Emerald Fennell’s directorial career got off to a strong start with Promising Young Woman, which was nominated for Best Picture. She followed that up with Saltburn, which wasn’t a player on the Oscars circuit, but still received mostly positive reviews and a handful of accolades of its own. Fennell was looking to go 3/3 earlier this year with an adaptation of Wuthering Heights, pairing Margot Robbie with Jacob Elordi. The film went down as a box office success, bringing in $242 million worldwide against a production budget of $80 million. Sadly, it snapped Fennell’s Rotten Tomatoes streak with a rotten score, but that hasn’t discouraged people from checking it out on streaming.
According to FlixPatrol, which measures the popularity of titles on various streaming services, Wuthering Heights is the No. 1 movie on HBO Max in the United States, beating out Best Picture nominee Mary Supreme for the top spot. Other notable films it’s ahead of include The Devil Wears Prada and Christy.
Ironically, the mixed critical reception (57% on Rotten Tomatoes) likely played a factor in Wuthering Heights‘ streaming success. In the age of shorter theatrical windows, it’s become more common for people to wait for certain titles to hit home media before watching them. If a general viewer is going to make the trip to the theater, they want to feel as if the film is going to be worth it. Wuthering Heights clearly didn’t have difficulty drawing people to the multiplex, but there were likely some who saw the reviews and decided they’d be better off waiting for streaming.
Additionally, Wuthering Heights is a new addition to the HBO Max library. It debuted on the streaming service on May 1st, which gave it a boost. Subscribers are always browsing the home page to see what titles have been added, and those typically get a boost in popularity. HBO Max subscribers want to take advantage of Wuthering Heights being available quickly before Warner Bros. decides to license it to another service.
The talent involved with Wuthering Heights is another reason why the film is such a big hit on streaming. Robbie and Elordi are recognizable stars with several accolades to their credit; Elordi was recently a Best Supporting Actor nominee for his turn in Frankenstein. Robbie was coming off of the box office bomb A Big Bold Beautiful Journey, but she’s still popular with viewers thanks to her work in Barbie, the DC Extended Universe, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, and more. Their involvement with Wuthering Heights raised the pedigree of the film, especially after the casting choices inspired controversy.
Wuthering Heights may not have gone down as a new classic adaptation, but it sports an impressive sense of style, which makes it worth seeking out. Fennell’s approach to the adaptation wasn’t for everyone, but those kinds of polarizing films usually make for the most fascinating watches. It can be fun to see the movie for yourself and see what side of the debate you fall on, rather than relying on the opinions of others. Given all the discussion surrounding Wuthering Heights in the build-up to its release, it’s no surprise it’s a draw on HBO Max.
What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
