Taika Waititi is Soooo Not Mad About ‘Klara and the Sun,’ Y’all

A week after release, and audiences largely aren’t feeling Klara and the Sun. The film, which stars Jenna Ortega, Amy Adams, and Mia Tharia, came out alongside Wildwood and Clayface. Theatregoers have been moving to see those two, plus surprise hit You Can See Everything, leaving Klara in the dirt. It’s currently made just $1.7 million at the box office and gotten fairly negative critical reviews. As such, Sony scaled back the theatrical rollout, and now Spanish outlet Hobby Consolas has reported the Spain release was cancelled entirely. On its own, this probably wouldn’t be that big a deal; movies with high-profile actors flop sometimes. However, Klara and the Sun is directed by Taika Waititi, and this is looking like the biggest bomb of his career. His reaction to the critical turnout was, hrm, not great. On Instagram, he bragged he’s not read reviews of “anything aimed at me or my peers in almost 15 years. But I do listen to the people,” with a picture of a Screenrant article highlighting Klara’s higher audience score. (While it’s 78% as of Screenrant’s writeup, it stands at 74% at time of writing.) Sadly, he couldn’t just leave it there: in the spirit of Halloween, Waititi suggested we all “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.” How disappointingly childish from a director who’s no stranger to split responses to his work. (See Next Goal Wins and Thor: Love and Thunder.) Whatever critics felt about Jojo, which was apparently generally positive—positive enough that it won 42 awards, including an Oscar for his screenplay—carrying a near-decade-long grudge to your latest movie is about as cool as that sounds. Just take the win you’ve got with Klara and maybe read one or two reviews of your movies, not like it can hurt. Want more io9 news? Check out the best movies and TV shows to stream this month and all the upcoming sci-fi, fantasy, and horror books that should be on your radar.