“The same people who also hated [Waititi’s Oscar-winning film] Jojo Rabbit. Irrelevant. Out of touch. Obsolete. In the bin.”
Taika Waititi directing Klara and the Sun with actress Jenna Ortega. Photo / Matt Grace
The film’s Popcornmeter score on Rotten Tomatoes, voted by the audience, is currently 74%. The Tomatometer score, which represents the percentage of approved professional critic reviews that are positive, sits at just 26%, making it his worst-performing critical score as a director.
His highest critical score is 97% for the 2016 film Hunt for the Wilderpeople, closely followed by 2014 vampire comedy What We Do in the Shadows with 96%.
His previous lowest score was 46% for the 2023 football film Next Goal Wins.
While reviews of Klara and the Sun have largely been scathing, some praised the Oscar-winning director.
The Herald’s Mitchell Hageman said despite the abysmal ratings from critics and book loyalists, he was pleasantly surprised.
“While some may argue it’s not ‘deep enough’ to live up to its themes, I’d argue it’s well-acted, well-directed, and a heart-warming day out at the movies for people looking for a bit of light relief.”
However Hollywood Reporter called it “a film so at odds with itself that it keeps straining for poignancy while trampling on any hint of genuine emotion with forced humour that rarely prompts even a smile”.
The Independent asked readers to “imagine somebody driving a clown car through Kazuo Ishiguro’s original novel, and you get this Jenna Ortega-led sci-fi comedy”.
Jenna Ortega stars in Klara and the Sun. Photo / Sony
In its opening week in New Zealand cinemas, the Sony film was ranked sixth at the box office, bringing in $121,931 across 111 cinemas, averaging $1098 per location. In comparison, horror film Clayface, which topped the local box office averaged $3206 per location.
Klara and the Sun has so far made just over $3m in cinemas worldwide, but cost more than $75m to produce.
New Zealand film incentives helped reduce some of that cost, and the studio says its actual spend was closer to $33-41m before marketing expenses.
But according to a Deadline report, the international release strategy has been scaled back after poor early critical reception. They reported Sony has halted public box office reporting, reduced the film’s theatrical footprint from 1900 cinemas across North America to just 880 and cancelled planned international rollouts, including the release in Spain.
Reductions have also reportedly been made to marketing and distribution spend as Sony looks to limit potential losses.
The sci-fi film, based on Nobel Prize-winning author Kazuo Ishiguro’s 2021 novel, stars Jenna Ortega as the artificial companion Klara, and features a star-studded cast of Amy Adams, Natasha Lyonne, Simon Baker and Steve Buscemi.
It was filmed across New Zealand in 2024, but the release was delayed for more than a year.
Waititi recently told the Herald, “I think the biggest challenge [for adapting books to film] is that they’re completely different mediums. Books can be more drawn out and take your time.
“A book takes days and days to read, and so it’s a very different engagement with the audience. With a film you’ve got to do it within an hour and a half to two hours, and you’ve also got to recognise there are times when the audience is bored, and they want things to keep moving.”
Waititi’s previous Rotten Tomatoes critics scores
1. Hunt for the Wilderpeople – 2016
Score: 97%
2. What We Do in the Shadows – 2014
Score: 96%
3. Thor: Ragnarok – 2017
Score: 93%
4. Boy – 2010
Score: 88%
5. Jojo Rabbit – 2019
Score: 81%
6. Thor: Love and Thunder – 2022
Score: 64%
7. Eagle vs Shark – 2007
Score: 56%
8. Next Goal Wins – 2023
Score: 46%
9. Klara and the Sun – 2026
Score: 26%