Wuthering Heights Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score Debuts With A Surprise After Intense Backlash Concerning Literary Changes

Regardless of backlash for making key adjustments, Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights is receiving a verdict from viewers.

Emily Brontë’s literary basic is as soon as once more tailored for the display screen, with Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi enjoying the lead duo, Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff, whose harmful relationship is central to the story’s themes of affection, jealousy and revenge. However regardless of one other retelling of Bronte’s story, 2026’s Wuthering Heights was mired in controversy, from casting selections to drastic deviations from the novel, fueling unfavorable critiques from literary purists.

After watching it in theaters for a couple of days, moviegoers share their ideas on this romantic film, and the critiques are largely optimistic. In line with Rotten Tomatoes, Robbie and Elordi’s Wuthering Heights has a excessive rating of 84%, based mostly on over 250 verified scores. This result’s higher than the critics rating of 63%, which has continued to drop since preliminary critiques dropped earlier this week. The up to date Tomatometer signifies that in 2026, Wuthering Heights would be the second-lowest rated movie adaptation, behind the 1992 model.

If this rating holds, Fennell’s visionary movie will tie for second-highest viewers rating in comparison with previous Wuthering Heights movie diversifications. The 2026 model is sharing scores with the two-part sequence starring Tom Hardy and Charlotte Riley, however Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon’s Oscar-nominated model stays the very best, with a one-point distinction at 85%.

Moreover, the movie acquired the second highest ranking amongst Fennell’s movies, behind Promising Younger Lady, which acquired an 87% ranking. This nonetheless represents a marked enchancment over Saltburn’s 79%.

The viewers reception of Wuthering Heights is critical, contemplating the brand new movie adaptation confronted intense backlash earlier than its launch. Criticism of the movie started with Elordi’s casting as Heathcliff, resulting in accusations that he had whitewashed considered one of his key roles. Some literary critics and readers have argued that the primary character is an individual of colour, as he’s described within the novel as a “dark-skinned gypsy.” Elordi is a white Australian actor.

Fennell defended the casting selection, saying, “It regarded precisely just like the illustration of Heathcliff within the first guide I learn.” Traditionally, Heathcliff has been portrayed prominently by white actors resembling Hardy, Olivier, and Ralph Fiennes. Andrea Arnold’s 2011 model was a uncommon exception, with James Howson turning into the primary black actor to play the male lead.

Moreover, Wuthering Heights sparked an uptick in destructive opinions after the discharge of the primary trailer. After introducing photos that romanticize the story, readers had been upset by the method, which strayed from the novel’s themes of violent revenge, dangerous manipulation, and intergenerational trauma. The director additionally defended the course of the story, saying, “There’s an enormous quantity of sadomasochism on this guide,” and that it impressed “some form of masochistic coaching.”

Given the variety of adjustments to the guide, Fennell has argued that her Wuthering Heights is extra of a reinterpretation than a direct adaptation, that means that the model being proven is the one she imagined. “All I may do was make a film that felt the way in which the guide made me really feel. So I believed it was proper to say that is Wuthering Heights, but it surely’s not.”

Nonetheless, informal audiences have usually been supportive of the brand new adaptation, with critiques of Wuthering Heights praising Robbie and Elordi’s performances and Fennell’s breathtaking course, in addition to the daring rendition of the forbidden love story. Regardless of divisive opinions, field workplace forecasts predict that the movie will gross round $50 million and $55 million throughout its opening weekend. With a finances of $80 million, this was a really sturdy begin for Warner Bros. It is usually anticipated to dominate the weekend towards Information Launch, Crime 101 and GOAT.

Bronte died of tuberculosis in 1848, only one yr after publishing her first and solely novel, Wuthering Heights. The guide was extremely polarizing on the time, however over time it turned a literary basic and impressed a number of tv and movie diversifications. Fennell is the most recent filmmaker to deal with this unbelievable story, which appears to have captivated a big viewers regardless of all its trials and tribulations.

Wuthering Heights is at the moment exhibiting in theaters.