The new version of “Wuthering Heights“ directed by Emerald Fennell and starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi has become one of the most talked-about movies of the year. But not all the attention is good. Even before the film hit theaters on February 13, 2026, people had strong opinions about everything from who was cast to how the classic story was being changed. Now that the movie is out and making serious money at the box office, the debates have only gotten louder.
The gothic romance, based on Emily Brontë’s 1847 novel, tells the story of the wild and destructive love between Catherine Earnshaw and the orphan boy Heathcliff. But Fennell’s version takes some big creative swings that have both critics and audiences arguing nonstop. Here is a breakdown of all the drama from beginning to now.
The First Signs of Trouble: July to September 2024
The controversy started almost as soon as the project was announced. When word got out that Emerald Fennell—the director behind the dark comedies Promising Young Woman and Saltburn—was taking on a beloved Victorian classic, fans of the book got nervous .
Fennell has a reputation for pushing boundaries with shocking scenes and stylish visuals. Some people worried she would turn the tragic love story into something more flashy than meaningful. The fact that she put the title in quotes—calling it “Wuthering Heights”—was her way of saying this would be her own take, not a straight adaptation. But that choice already rubbed some purists the wrong way .
Then in September 2024, the casting news dropped. Margot Robbie (then 34) and Jacob Elordi (then 27) would play Catherine and Heathcliff. Almost immediately, two major complaints emerged .
The first was about age. In the book, Catherine and Heathcliff are teenagers during their main love story. Critics pointed out that Robbie and Elordi were much older than the characters they were playing. The second complaint was bigger and more heated: Heathcliff’s race.
In the novel, Heathcliff is described as a “dark-skinned gipsy” with “black eyes.” Many scholars believe this means he was not white, and that his outsider status—including racist treatment—is central to the story. Casting the very white, very tall Australian actor Jacob Elordi made some people angry .
Fennell’s casting director, Kharmel Cochrane, defended the choices at a film festival in early 2025. She said, “There was one Instagram comment that said the casting director should be shot. But you really don’t need to be accurate. It’s just a book. That is not based on real life. It’s all art” .
That response did not calm things down. If anything, it added fuel to the fire.
The Trailer Ignites Everything: September 2025
When the first trailer arrived in September 2025, the conversation exploded . The preview showed Robbie and Elordi in very steamy scenes. There was a moment of suggestive breadmaking with flushed cheeks and heaving bodices. There were shots of naked torsos and corsets being pulled tight. All of it was set to a thumping Charli XCX song, “Everything Is Romantic” .
Social media lost it.
“Emily Bronte is rising from her grave as we speak because why did they turn wuthering heights into fifty shades of heathcliff and cathy,” one person posted on X, and that post got more than 53,000 likes .
Another person wrote, “I wish i did not live to see the day wuthering heights, a beautiful gothic novel about the cycle of generational trauma with themes of race, class, religion, mental illness, abuse, etc., was adapted into a white washed dark romance Booktok bodice ripper with a hyperpop soundtrack” .
The complaints piled up fast. People said the movie looked too sexy and not dark enough. They worried that the real pain of the story—the abuse, the revenge, the tragedy—would get lost in all the erotic visuals . The anachronistic touches, like the modern pop music and a wedding dress that looked more 1980s than 1800s, also bothered many viewers .
But not everyone hated it. Some fans were excited to see a bold new take.
One person wrote, “Did we read the same book? It was dark, tortured and their love story toxic. Each to their own, but for myself I never set the expectation a film adaptation will ever be exactly like the book” .
Another said, “They saltburned Emily Brontë, consider me sat” .
Behind-the-Scenes Drama: The “Stitch-Up” Claims
As the release date got closer, new accusations came out about how the cast was actually chosen. In early February 2026, reports surfaced that the whole process was more about friendship than fair auditions .
It turns out the film was produced by LuckyChap Entertainment, the company Margot Robbie runs with her husband Tom Ackerley and their friends. LuckyChap also produced Fennell’s previous movies. An insider told the press that Robbie lobbied hard for the role of Catherine and even returned to work just five months after having her first baby to make the film .
Jacob Elordi was also a repeat hire. He had starred in Fennell’s Saltburn as the aristocratic Felix Catton. Sources said Fennell always planned to work with him again .
An industry insider called it a “big stitch-up,” saying, “This is a group of friends who have worked together many times. What about all of the brilliant talent in the UK? There are so many young stars who could have been chosen but, instead, it has all stayed in-house, as a little private members’ club” .
This raised questions about whether the casting process was fair to other actors who never got a chance to try out for these major roles .
