Wuthering Heights became the world’s top-grossing film with $82 million, making it the top-grossing film of the year.
Those ticket sales include a better-than-expected $42 million overseas from 76 territories and a $40 million domestic debut over four days. (Rival studios believe the North American production budget will approach $35 million by Monday’s President’s Day holiday.) Warner Bros. is backing the $80 million production budget. Directed by Emerald Fennell and starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi, this bold and erotic remake of Emily Bronte’s classic novel is set in 18th century England and depicts Heathcliff’s toxic relationship with doomed lover Catherine Earnshaw.
Reviews and word of mouth were mixed, and domestic ticket sales were slightly lower than expected, so “Wuthering Heights” may rely on international audiences to offset its budget. (This is because movie theater owners keep about half of theater revenues.) Top overseas markets were the UK with $10.3 million, Italy with $4.4 million and Australia with $4.3 million. Warner Bros. does not report box office sales in Asia, but the film has not yet been released in two major markets: China and Japan.
In second place on the global chart was Sony’s sports comedy anime “GOAT,” which earned $47.6 million in its debut, including $15.6 million from 42 international markets. The children’s film about an aspiring lowball champion (similar to but different from Basketball) has yet to be released in 40% of overseas territories, including China, Australia, Germany and South Korea. Of the countries where “GOAT” is played, the United Kingdom brought in the highest prize money at $4.8 million, followed by Mexico at $1.8 million and Spain at $1.2 million.
“GOAT” cost $80 million to make, so Sony expects the film to be released in 2023 after “Migration” (which got off to a much quieter start and ended up grossing $300 million worldwide) and in 2024. The hope is that it will show impressive durability on par with recent animated features, including “The Wild Robot” (which also premiered overseas as a teenager and grossed $334 million worldwide). It’s the first new movie since Zootopia 2, which was released around Thanksgiving, but there won’t be any new movies until Pixar’s Hoppers is released in March.
“Crime 101,” a crime thriller starring Chris Hemsworth and Mark Ruffalo, took the No. 3 spot with $12 million in softs from 60 markets. The film, announced by Amazon MGM, opened at the domestic box office with an estimated $17.7 million through Monday after a sluggish $15 million in its traditional weekend, bringing its worldwide box office total to $29.7 million in four days. The top regions were the UK with $2 million, Australia with $1.4 million and Saudi Arabia with $790,000.
Although it was a decent start for an R-rated movie aimed at adults, Crime 101 cost $90 million to make (not including marketing costs). That means the film will likely need a long theatrical run to justify its price. Amazon MGM, a relative newcomer to the theatrical space, believes big screens can help raise the profile of movies before they’re available for streaming. Directed by Burt Layton (“American Animals”), “Crime 101” Hemsworth plays an elusive jewel thief who plans a high-stakes heist on a Los Angeles freeway.
