Taika Waititi Slams Critics Over ‘Klara and the Sun’ Reviews

Klara and the Sun director Taika Waititi is pushing back against negative reviews of his latest film.

Waititi took to Instagram on Saturday, where he shared the film’s poster and highlighted the contrast between its audience and critics scores on Rotten Tomatoes. The poster shows that the film has a 78 percent audience score, compared to a 28 percent critics score.

“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,” Waititi wrote in his Instagram caption. “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 film, which opened in theaters last week, earned an estimated $725,000 in its opening weekend at the box office and debuted outside the top 10. It opened in 880 North American theaters. As of publication, the film grossed approximately $1.7 million worldwide.

Adapted from Kazuo Ishiguro’s 2021 novel of the same name, Klara and the Sun is set in a dystopian future and follows an obsolete companion android who attempts to bond with her new owner, Josie, a young girl dealing with an illness. Jenna Ortega and Amy Adams star in the film.

Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter at the film’s New York premiere earlier this month, Waititi also shared his thoughts on artificial intelligence, which plays a central role in the film’s premise of AI companions.

“There’s a big discussion about AI coming in: Will people use it? How much will they use it? I know it’s probably inevitable that we end up using it in our industry, but as long as it’s used by humans as a tool, as opposed to a replacement — I don’t want to replace humans. I want to work with them,” he said.