After making history together with “Barbie,” Margot Robbie and Warner Bros. are at it again. The LuckyChap producer and star is set to lead frequent collaborator Emerald Fennell’s adaptation of “Wuthering Heights,” which is now officially a Warner Bros. Motion Pictures Group title. IndieWire can confirm that the studio won MRC’s highly-anticipated feature after what we’re told was “a fierce bidding war.”
As previously announced, MRC is the studio financing the film, with Robbie’s LuckyChap producing. Fennell wrote and will direct and produce the feature-film adaptation based on the Emily Brontë novel. Robbie leads the feature as Cathy, who becomes intoxicated with the brooding Heathcliff. Fennell’s “Saltburn” star Jacob Elordi is playing the iconic Heathcliff.
The film is now in pre-production, with UK shoot set for 2025. Writer/director Fennell already teased the project with an Instagram post featuring the title and the tagline “Be with me always. Take any form. Drive me mad.”
“Wuthering Heights” marks the second collaboration between MRC, LuckyChap, and Fennell, and the third collaboration with LuckyChap and Fennell. Robbie has appeared in former WB films “Focus,” “The Legend of Tarzan,” “Barbie,” and the DC features “Suicide Squad,” “Birds of Prey,” and “The Suicide Squad.”
Warner Bros. Pictures will distribute “Wuthering Heights” in theaters globally. LuckyChap’s Robbie, Tom Ackerley, and Josey McNamara have a multi-year first look feature film deal with Warner Bros. Pictures.
“We are thrilled to partner with MRC, Emerald Fennell, and LuckyChap for this feature film adaptation of ‘Wuthering Heights,'” Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group’s Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy said in a press statement. “From the moment we were introduced to Emerald’s vision for the film, and with an incredible cast led by Margot and Jacob, we were instantly committed to forging a partnership with this team to ensure the movie was brought to theaters around the world.”
MRC executives Brye Adler and Jonathan Golfman added, “From our first conversations with Emerald about ‘Wuthering Heights,’ we were inspired by her vision to make something that channels the longing and heartache of the novel while adding her distinctive sensibility and beautiful aesthetic. We are thrilled to partner with Warner Brothers and our friends at LuckyChap to help bring Emerald’s film to audiences around the world.”
MRC was the studio behind “American Fiction,” “Fair Play,” and “Blink” in 2023. The company is also known for hit TV series such as “Poker Face,” “Terminal List,” “Ted,” “Ozark,” and “House of Cards.”
“I’m so excited to be working with the amazing team at Warner Bros., and to once again be partnering with the brilliant MRC and LuckyChap,” Fennell said.
Fennell made her feature debut with Academy Award-winning “Promising Young Woman” before directing “Saltburn,” which became one of Amazon’s most streamed films of all time.
Fennell is represented by UTA, Entertainment 360, United Agents and Hansen, Jacobson, Teller, Hoberman, Newman, Warren, Richman, Rush, Kaller, Gellman, Meigs & Fox. Robbie is represented by Entertainment 360, CAA, Aran Michael Management, and attorney Jeff Bernstein. Elordi is repped by Gersh and Goodman Genow Schenkman.