The Guardian wonders about some of the things that could happen in 2026 cinema-wise.
Will Wuthering Heights be the most beloved film of 2026, or the most reviled?
Who better to entrust the adaptation one of literature’s most celebrated works to than Miss Marmite herself, Emerald Fennell? Well, arguably many, many people, but there is a certain boldness from Warner Bros in handing the Saltburn director the reins to their Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi-starring Wuthering Heights (13 February) – not least because she has immediately used them in an S&M bondage scene. Expect that and plenty of other moments that will make the Brontë purists blanche in a movie event that will dominate the discourse like no other. If nothing else, its soundtrack should be strong, featuring a suite of glowering gothic songs from Charli xcx, part of a big movie year for the hyperpop star: she’s also acting in a number of upcoming dramas, including The Moment, a mockumentary loosely based on her Brat tour. (Gwilym Mumford)
The Guardian also shares a letter from a reader with his opinion of how a film version of
Wuthering Heights should be made.
Well done to Samantha Ellis for recognising that Wuthering Heights is not a conventional love story, nor was it ever meant to be (‘It’s no romcom’: why the real Wuthering Heights is too extreme for the screen, 28 December). If it had been published in Greek, contemporary critics would have hailed it as comparable with Aeschylus, since the structure is in three, not two, parts – like a classical Greek tragedy, the revenge/resolution comes at the end.
The parallels include Lockwood and Nelly Dean narrating most of the story, much as a Greek chorus would do; most (though not all) of the violence takes place offstage; the setting is otherworldly at times, but relatable to the audience; the wellspring is Heathcliff and Cathy declaring their unity at a very young age and claiming to be damned for it. Which they are, thus tempting fate.
The whole should be filmed as a trilogy – novels of the 19th century were often referred to as a three‑volume novel, as that was the convention even for gothic horror.
John Starbuck
Lepton, West Yorkshire
Well, if they were referred to as three-volume novels, it's because they were three-volume novels. In the case of Wuthering Heights, it was published as a two-volume novel.
And of course, there are still some sites making lists of the 2026 must-see films.
BBC and its '16 of the most exciting films coming up in 2026' includes
1. Wuthering Heights
Emerald Fennell's bold take on Emily Brontë's 1847 novel is already one of the year's most divisive films. The trailer alone evoked both fascinated anticipation and pearl-clutching resistance. On social media, Brontë purists have objected to everything from the film's raw sexiness to its casting, complaining that Margot Robbie is too old to play the teenage Cathy and Jacob Elordi too white to play Heathcliff, described in the book as "dark-skinned". But Fennell, who proved herself to be a daring original with Promising Young Woman and Saltburn, knew she was taking an iconoclastic approach. "I wanted to make something that was the book that I experienced when I was 14," she has said, describing it as "primal, sexual". Her version of those two doomed, passionate lovers is also stylised, with bright-red costumes and red-orange skies. Owen Cooper of Adolescence plays the young Heathcliff and Hong Chau is Cathy's loyal maid, Nelly. And if you don't feel like channelling your inner teenage girl, the year brings a more traditional adaptation of a 19th-Century classic, Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility. Daisy Edgar-Jones stars as Elinor Dashwood in the story of marriageable sisters and their pursuit of love. (Caryn James)
Luxury London also includes it on its list of 'The most exciting films of 2026'.
Wuthering Heights
UK release date: 14 February 2026
The Emerald Fennell remake of Emily Brontë’s gothic tragedy Wuthering Heights made headlines earlier this year when the trailer depicted Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi in leading roles as Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff. It is dubbed as a more adventurous take on the classic – we’d expect nothing less from the director of Saltburn – which could offer a refreshing alternative to the roster of film adaptations that have come before. (Annie Lewis)
Wuthering Heights
Fans of Saltburn and Emily Brontë will be pleased to know that Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights is set for release in February. A bold and original imagining of one of the greatest love stories of all time, Wuthering Heights stars Margot Robbie as Cathy and Jacob Elordi as Heathcliff, whose forbidden passion for one another turns from romantic to intoxicating in an epic tale of lust, love and madness. The film, which was filmed in Yorkshire and features music by Charli XCX, also stars Hong Chau, Shazad Latif, Alison Oliver and Owen Cooper. > In UK cinemas on Feb 13. (Laura Reid and John Blow)
Daily Mail thinks Yorkshire itself will be one of 14 trends to watch in 2026.
8 Go Yorkshire!
I may be biased, being from Hull, but I’m calling it now that Yorkshire will be a hotspot for staycations next year. Thanks to Emerald Fennell’s new film adaptation of Wuthering Heights (in cinemas from 13 February), starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi, it’s predicted that international visitors and Brontë enthusiasts will be running for the Dales. See you on the train there. (Hannah Skelley)
InStyle (Spain) also thinks that this is going to be a 'Brontëan winter' (hopefully by the end of it, they will have learned that the two dots go above the e, not the o).
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