A weekly film and box office newsletter. Howdy, folks! It's a tale of two very different movies at the Valentine's Day weekend box office, both of which seem to be feeling the impact of the streaming revolution. Emerald Fennell sold her dark, decidedly unfaithful adaptation of "Wuthering Heights" to Warner Bros. for $80 million over a pricier offer from Netflix because she wanted the romantic drama to be a theatrical event. By all accounts, that's been the case — it's on track to earn $38 million domestic over the four-day holiday, and another $45 million internationally after a strong marketing campaign that leaned into the more lustful aspects of the story and Charli XCX's moody soundtrack. Social media, too, is abuzz with videos of unsuspecting theatergoers filming their before/after reactions, melting into a flood of tears at the emotional gut-punch of a finale for the Margot Robbie/Jacob Elordi film. Others are debating Fennell's deviations from the source material, bringing to mind the reactions to Baz Luhrmann's "Romeo + Juliet" in the '90s. Bottom line: People are talking about it. Then there's "Crime 101," Amazon MGM's star-studded crime thriller that has been well-reviewed and boasts an ensemble that includes "Avengers" stars Chris Hemsworth and Mark Ruffalo. Despite that, the $90 million film is off to a tepid global start of just $29 million. A handsomely crafted crime thriller is precisely the kind of film that streaming has largely killed at the box office — just last month the Matt Damon/Ben Affleck-starring "The Rip" was a huge hit on Netflix. Audiences have become accustomed to this particular genre as a streaming movie, no matter how strong the word of mouth. It's enough to make you wonder if films like "The Town" or even "Heat" would get a theatrical release in this day and age. We'll see how it legs out, but the performance of "Crime 101" and "Wuthering Heights" serves as an interesting showcase of genres that theatrical audiences will and won't show out for in the streaming era. And one thing's for sure: they'll be huge hits on Prime Video and HBO Max eventually. Adam Chitwood
Box Office: 'Wuthering Heights' Heads for $38 Million 4-Day Box Office OpeningAfter earning $14 million on Saturday thanks to a Valentine's Day bump, Warner Bros./MRC/LuckyChap's "Wuthering Heights" is off to a good start with an estimated four-day opening weekend of $38 million domestic and...
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