I will continue to update this post as reviews come in.

Rotten Tomatoes: Rotten

Critics Consensus: N/A

Metacritic: 29 (15 Reviews)

Sample Reviews:

Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire D - For a movie filled with self-driving cars and powered by artificial intelligence, this “Klara” goes nowhere but straight into the sun of disaster, and without intelligence of any kind.

David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter - Led by a misused Jenna Ortega and Amy Adams, Taika Waititi’s clanging dud has the distinction of being indisputably the worst screen adaptation of a novel by Nobel Prize laureate Kazuo Ishiguro.

Nick Schager, The Daily Beast - A wannabe-inspiring fable that proves its maker’s preternatural gift for noxious sentimentality.

David Robb, Slant Magazine 1.5/4 - It’s a faithful adaptation that nevertheless strips away everything insightful and affecting from Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel.

David Jenkins, Little White Lies 1/5 - This potentially rich subject matter is squandered by Waititi who has a juvenile habit of undercutting any hint at profundity with a jolt of silly humour or a comic rug pull.

Clarisse Loughrey, Independent (UK) 2/5 - The book was about who we fundamentally are, now and tomorrow. The film is about the power of love and friendship. That seems like quite the downgrade.

Peter Bradshaw, Guardian 1/5 - Taika Waititi detonates an explosion of postmodern quirkiness and ironic dorkiness in this unbearably mannered, unspeakably acted film.

Tim Robey, Daily Telegraph (UK) 1/5 - Ishiguro’s thoughts on the ever-evolving relationship between technology and humanity are tossed away like so much thematic confetti. It’s hard to fathom what Waititi thought he was doing in playing things for laughs.

Kevin Maher, The Times (UK) 1/5 - It’s a hopeless film, slippery and mendacious, full of gross Hallmark sentiment, and has been bettered by a myriad of previous robot companion flicks.

SYNOPSIS:

Based on the bestselling novel from Nobel Prize-winner Kazuo Ishiguro and written and directed by Academy-Award® winner Taika Waititi (Jojo Rabbit), Klara and the Sun introduces audiences to Klara (Jenna Ortega), an Artificial Friend who wants nothing more than to find the perfect home. When Klara meets Josie (Mia Tharia), each immediately senses a kindred spirit in the other. Josie has a fraught relationship with her mother (Amy Adams) and they’ve suffered great loss, but Klara’s innocent wonder and unwavering loyalty begin to heal the family and bring light to Josie’s complicated world.

CAST:

• Jenna Ortega as Klara
• Amy Adams as Chrissie
• Mia Tharia as Josie
• Aran Murphy as Rick
• Steve Buscemi as Capaldi
• Natasha Lyonne as Store Manager

DIRECTED BY: Taika Waititi

SCREENPLAY BY: Taika Waititi, Dahvi Waller

BASED ON THE BOOK BY: Kazuo Ishiguro

PRODUCED BY: David Heyman, Garrett Basch, Taika Waititi

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Gary Barber, Alex G. Scott, Jeffrey Clifford, Rosie Alison, Kazuo Ishiguro

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Mike Berlucchi

PRODUCTION DESIGNER: Ra Vincent

EDITED BY: Tom Eagles, Adam Gough

COSTUME DESIGNER: Mayes C. Rubeo

MUSIC BY: Michael Giacchino

CASTING BY: Francine Maisler

RUNTIME: 116 Minutes

RELEASE DATE: October 23, 2026

Before you comment, read these two rules:

1. Please provide specific numbers for your predictions. Don't do things like "It'll make less than this or that" or "double this movie or half this movie". We want a real prediction in concrete figures.

2. Given that a lot of parent comments do not even bother to give predictions, we are establishing a new rule. The parent comment must provide a prediction with specific numbers. The rest of the replies to the comment do not have to make a prediction, but the parent comment absolutely has to. Any parent comment without a prediction will be eliminated.

Welcome to the newest edition of r/BoxOffice Long Range Forecast.

We're making long range predictions for films, 4 weeks out from their premieres. You will predict the opening weekend, domestic total and worldwide gross of these films. These predictions will be open for 48 hours and the results will be polled to form a consensus and posted the next week.

