Emerald Fennell‘s adaptation of the classic gothic romance “Wuthering Heights” is coming to the big screen just in time for Valentine’s Day. Warner Bros. will release the film on Feb. 13, 2026.
Fennell serves as writer, director and producer on the project based on Emily Brontë’s 1847 novel, which stars Margot Robbie, Jacob Elordi, Hong Chau, Alison Oliver and Shazad Latif. MRC and Robbie’s LuckyChap also produce.
“Wuthering Heights” marks the second collaboration between MRC, LuckyChap and Fennell after the breakout hit “Saltburn,” and the third collaboration with LuckyChap and Fennell (“Promising Young Woman”).
The project sparked a bidding war, with Netflix offering a staggering $150 million for the film. However, the “Wuthering Heights” filmmakers accepted Warner Bros.’ $80 million bid, opting for Warners film chiefs Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy’s pitch for a wide theatrical release and a full marketing campaign.
Fennell announced her plans to adapt “Wuthering Heights” as her third feature in July, posting a surprise announcement to social media with a graphic that reads, “Be with me always – Take any form – Drive me mad,” a line from the novel.
“I’ve always been obsessed with the gothic,” Fennell wrote in a January 2024 column for the Los Angeles Times. “Whether it was Edward Gorey’s children who are variously choked by peaches, sucked dry by leeches or smothered by rugs; Du Maurier’s imperiled heroines or the disturbing erotic power of Angela Carter’s fairy tales, the gothic world has always had me in its grip. It’s a genre where comedy and horror, revulsion and desire, sex and death are forever entwined, where every exchange is heavy with the threat of violence, or sex or both.”
