Taika Waititi, the Oscar-winning director of Jojo Rabbit and Thor: Ragnarok, answered the reviews of his science fiction film Klara and the Sun on Instagram over Halloween weekend:
“I haven’t read a review of anything aimed at me or my peers in almost 15 years. But I do listen to the people.”
“So this Halloween, let’s spare a thought for those sad lost souls who couldn’t achieve their dreams of becoming artists, and thus became critics.”
“The same people who also hated ‘Jojo Rabbit.’”
“Irrelevant. Out of touch. Obsolete. In the bin.”
The scores give him something to point at. Rotten Tomatoes lists the film at 26 percent from 90 critics’ reviews, while the Popcornmeter reads 74 percent from more than 100 verified ratings. That is a 48-point gap. The audience sample is small, since the film opened to $701,059 on 880 screens and has grossed about $1.07 million domestically. Fandom Pulse reviewed it positively under the headline “Klara And The Sun Is Far Better Than The Box Office Results Look.”
The critics themselves did not speak with one voice. RogerEbert.com’s Cortlyn Kelly gave it 2 of 4 stars and wrote, “Yet the premise is far more existential than Waititi’s adaptation makes it.” The San Francisco Chronicle’s G. Allen Johnson gave it 2.5 of 4 and wrote, “One can’t help but respond to Klara’s essential unjaded sweetness.” The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw gave one star and called it a “sentimental mess.”
His claim about Jojo Rabbit holds in part. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2019, inside the 15 years he says he has gone without reading reviews. It holds 80 percent on Rotten Tomatoes from 430 reviews and a 58 on Metacritic, which that site labels “mixed or average.” It earned an A CinemaScore, won the festival’s People’s Choice Award and took the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay. It grossed $90.3 million in its original run on a $14 million budget. Some critics did turn on it. Slant’s Keith Uhlich wrote that Waititi’s Hitler is “aiming for The Great Dictator but barely hitting Ace Ventura.” British critic Robbie Collin said he was “aghast” and argued the film “sentimentalises and trivialises the Holocaust.” Hated is a strong word for an 80 percent film, but the dissent was loud and came from named writers.
The rest of his record shows a mixed pattern. Hunt for the Wilderpeople holds 97 percent from 201 reviews and became the highest-grossing New Zealand film outside international co-productions, at $23.2 million worldwide. Thor: Ragnarok took $855 million against a $180 million budget. Thor: Love and Thunder earned 64 percent from critics, a B+ CinemaScore and 77 percent positive on PostTrak, so critics and audiences ran close. It still grossed $760.9 million worldwide. Next Goal Wins is the closer parallel to Klara: 46 percent from critics, 86 percent positive on PostTrak and a B+ CinemaScore, though it took only $18.6 million worldwide on a $14 million budget after a $2.5 million opening.
The release history offers a second explanation for the numbers. Filming wrapped in April 2024. Deadline reported the film “sat around for two years with Sony befuddled as to how to release it.” In January 2026, Waititi told Screen Daily he was still talking with Sony about “when and where.” The first trailer and a release date arrived on April 13, 2026, and Den of Geek described the trailer’s tone as “odd.” Variety had the film tracking for a $2 million opening. Sony then cut the planned release from more than 1,900 theaters to roughly 850, and the film opened to $701,059. By October 28 it had earned about $1.64 million worldwide.
Did the reviews sink Klara and the Sun, or did a two-year hold and a six-month trailer window leave critics to define it for an audience that had never heard of it?
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