"Klara and the Sun" opens in Germany Thursday after a disappointing US start
Taika Waititi adapted Kazuo Ishiguro's novel with Jenna Ortega as an artificial friend. In the US, the theatre count was more than halved before release, and reviews were weak.
Archive image · Photo: CaseyJNewell / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped and resized)
"Klara and the Sun" opens in German cinemas on Thursday, Oct. 29. Taika Waititi adapted Kazuo Ishiguro's 2021 novel of the same name, co-writing the script with Dahvi Waller. Jenna Ortega plays Klara, an artificial friend bought for the sick 14-year-old Josie (Mia Tharia). Amy Adams plays Josie's mother, with Natasha Lyonne and Steve Buscemi also in the cast. The film runs 116 minutes and is rated 12 in Germany, according to kino.de.
In the US, the Sony film opened on Oct. 23 with far less backing than planned. According to World of Reel, citing Variety, the number of theatres was cut from more than 1,900 to around 850 before release; the production reportedly cost $20 million. AOL reported that the film stood at 24 percent positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes at launch, with critics faulting, among other things, out-of-place humour.
It also struggled in Australia: according to Variety Australia, "Klara and the Sun" opened only at No. 13 there over the Oct. 22–25 weekend, taking $257,000.