Klara and the Sun opens in US and UK theaters on Friday, October 23, 2026. Taika Waititi’s adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s bestselling novel stars Jenna Ortega as Klara, a solar-powered “artificial friend” robot, and Amy Adams as the mother who buys her. Tickets are already on sale. The complication: the first reviews out of its London film festival premiere are brutal, with the film sitting at 25% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Here is everything to know before Friday: the release date, where to watch, the full cast, what critics are saying and when it is likely to stream.
When does Klara and the Sun come out?
The film held its world premiere at the BFI London Film Festival on October 15, 2026, and screened at the Rome Film Festival the same month. Sony Pictures Releasing opens it in the United States and the United Kingdom on October 23, 2026, through its Columbia Pictures label. Australia gets it a day earlier, on October 22.
Tickets are already on sale at major US chains, including Atom Tickets, Cinemark, Cinepolis, Harkins and Marcus Theatres, according to JustWatch. The runtime is 116 minutes.
Where to watch Klara and the Sun (and when it streams)
For now, the only way to see Klara and the Sun is in a theater. Sony has not announced a streaming date.
What is confirmed: under a global Pay-1 deal Netflix and Sony Pictures announced in January 2026, Sony’s theatrical films stream on Netflix first after their cinema window. Sony has not said how long that window will be for this title, and the studio typically adjusts it based on box office performance, so any specific streaming month would be a guess. What is safe to say: when Klara and the Sun does stream, it lands on Netflix before anywhere else.
Klara and the Sun reviews: what critics are saying
Search interest in “klara and the sun movie review” and “klara and the sun rotten tomatoes” spiked to breakout levels on Google Trends this week, and the numbers explain why. After the London premiere, the film holds a 25% score on Rotten Tomatoes from 12 reviews, with an average rating of 3.6 out of 10. Metacritic assigns it 27 out of 100 from eight critics, a “generally unfavorable” reading.
The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw gave it one star out of five, calling it a “sentimental mess” and describing Ortega’s Klara as a “manic pixie dream robot.” Little White Lies’ David Jenkins faulted its “juvenile habit of undercutting any hint at profundity with a jolt of silly humour.” Bradshaw did single out Ortega as “supremely lovable” in the role, and several critics noted Rachel House’s housekeeper Melania as the closest the film comes to comedy.
That is a stark reception for a director whose earlier work includes Hunt for the Wilderpeople and Thor: Ragnarok. Bradshaw argued the film is closer to the misjudged whimsy of Jojo Rabbit, and compared it unfavorably to Kogonada’s After Yang, a quieter recent film about AI companions.
Who is in the Klara and the Sun cast?
Jenna Ortega plays Klara, an earlier-model AF robot who worships the sun as a kind of god. Amy Adams plays Chrissie, the mother who brings Klara home. Newcomer Mia Tharia plays Josie, the sick 14-year-old Klara is bought to accompany, and Aran Murphy plays Rick, Josie’s best friend and love interest. Natasha Lyonne plays the store manager who sells Klara, Steve Buscemi plays a benefactor named Capaldi, and Rachel House plays the family housekeeper.
One name you will not see: Simon Baker was cast as Josie’s father Paul, but his scenes were cut from the finished film.
What is Klara and the Sun about?
In a near future where genetic engineering has split humanity into rigid classes, families buy android “artificial friends” for their children. Klara, an obsolete solar-powered model, is purchased for Josie, a lonely teenager who has been surgically “lifted” into a super-IQ class but suffers from an unnamed illness. Klara becomes convinced the sun can heal her.
The film adapts Ishiguro’s 2021 novel, the Nobel laureate’s first book after winning the literature prize. Ishiguro adaptations have a strong screen legacy, from The Remains of the Day to Never Let Me Go, which raises the stakes on this one’s reception.
Why Amy Adams is trending this week
Adams and Ortega have been on the Klara and the Sun press tour, including a joint Today show appearance on October 19. In an RTE interview, Adams said she feels mothers are judged more harshly than almost any other character type: “We get judged a little more harshly than some sociopaths I may have played.” She described Chrissie as “a mother who makes questionable choices.”
What this means for readers
If you loved the novel, go in expecting Waititi’s tone rather than Ishiguro’s restraint; critics say the adaptation trades the book’s quiet ache for quirk. If you are an Ortega fan, the notices suggest she is the reason to show up. If you are on the fence at $15 a ticket, the review scores argue for waiting for the Netflix streaming debut, though no date is set. Either way, Friday’s opening will show whether bad reviews dent a big-star October release or whether the Ortega and Adams fan bases carry it.
Key dates
July 2020: Sony’s 3000 Pictures wins the screen rights to Ishiguro’s novel (Deadline).
March 2021: Dahvi Waller set to write the adaptation.
May 2023: Taika Waititi enters talks to direct and produce.
January 2024: Filming begins in New Zealand under the working title Tears and Rain.
April 2026: Release date and first trailer announced (The Hollywood Reporter).
October 15, 2026: World premiere, BFI London Film Festival.
October 23, 2026: US and UK theatrical release.
Analysis: the real story this weekend is the gap between the marketing heat and the critical reception. Breakout search interest in the reviews suggests audiences are checking before buying, which is exactly the behavior that decides whether a mid-budget adult drama legs out or disappears by week two. Sony’s Netflix pipeline means the film will get a second life regardless; the theatrical numbers will decide how big that life is.
1 thought on “Klara and the Sun Movie: Release Date, Where to Watch and Why Critics Are Panning It”