So let's meet the two films for the week and analyze each pro and con.

The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping

The film is directed by Francis Lawrence (all Hunger Games films except the first, Constantine, I Am Legend, The Long Walk) from a screenplay by Billy Ray (The Hunger Games) and Michael Lesslie (The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes). Based on the novel Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins, it serves as both a sequel to The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes and a prequel to The Hunger Games. It stars Joseph Zada, Jesse Plemons, Ralph Fiennes, Glenn Close, Kieran Culkin, Elle Fanning, Mckenna Grace, Maya Hawke, Whitney Peak, and Kelvin Harrison Jr. Taking place 24 years before the first film, 16-year-old Haymitch Abernathy is selected to compete in the 50th Hunger Games. Every 25th edition of the games, known as a Quarter Quell, adds a special twist to the annual Hunger Games rules. For the 50th Hunger Games, each district of Panem must send twice the number of tributes to the Capitol, who will fight to the death in a televised spectacle.

I Play Rocky

The film is directed by Peter Farrelly (Green Book, There's Something About Mary, Dumb and Dumber) and written by Peter Gamble. It stars Anthony Ippolito, AnnaSophia Robb, Toby Kebbell, P. J. Byrne, Stephan James, Jay Duplass, Robert Morgan, Tracy Letts, and Matt Dillon. The film follows a struggling, unknown Sylvester Stallone as he writes the screenplay for Rocky in just a few days. Refusing lucrative buyouts from studio executives, he wagers his entire career on a strict ultimatum: he will only sell the script if he is allowed to star in the lead role.

NOTE: This starts limited release on November 6, but we're moving the prediction to today, as it's when it hits wide release.

Now that you met this week's new releases, let's look at some pros and cons.

PROS

• The Hunger Games is Lionsgate's most popular franchise, with the five films amassing $3.3 billion worldwide. It has maintained a lenghty popularity, more impressive than other YA adaptations. The film might be a prequel like Ballad, but it focuses on a much more interesting character (Haymitch) and it promises to deliver spectacle and political intrigue, two things that have made this franchise so beloved. It's evidenced by the book sales, where it opened much higher than any of the other books. It's also packed with so many stars, including recent Oscar nominees like Jesse Plemons, Ralph Fiennes, Glenn Close, Kieran Culkin and Elle Fanning. Lionsgate is going all big on the film, as they begin a very extensive marketing campaign.

• Rocky is one of cinema's most iconic and beloved films, so a film documenting the making of that story could be interesting. While people may frown upon "movies about making movies", the underdog aspect is actually the selling point: the story of Stallone trying to make the film happen is a great story to tell. Reactions across social media have been very positive, with Anthony Ippolito singled out. Reviews are positive out of TIFF (84% RT), and it is reported that the film had some of the best reactions at the festival, where it placed runner-up.

CONS

• The inherent disadvantage to prequels is the fact that people know the outcome before even watching the film. We all know Haymitch (and other characters) will survive, and we know the games will still continue despite the calls for rebellion. There can be a great story to tell, but people can also feel like it's redundant. Ballad was a success, but $348 million worldwide is only barely half of what the prior lowest-grossing film (Mockingjay – Part 2) did. Sunrise should fare much better, given it includes a beloved fan favorite and a much more interesting event, but it'd be wise to be cautious about outgrossing any of the mainline titles. And for its sake, it better perform better than Ballad; the budget is reportedly $200 million, which is a franchise record. Ballad numbers are not acceptable, it must do far, far better.

• The "movies about movies" genre hasn't been lighting the box office on fire over the past few years. When was the last big one? Once Upon a Time in Hollywood? Are audiences so loving of Rocky that they'll want to watch a film about how it came to be? Amazon MGM needs to make sure the older demographic, the ones who grew up with Rocky, fully connect with the film to help it spread the word of mouth.

• The big con for both: none are really expected to be the main event of the weekend. Because on November 19, the highly-anticipated Grand Theft Auto VI is finally hitting stores, and all signs point to some record-breaking numbers for a video game. Perhaps not really a con, as people can find time to watch films and also play, but still a point worth considering.

And here's the past results.

Next week, we're predicting Hexed and Focker-In-Law.

So what are your predictions for these films?