Jenna Ortega's Klara and the Sun is hitting a new low on the big screen.
Based on Kazuo Ishiguro's 2021 sci-fi novel of the same name, Ortega leads the film as the eponymous android companion who is purchased for a young girl living a lonely life on a wheat farm, where she begins to learn more about life while also connecting with her new companion and her weary mother. Also starring Amy Adams, Mia Tharia, Aran Murphy and Natasha Lyonne, Klara and the Sun made its world premiere at the 70th BFI London Film Festival, where it was met with negative reviews.
As reported by Spanish publication Hobby Consolas (per Collider), Sony has elected to scrap Klara and the Sun's international release in Spain. The report states that the decision comes due to Ortega and Waititi's sci-fi film receiving largely negative reviews from critics and having very low commercial expectations in the region, with the studio reportedly hoping to "minimize losses."
The reported decision to cancel Klara and the Sun's theatrical release in Spain does largely align with Sony's shifting plans for the sci-fi adaptation. Between its star-studded ensemble, bestselling source material and A-list director, the studio had originally planned for a traditionally wide 2,000+ theatrical debut, which would've gone a long way to recouping its modest $20 million production budget. However, following its record-low reviews, Klara and the Sun was scaled back to just an 880-theater release.
This smaller release immediately became a problem for the film going into its opening weekend, as it faced competition from the largely anticipated Clayface, Laika's highly-acclaimed fantasy epic Wildwood and the expansions of similar critical hits You Can See Everything and Wicker. The latest installment in James Gunn's DC Universe ultimately came out on top, bringing in a modest $43 million worldwide.
Klara and the Sun, meanwhile, nearly set a new record-low for Ortega in its domestic opening, grossing just over $701,000 over the weekend, averaging roughly $797 per theater. Prior to the final numbers from the weekend, the sci-fi film was averaging just $625 per theater, which was the lowest for its star as it came in below the Foo Fighters-led Studio 666, which debuted to just $668 per theater.
Given putting a film in theaters does cost studios a portion of ticket revenue and delivery costs, Sony cancelling Klara and the Sun's Spain release does make a fair amount of sense. Ortega's previous major releases in the region were franchise titles with her two Scream sequels and Tim Burton's Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, with the latter being her best-performing with a $2.4 million opening and $9.1 million overall haul. Waititi similarly has enjoyed better success with his franchise titles in Spain in lieu of standalone releases.
Despite now losing a major region in its theatrical run, that doesn't entirely spell doom for Klara and the Sun. As previously noted, the film was made for a more modest $20 million, making its break-even point somewhere between $40–50 million, and given many studios, including Sony, get nearly as much revenue worth from streaming and PVOD as theatrical, Ortega and Waititi's film could still turn a profit down the road.