Film director Taika Waititi launched a furious broadside at critics over the weekend following the disastrous commercial and critical performance of his new film, Klara and the Sun. In a widely shared post on social media over Halloween weekend, the director dismissed reviewers as irrelevant and out of touch as his latest cinematic venture struggled heavily at the box office.
The adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s 2021 dystopian novel, which stars Jenna Ortega and Amy Adams, debuted to a dismal domestic opening weekend in North America, pulling in just $701,000 across 880 theaters and landing in 16th place. According to figures reported by The Guardian, the film grossed slightly under $800 per venue in its initial run, marking a stark underperformance compared to other contemporary releases.
Social Media Outburst and Rotten Tomatoes Disparity
Taking to Instagram and other platforms, Waititi shared the film’s promotional poster while pointing to the glaring gap between audience approval and critical ratings on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. While the film secured a robust audience score hovering around 74 to 78 percent, its critical score languished at a mere 26 percent based on initial reviews.
“This Halloween, let’s spare a thought for those sad lost souls who couldn’t achieve their dreams of becoming artists, and thus settled, and became critics,” Waititi wrote in his post. He further claimed that the same reviewers had previously panned his 2019 feature Jojo Rabbit, labeling contemporary film criticism as obsolete and belonging “in the bin.” The director also noted that he had not read a review of his own work in nearly fifteen years, asserting that he prefers to listen directly to audiences.
Critical Backlash and Comparative Box Office Figures
The film’s commercial struggles extended past its opening weekend, entering a steep 79 percent decline in its second week in North American cinemas and grossing a meager $145,000. In the United Kingdom, the picture mirrored these weak returns, bringing in £176,000 from 368 venues for an average of £477 per screen, The Hollywood Reporter noted.
Reviewers offered unsparing assessments of the production. The Guardian’s chief critic Peter Bradshaw awarded the film a single star, describing it as “unbearably mannered” and “unspeakably acted.” Other prominent publications echoed these sentiments, with the Observer describing the adaptation as a thin and cloying version of Ishiguro’s work, while the Los Angeles Times criticized its calculated sentimentality.
The Broader Stakes for Director-Led Adaptations
The clash between Waititi and the critical establishment highlights ongoing tensions within modern Hollywood regarding intellectual property adaptations and audience fragmentation. As studios increasingly rely on recognizable literary source material, the divide between niche critical consensus and broad viewer reception continues to widen for high-profile projects. With its worldwide gross remaining relatively low against a reported production budget of $44 million, the film’s theatrical run underscores the financial risks facing distinctive auteur-driven sci-fi projects in a crowded marketplace.