LOS ANGELES – This is a reminder of what Hollywood studios are missing out on when they exclude women from directing jobs.

English film-maker Emerald Fennell’s lacquered new take on Wuthering Heights was on pace to sell roughly US$40 million (S$50 million) in tickets from Feb 13 through Feb 16 in the United States and Canada, according to Warner Bros, which distributed the film.

The movie, starring Australian actors Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi, was expected to take in an additional US$42 million over that period overseas, giving Fennell’s film a pulse-pounding US$82 million global debut.

Warner Bros spent an estimated US$80 million on the M18 romance, not including hefty marketing costs.

Netflix had offered roughly US$150 million for the project, which Fennell adapted from English writer Emily Bronte’s classic novel of the same name.

Fennell and Robbie, who produced the movie with MRC, an independent film company, went with Warner Bros because it promised a wide theatrical release, something Netflix had refused. In the end, Warner Bros booked Wuthering Heights into 18,028 cinemas worldwide.

Fennell, 40, is a rarity in Hollywood – a woman who has received steady and substantial support for her filmmaking, despite a lack of box office success early on.