Taika Waititi's 'Klara and the Sun' Opens in 880 Theaters After Losing Half Its Expected Screens

This is not how you want to start a wide release weekend.

Taika Waititi's 'Klara and the Sun,' the long-delayed Sony adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro's Nobel-winner novel, opened today in just 880 North American theaters, according to a report published this afternoon by Collider. That's a dramatic fall from the 1,900 locations the tracking site The Numbers had initially projected for the film. Losing more than half your expected screens before a single ticket gets scanned on opening day is the kind of signal that usually means exhibitors read the reviews and quietly backed away.

The reviews are, in a word, rough. The film is currently holding a 24% on Rotten Tomatoes, per Collider. Deadline's critic called it a "curiously flat dystopian comedy-drama" in a notice filed out of the BFI London Film Festival, where the film had its premiere on October 15. The A.V. Club landed in a similar spot, writing that the film "isn't as cutesy as it seems at first, nor does it ever transcend that cuteness" and concluding that Ortega outshines the material around her.

Here's the thing about that last part: nobody's disputing the Ortega portion. She plays Klara, an Artificial Friend, in a near-future where such companions are sold to families of ailing or lonely children. The novel is a quiet, devastating study in observation and devotion, told entirely from Klara's limited and achingly earnest point of view. Ishiguro gave it a prose style so restrained it almost reads cold, which is exactly what makes the emotional gut-punch land. Waititi's wheelhouse is warmth and chaos and irreverence. The mismatch was always the concern.

The film's cast on paper is genuinely impressive. Amy Adams plays Josie's mother Chrissie, with Mia Tharia as Josie, Natasha Lyonne as a store manager, and Steve Buscemi somewhere in the mix. The screenplay credit goes to Waititi and Dahvi Waller, who adapted 'Mrs. America,' and Ishiguro himself served as executive producer. The source material gave the project a serious literary credential. The production history gave it a long shadow: the film completed post-production only recently after delays that pushed it from rumored 2024 and 2025 releases all the way to this October slot, as World of Reel noted when the release date was announced.

None of that backstory matters to the family deciding what to see this weekend. What matters is that 'Klara and the Sun' is opening on the same day as the second DCU film 'Clayface' and a new Sacha Baron Cohen Ali G vehicle, and it's doing it in fewer screens than many platform releases. Even if the film finds its audience, a climb back from this kind of opening is steep.

For Ortega specifically, this is a complicated moment. Collider noted she's had an uneven journey living up to the enormous expectations set by 'Wednesday,' and this was supposed to be her big-screen statement. It may still be, eventually, the kind of film people discover later and reassess. Ishiguro adaptations have that quality. 'Never Let Me Go' wasn't a smash when it came out in 2010 either, and people teach it in university courses now.

But right now, on opening day, in 880 theaters, 'Klara and the Sun' is going to have a very quiet Friday.

Sources cited:
- Collider (https://collider.com/klara-and-the-sun-jenna-ortega-taika-waititi-removed-from-1000-theaters/)
- Deadline (https://deadline.com/2026/10/klara-and-the-sun-review-taiki-waititi-jenna-ortega-amy-adams-1237158580/)
- A.V. Club (https://www.avclub.com/klara-and-the-sun-review-jenna-ortega-taika-waititi)
- World of Reel (https://www.worldofreel.com/blog/2026/4/13/taika-waititis-klara-and-the-sun-sets-october-2026-release-first-trailer-screened-looks-like-an-expensive-flop)
- Collider (release preview) (https://collider.com/jenna-ortega-klara-and-the-sun-release-date-october-2026/)