The Cast Speaks: “Mutual Obsession” Comments
During promotional interviews, Robbie and Elordi made comments that got people talking for other reasons. In conversations with Fandango, both actors described an intense connection while filming .
Elordi said, “We have a mutual obsession. I think the thing is, regardless of plot or screenplay, if you have the opportunity to share a film set with Margot Robbie, you’re going to make sure you’re within five to ten metres at all times. Watching how she drinks tea, how she eats her food, how she does it. When is it going to slip? When is the thing going to come undone? And it never comes undone” .
He also described running through the moors with Robbie and feeling like they truly became Catherine and Heathcliff. Robbie agreed, saying she gets “co-dependent” with people she works with and developed that feeling quickly with Elordi .
Some people found these comments sweet and a sign of good chemistry. Others felt the actors were being too intense and maybe blurring professional lines .
Critics Are Split Down the Middle: February 2026
When the movie finally opened on February 13, 2026, the reviews came in and they could not have been more different from each other .
On one side, you had critics who absolutely loved it. Robbie Collin of The Telegraph gave the film a perfect five stars. He called it “resplendently lurid, oozy and wild.” He argued that the style was the substance, saying, “Cathy and Heathcliff’s passions vibrate through their dress, their surroundings, and everything else within reach, and you leave the cinema quivering on their own private frequency” .
Vicky Jessop of The Standard gave it four stars and praised the “bags of chemistry” between Robbie and Elordi, calling it “unashamedly high-camp” .
But on the other side, critics were brutal. Peter Bradshaw at The Guardian handed out just two stars, describing the film as an “emotionally hollow, bodice-ripping misfire” and “a 20-page fashion shoot of relentless silliness, with bodices ripped to shreds and a saucy slap of BDSM” .
Clarisse Loughrey of The Independent went even lower with one star, writing, “Emerald Fennell’s astonishingly bad adaptation is like a limp Mills & Boon. Robbie and Elordi’s performances are almost pushed to the border of pantomime, while Fennell’s provocations seem to define the poor as sexual deviants and the rich as clueless prudes” .
Multiple reviewers compared the movie to a Carry On film, which is not the vibe anyone expects from a Brontë adaptation. The Times critic said the sexual tension felt like “an arthouse Carry On, with lingering shots of gloopy egg whites” .
Anita Rani Joins the Debate: Mid-February 2026
The conversation about race and casting got another boost when BBC presenter Anita Rani shared her thoughts on Instagram in mid-February . Rani had fronted a documentary on the Brontë sisters just the year before, so her opinion carried weight with fans of the literature.
She wrote that Heathcliff is described in the novel as dark skinned and marked as an outsider. She pointed out that Britain was at the height of colonial expansion when Emily Brontë wrote the book. Ignoring that context, she argued, erases an important part of the story .
Her comments were shared widely. Some people praised her for starting a necessary conversation about representation in period dramas. Others said she was overthinking it and that acting ability matters more than matching a character’s described appearance .
Box Office Victory: President’s Day Weekend 2026
Despite all the fighting online and in reviews, the movie is doing extremely well financially. Over the Valentine’s Day and President’s Day weekend, “Wuthering Heights” stormed to an estimated $82 million globally .
In the United States and Canada, it made about $40 million. Overseas, it pulled in another $42 million. The film opened on more than 18,000 screens worldwide .
The production budget was around $80 million, not counting all the money spent on marketing. The filmmakers had turned down a big offer from a streaming service to put the movie in theaters instead, and that gamble paid off .
Audiences who saw it gave the film a B grade in exit polls. Most of the ticket buyers were women. The movie landed the number one spot at the box office for the holiday frame .
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Why This Movie Makes People So Angry
There might be a reason this particular adaptation gets such strong reactions. Experts point out that people who love Wuthering Heights really love it. They often read it as teenagers, at an age when stories hit harder and stay with you forever .
Hephzibah Anderson wrote in a BBC article, “Most of us read Wuthering Heights in our teens. In other words, when we’re wildly impressionable” .
For many fans, the book becomes part of who they are and how they think about love. Some even credit Heathcliff with teaching them to chase toxic relationships. So when a filmmaker comes along and changes things, it can feel personal .
Fennell herself understands this. She said at a festival in September 2025 that she has been “obsessed” and “driven mad” by the book since she read it at 14. She added, “I know that if somebody else made [the film], I’d be furious” .
She probably does not mind the fury, though. Every new controversy brings more attention to her movie. And attention sells tickets .
The film is still playing in theaters, and the debates show no signs of stopping. Whether you love it or hate it, everyone seems to have an opinion on this version of “Wuthering Heights.”
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