Taika Waititi has launched a furious broadside at “critics” following the disastrous commercial performance of Klara and the Sun, his new film adapted from a Kazuo Ishiguro novel.
In a post on social media, Waititi wrote: “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.”
He added: “The same people who also hated Jojo Rabbit … Irrelevant. Out of touch. Obsolete. In the bin.”
Pointing to the disparity of the film’s audience and critics’ score on review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, which currently stands at ۷۴% for the former and ۲۶% (from ۹۰ reviews) for the latter, Waititi also wrote: “I haven’t read a review of anything aimed at me or my peers in almost ۱۵ years. But I do listen to the people.”
Klara and the Sun, which cost a reported $۴۴m (£۳۲.۸m) to make, achieved a dismal $۷۰۱,۰۰۰ (£۵۲۳,۰۰۰) on its first weekend at the North American box office, working out at just under $۸۰۰ (£۵۹۶) per theatre from ۸۸۰ venues. It came in at ۱۶th place, well below other similarly aimed films such as Wicker, which opened with $۵.۷m in North America from ۱۴۷۱ venues at an average of $۳,۹۰۶ per cinema. In contrast, You Can See Everything, the celebrated documentary about Elizabeth Holmes scored $۱۸.۷m on its second weekend and has reached a cumulative total of $۶۳.۸m.
In the UK, the film recorded comparable figures to its North American results, with an opening weekend of £۱۷۶,۰۰۰ from ۳۶۸ venues, for an average of £۴۷۷.
The Guardian’s chief critic Peter Bradshaw described Klara and the Sun as “unbearably mannered” and “unspeakably acted” in a one-star review, adding: “[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.” Bradshaw also negatively reviewed Waititi’s ۲۰۱۹ film Jojo Rabbit, calling it a “terrible film … a pointless Hitler-spoofy YA adventure with a ۱۲A certificate, obtusely accentuating little-kid cuteness and optimism amid the quaintly imagined non-horror.”
Other reviewers have been equally negative towards Klara and the Sun: in the Observer, Wendy Ide called it “a thin and cloying thing that strips away any profundity in the source material and replaces it with self-conscious quirkiness”, while the LA Times’ Tim Grierson said: “[Waititi] lacquers the film with a calculated gooeyness that’s stultifying before it becomes downright exasperating”.
Its second weekend at the North American box-office saw Klara and the Sun enter a steep decline, dropping ۷۹% to $۱۴۵,۰۰۰ (£۱۰۸,۰۰۰) from a similar number of venues.
