns grinning fondly at Barbie from the doorway. And Fennell has thought of practically all the sex positions those blank-eyed dolls can be put into, with their arms that go up and down, and bendy joints, and heads that turn all the way around! (Eileen Jones) “Wuthering Heights” is the rare studio film where the below-the-line work doesn’t support the vision — it is the vision. Having been introduced to Emerald Fennell’s filmmaking through that Promising Young Woman panel, watching the team she has built and the scale at which they now operate, this is exactly the trajectory you hoped for. The moors look magnificent, the obsession feels real, and the craft is impeccable. This is a film made by people who care deeply about every frame — and it shows. (Byron Burton) What fascinates is not whether this adaptation is faithful, but why it feels so precisely calibrated to now. We live in a culture that celebrates emotional extremity, provided it remains interpretable and contained. We want intensity, but we want distance from its consequences. We want the experience of witnessing emotional chaos without surrendering to its destabilising force. This film reflects that instinct. It offers devastation as an encounter rather than a transformation. Something to observe, not something that alters you. In doing so, it adapts not just Wuthering Heights, but our diminished tolerance for emotional risk. The original story confronted readers with emotional violence that refused resolution or distance. This version allows you to remain safely outside it. I left impressed by its craft, but more struck by what its restraint represented. The film doesn't weaken the story so much as reveal the conditions under which stories now exist. They must be legible. They must be shareable. They must survive translation into image. The moors remain wild. What has changed is our willingness to be undone by them. (Anoushka Madan)
Fennell’s masterpiece (so far) is her 2020 thriller “Promising Young Woman” starring Carey Mulligan. That film earned Fennell a well-deserved Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. Her ultra-weird 2023 offering “Saltburn” (also starring Elordi) was a letdown. “Wuthering Heights” falls somewhere in the middle. Unfortunately, the best compliment I can pay “Wuthering Heights” is to say it’s not as bad as you’ve heard. But I realize that is faint praise, at best. (Andy Ray) I feel this film is adequately okay. It is not a conventional period drama, but it’s also not a smoothly organized one (or a carefully designed one) either. (Casey Allen) The film’s abrupt ending inverts our expectations, circling back to Cathy and Heathcliff in their youth. They are bonded from the very beginning until the very end. Cathy is headstrong in defending Heathcliff against her father, even when it scares her. Heathcliff is guarded and protects Cathy, even when it costs him. We see just how much each of their inner children resurface in their adult relationship: Deep down, they are emotionally sensitive, although they fight to appear otherwise, both to outsiders and each other. In my viewing experience, I felt compelled to consider the notion of forgiveness. At one point, Cathy says to Heathcliff, “You’re too late,” and I was left asking: When is it too late, and where do forgiveness and regret intersect? I find myself still pondering these questions as I write this, a few days after my viewing. I’m unsure whether I appreciate or detest these unanswered questions, but perhaps that’s what Fennell’s “‘Wuthering Heights’” is all about — an invitation to face those haunting thoughts, whether we like them or not. (Olivia Barkwill)
For those avid Brontë fans willing to loosen their grip on strict fidelity, the film offers something compelling - a strikingly immersive and carefully curated vision that asserts its own identity. [...] It's dramatic, gruesome, and confrontational - Fennell immediately signals that this will not be a museum piece adaptation. [...] These changes transform ambiguous cruelty into explicit manipulations, heightening emotional stakes and making the story more immediate and cinematic for modern viewers. Fennell clearly favors intense layered drama. (Nawal Ahmad)
At the time of its 1847 publication, Brontë’s novel was considered brutal and coarse, devoting unconventional time to themes of female liberation and the racial hierarchy of late Georgian England. In her film adaptation, Fennell has stripped the story of most of this core meaning. Instead, she injects “Wuthering Heights” with excessive and shiny contemporary touches as though they automatically make the film subversive and thought-provoking for modern audiences. (Isabella Konecky) Fennell set out to recreate how the novel felt at 14: intoxicating, dangerous, erotic. And at moments, she succeeds. It comes across very differently from Brontë's original novel, which endures by being about two forces so volatile that they destroy everything around them, including themselves, not because of how sexy or shocking the story is, as Fennel depicts in this film adaptation. (Nora Siddique) Conversely, Fennell’s adaptation is messy and watered down, all tied up in a pretty little bow that fails to mask its disingenuity. Some may argue that the quotation marks around the film’s title suggest that it is merely an interpretation. However, Fennell’s film borrows too much from the source material to be thought of as anything other than an adaptation. As much as I tried to see this film as its own entity separate from the novel, at the end of the day it cannot be totally removed from the context of the original work. As hard as Fennell tried to depict Wuthering Heights in her own way, she missed the mark entirely, making a mockery of Brontë’s magnum opus. (Sarah Toman)
A gorgeous set design is not enough to make up for a flawed production that badly misinterprets the story Emily Bronte set forth to tell in the 19th century. There are a bare handful of good moments, but it isn't nearly enough to save the film from itself. Should be remembered as a cautionary tale as to how adapting a book can go wrong even with the best of intentions. (Becky O'Brien) A filmmaker with genuine concern for her characters’ minds, hearts, and bodies alike could have perhaps employed this approach to mine the material for a new and unique interpretation. Fennell, instead, has not created a film but a walking, talking, sexual Pinterest board—maybe a fine Bridgerton fanfic, but no excuse to desecrate a classic. (Avantika Jagdhari) Esta interpretación entiende que el verdadero terror de amar no radica en perder al otro, sino en descubrirse irreversiblemente transformado por ese vínculo. Y es precisamente en esa devastación emocional donde radica su fuerza, en recordarnos que las historias de amor más memorables no son las que consuelan, sino las que dejan una marca imborrable. (Mónica Castellón) (Translation)
WDIY has an audio review of the film.
An alert for today, February 24, a the Brontë Birthplace in Thornton: Speaker: Charlotte Jones, Education Officer Tuesday 24th February 6:30pm Bronte Birthplace, 72-74 Market Street, Thornton, BD13 3HF
Step into the turbulent world of the Brontë sisters and explore why their novels shocked, unsettled, and enthralled 19th‑century readers with our Education Officer, Charlotte Jones. This talk examines how Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall challenged Victorian expectations around morality, gender, class, religion, and emotional restraint. Filled with passionate heroines, morally complex characters, and unflinching portrayals of desire, anger, and independence, the Brontës’ novels were seen by many critics as dangerous, improper, or even immoral. Why did reviewers struggle to believe such bold, transgressive stories were written by women—and what anxieties did these books provoke? With the release of the new Wuthering Heights film, this talk offers the perfect chance to look beyond the screen and return to the fierce, unsettling novel that inspired it. We’ll explore how Emily Brontë’s original vision compares with modern interpretations, why filmmakers continue to be drawn to its wild emotional landscape, and what the latest adaptation reveals about the story’s enduring power. Whether you’re coming fresh from the cinema or revisiting the book, this session opens up the raw, radical heart of Wuthering Heights in a whole new way.
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