New Wuthering Heights Film Leaves Critics & Audiences Barely Divided On Rotten Tomatoes

Regardless of backlash for making key modifications, Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights will get a verdict from audiences.

Emily Brontë’s literary traditional is as soon as once more tailored to the massive display, with Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi paired because the main duo, Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff, whose harmful relationship turns into central to the story’s themes of affection, jealousy, and revenge. Nonetheless, regardless of one other iteration of Brontë’s story, 2026’s Wuthering Heights has been marred with controversy, starting from casting selections to stark deviation from the novel, which fueled disapproval from literary purists.

After just a few days in theaters, moviegoers share their ideas in regards to the romance film, and it’s largely optimistic. In response to Rotten Tomatoes, Robbie and Elordi’s Wuthering Heights holds a powerful 84% rating, which relies on over 250 verified rankings. This result’s higher than the critics’ rating of 63%, which has been declining because the first opinions dropped earlier within the week. The up to date Tomatometer signifies that 2026’s Wuthering Heights is now the second-lowest-rated adaptation, simply forward of the 1992 model.

If this rating holds, Fennell’s visionary movie ties for the second-highest viewers rating in comparison with previous Wuthering Heights diversifications. Whereas the 2026 iteration shares the rankings with the two-part sequence starring Tom Hardy and Charlotte Riley, Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon’s Oscar-nominated model stays the very best, with a one-point distinction at 85%. There’s a slight divide between critics and the viewers, with a 21-point hole.

As well as, it’s additionally the second-highest rated film directed by Fennell, simply behind Promising Younger Girl’s 87%. It’s nonetheless a exceptional enchancment over Saltburn, which has 79%.

The viewers reception for Wuthering Heights is critical, on condition that the brand new adaptation confronted intense backlash forward of its launch. The film’s criticism began with the casting of Elordi as Heathcliff, which sparked accusations of whitewashing one of many main roles. Some literary pundits and readers argue that the protagonist is an individual of colour, because the novel describes him as a “dark-skinned gipsy.” Elordi is a White actor from Australia.

Fennell defended the casting alternative, saying that he “appeared precisely just like the illustration of Heathcliff on the primary guide that I learn.” Traditionally, Heathcliff has been prominently portrayed by White actors, together with Hardy, Olivier, and Ralph Fiennes. Andrea Arnold’s 2011 model was the uncommon exception, as James Howson turned the primary Black actor to painting the male lead.

Moreover, Wuthering Heights ignited growing dissent following the discharge of the primary trailer. After showcasing pictures that romanticized the story, readers have been dismayed by the method because it pivoted from the novel’s themes of violent revenge, poisonous manipulation, and generational trauma. The director additionally defended this story route, saying that “There’s an infinite quantity of sado-masochism on this guide,” which influenced “a form of masochistic train.”

Given the variety of guide modifications, Fennell asserted that her Wuthering Heights is extra of a reinterpretation than a direct adaptation, which means that the model that she is showcasing is what she imagined: “All I might do was make a film that made me really feel the way in which the guide made me really feel, and due to this fact it simply felt proper to say it’s Wuthering Heights, and it isn’t.”

However, informal audiences typically favor the brand new adaptation, with Wuthering Heights opinions praising Robbie and Elordi’s performances and Fennell’s breathtaking manufacturing, alongside the audacious route of a forbidden love story. Regardless of the divisiveness, field workplace projections estimate an enormous opening weekend at round $50 million and $55 million. This can be a very robust begin for Warner Bros. because the finances was $80 million. It’s additionally anticipated to dominate the weekend towards information releases, Crime 101 and GOAT.

Brontë handed away from tuberculosis in 1848, only a 12 months after she revealed her first and solely novel, Wuthering Heights. The guide was extremely polarizing throughout its time, nevertheless it turned a literary traditional over time and influenced a number of TV and film diversifications. Fennell is the newest filmmaker to sort out the unbelievable story, and it appears to have gained over many audiences regardless of all of the trials and tribulations.

Wuthering Heights is now taking part in in theaters.

Launch Date

February 13, 2026

Runtime

136 Minutes

Director

Emerald Fennell

Writers

Emerald Fennell, Emily Brontë

Producers

Margot Robbie, Tom Ackerley, Emerald Fennell, Josey McNamara