{"id":664919,"date":"2026-11-02T21:16:08","date_gmt":"2026-11-02T21:16:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/664919\/"},"modified":"2026-11-02T21:16:08","modified_gmt":"2026-11-02T21:16:08","slug":"sad-lost-souls-taika-waititi-lambasts-critics-after-klara-and-the-sun-box-office-disaster-movies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/664919\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Sad lost souls\u2019: Taika Waititi lambasts critics after Klara and the Sun box-office disaster | Movies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Taika Waititi has launched a furious broadside at \u201ccritics\u201d following the disastrous commercial performance of Klara and the Sun, his new film adapted from a Kazuo Ishiguro<\/a> novel.<\/p>\n

In a post on social media<\/a>, Waititi wrote: \u201cThis Halloween, let\u2019s spare a thought for those sad lost souls who couldn\u2019t achieve their dreams of becoming artists, and thus settled, and became critics.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cThe same people who also hated Jojo Rabbit \u2026 Irrelevant. Out of touch. Obsolete. In the bin.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pointing to the disparity of the film\u2019s audience and critics\u2019 score on review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes<\/a>, which currently stands at 74% for the former and 26% (from 90 reviews) for the latter, Waititi also wrote: \u201cI haven\u2019t read a review of anything aimed at me or my peers in almost 15 years. But I do listen to the people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Klara and the Sun, which cost a reported $44m<\/a> (\u00a332.8m) to make, achieved a dismal $701,000<\/a> (\u00a3523,000) on its first weekend at the North American box office, working out at just under $800 (\u00a3596) per theatre from 880 venues. It came in at 16th place, well below other similarly aimed films such as Wicker, which opened with $5.7m in North America from 1471 venues at an average of $3,906 per cinema. In contrast, You Can See Everything, the celebrated documentary about Elizabeth Holmes scored $18.7m on its second weekend and has reached a cumulative total of $63.8m<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In the UK, the film recorded<\/a> comparable figures to Klara and the Sun\u2019s North American results, with an opening weekend of \u00a3176,000 from 368 venues, for an average of \u00a3477.<\/p>\n

The Guardian\u2019s chief critic Peter Bradshaw described Klara and the Sun as \u201cunbearably mannered\u201d and \u201cunspeakably acted\u201d in a one-star review, adding: \u201c[It] is soft-centred sci-fi-lite, simultaneously demanding we laugh at its (unfunny) humour and wipe away a tear at its pass-agg poignancy.\u201d Bradshaw also negatively reviewed Waititi\u2019s 2019 film Jojo Rabbit<\/a>, calling it a \u201cterrible film \u2026 a pointless Hitler-spoofy YA adventure with a 12A certificate, obtusely accentuating little-kid cuteness and optimism amid the quaintly imagined non-horror.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other reviewers have been equally negative towards Klara and the Sun: in the Observer<\/a>, Wendy Ide called it \u201ca thin and cloying thing that strips away any profundity in the source material and replaces it with self-conscious quirkiness\u201d, while the LA Times\u2019 Tim Grierson said<\/a>: \u201c[Waititi] lacquers the film with a calculated gooeyness that\u2019s stultifying before it becomes downright exasperating\u201d.<\/p>\n

Its second weekend at the North American box-office saw Klara and the Sun enter a steep decline, dropping 79% to $145,000 (\u00a3108,000) from a similar number of venues.<\/p>\n