Waititi's 'Klara and the Sun' Falters at Box Office Amid Critic Pans, Director Defends Film

Taika Waititi’s new movie Klara and the Sun opened to weak box‑office numbers after critics gave it largely negative reviews. The film adapts Kazuo Ishiguro’s 2021 novel, which was long‑listed for the Booker Prize and written by the Nobel‑prize‑winning author. It stars Jenna Ortega as Klara, an outdated Artificial Friend, and Amy Adams as the mother of teenager Josie, played by Mia Tharia. The story is set in a high‑tech future where a conflict described as a third‑world war is linked to internet abuse; Klara believes the sun can heal loneliness. Critics’ poor scores kept the opening modest, surprising many because Ortega is viewed as a rising star and Waititi previously earned an Oscar and directed Marvel’s Thor: Love and Thunder. On Instagram, Waititi posted that the film holds a 78 % audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes and that he has not read a review aimed at him or his peers for almost 15 years. He added that he prefers listening to audiences, then called critics “unimportant, disconnected, outdated, tossed aside,” even mocking those who disliked his earlier film Jojo Rabbit. Jenna Ortega described the movie at the London Film Festival as a timely tale that shows how people still need to listen to each other, noting the story’s nuanced take on loneliness and hope. The article was written by Santanu Das, a senior content producer at Hindustan Times with five years of film‑culture reporting and a background in English studies from Jadavpur University. ## Context The clash between critic scores and audience reception is common for high‑profile releases, and a strong Rotten Tomatoes audience rating can help a film recover after a slow start.