The possibilities of Kleks Academy 2 does have something riding on it, and that’s success at the Polish box office. According to Cineuropa, Kleks Academy exceeded 2 million admissions and led the box office for 4 weeks when it was released in December 2023. It was the most popular Polish film since 2019. However, despite making cash at the box office, there’s still no news on a sequel.
I imagine the pandemic had something to do with this, but the film, directed by Maciej Kawulski, had an impact on audiences that brought light to the Polish box office. The only issue is that the movie has received poor reviews since its release in Poland and subsequently on Netflix in June 2024.
In my review for Ready Steady Cut, I said: “Kleks Academy shows the characters have a lot of imagination, but the movie lacks it.”
MEAWW was a little more complimentary, pointing to its technical execution, but still called it “lackluster.”
One audience member (Jayden R) commented on Rotten Tomatoes, saying, “Poorly written story with no character development, it seems like they only had the budget for every third chapter of the script. Save your time and watch something else.”
It’s safe to say that the movie has not landed as well as intended. However, it did become a Netflix movie, and most of the time, the streaming giant listens to the statistics rather than the critics. It could be possible that Netflix wants a sequel to Kleks Academy if it draws in the watch hours.
Kleks Academy 2 Does Have A Story To Tell
The ending of the first film proved there’s more to this story than meets the eye: Ada has more exploring to do in Fairylandia, especially with the mid-credits scene showing her father is seemingly alive. Also, her friend, Albert, who was presumed dead near the end of the movie, happens to be a robot and is alive, and he may have some secrets to tell her.
But there is more source material, too. Admittedly, I do not know to what extent the trilogy of the Kleks books is dealt with in the first movie, and Wikipedia is pretty mute on explaining it, too. But we have to assume that if we are dealing with a trilogy, Ada has more dimensions within this universe to explore.
Honestly, I would not mind seeing a sequel. Kleks Academy was not too far off from being a good movie, and if the Polish box office is anything to go by, then this franchise has a slight chance to redeem itself.
