Jenna Ortega's New Sci-Fi Movie Officially Earns Record Low Box Office Debut

Published Oct 26, 2026, 9:57 AM EDT Brennan Klein (he/him) is a senior news writer at Screen Rant, host of the Attack of the Queerwolf podcast, and contributor at Alternate Ending and Horror Press. He has been writing and podcasting about pop culture (especially horror movies) for over a decade at platforms including Blumhouse, Fangoria, Dread Central, The Backlot, and Arrow in the Head. Klara and the Sun isn't shining at the box office. The new movie, which is an adaptation of the Kazuo Ishiguro novel of the same name, was directed and co-written by Taika Waititi and stars Jenna Ortega as an out-of-date android companion who is purchased by a family to be a friend to their ill daughter, Josie (Mia Tharia). 2026's Klara and the Sun, which debuted in theaters on October 23, also stars Aran Murphy, Rachel House, Natasha Lyonne, Steve Buscemi, and Amy Adams. Per Box Office Mojo, Klara and the Sun earned a 3-day total of $550,000 at the domestic box office in its opening weekend, during which time it played in 880 theaters. This gives the movie a per-screen average of just $625, which sees it landing at No. 248 on the all-time chart of the lowest debut per-screen averages of all time, between 2022's Medieval ($626) and 2025's Silent Night, Deadly Night ($624). While Box Office Mojo's chart only seems to measure movies that opened in wide release (in 600 theaters or more), this marks the lowest debut per-screen average for any type of domestic release starring Jenna Ortega. By a hair, this breaks the record previously set by the 2022 Foo Fighters horror comedy Studio 666, which earned a debut per-screen average of $668 and is currently on the all-time chart at No. 270. That was previously her only movie that debuted in domestic theaters with a per-screen average of less than $1,000. Below, see a breakdown of the performance of every previous Jenna Ortega movie that debuted at the domestic box office: Title Debut PSA Worldwide Total Iron Man 3 (2013) $40,946 $1.215 billion Insidious: Chapter Two (2013) $13,208 $161.9 million Scream (2022) $8,192 $137.7 million Studio 666 (2022) $668 $3 million X (2022) $1,492 $14.7 million Scream VI (2023) $12,094 $166.6 million Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024) $24,263 $452 million Death of a Unicorn (2025) $1,897 $16.5 million Klara and the Sun has also officially set the lowest debut per-screen average of any size domestic release for Taika Waititi, whose directorial efforts have previously had debut per-screen averages ranging between $1,116 (2023's Next Goal Wins) and $69,911 (2019's Jojo Rabbit). Should Klara and the Sun have a similar trajectory to Studio 666, it may ultimately prove unable to earn much more than $2.8 million by the end of its run. Should that be the case, the movie will prove to be a flop in theaters. While it reportedly cost $20 million, which is quite low for a modern sci-fi movie, that still could place its estimated break-even point as high as $50 million. Considering the fact that the only Jenna Ortega movies to earn more than $50 million worldwide had debut per-screen averages of more than $8,000, Klara probably won't be able to climb that high by the end of its run. Rearrange the movies into the correct US release order. If its Rotten Tomatoes score is any indication, it is entirely possible that the Taika Waititi movie could have an even less steep trajectory than Studio 666. While the 2022 movie was poorly reviewed, earning 56% from critics on the Tomatometer, Klara and the Sun reviews have been even worse, giving it a score of 25% that could prove difficult to recover from, especially given the fact that it has not yet received enough verified user reviews to earn an audience score on the Popcornmeter. Enjoy ScreenRant's box office coverage? Click below to sign up for my weekly box office newsletter (make sure to check "Box Office" in your preferences) and get exclusive analysis, predictions, and more: Sign Up