The Butterfly Effect

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Butterfly Effect
Directed by Eric Bress
J. Mackye Gruber
Produced by Ashton Kutcher
Anthony Rhulen
Chris Bender
J.C. Spink
A.J. Dix
Toby Emmerich
Written by Eric Bress
J. Mackye Gruber
Starring Ashton Kutcher
Melora Walters
Amy Smart
Elden Henson
William Lee Scott
John Patrick Amedori
Irene Gorovaia
Kevin G. Schmidt
Jesse James
Logan Lerman
Sarah Widdows
Jake Kaese
Cameron Bright
Eric Stoltz
Callum Keith Rennie
Lorena Gale
Ethan Suplee
Camille Sullivan
Tara Wilson
Jesse Hutch
Music by Michael Suby
Cinematography Matthew F. Leonetti
Editing by Peter Amundson
Distributed by New Line Cinema
Release date(s) January 23, 2004
Running time Theatrical cut
113 min.
Director's Cut
120 min.
Country Flag of the United States
Language English
Budget $13 million
Gross revenue $96,000,000
Followed by The Butterfly Effect 2
Official website
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

The Butterfly Effect is a 2004 American fantasy/drama movie starring Ashton Kutcher, Amy Smart, Eric Stoltz, and others, distributed by New Line Cinema. The title is a reference to the butterfly effect, which theorises that a change in something seemingly innocuous, such as a flap of a butterfly's wings, may cause unexpected larger changes in the future, such as a tornado. The Butterfly Effect is directed and written by Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber.

The movie was followed by a largely unrelated direct-to-DVD sequel, The Butterfly Effect 2.

Contents

[edit] Plot summary

Evan Treborn (Ashton Kutcher), who suffered severe traumas as a boy (Logan Lerman) and a teenager (John Patrick Amedori), blacks out frequently, often at moments of high stress. While searching for an answer to heal his emotional wounds, he finds that when he reads from his adolescent journals, he travels back in time, and is able to essentially "redo" parts of his past, and thereby causing the blackouts he experienced as a child. There are consequences of his choices, however, that he then propagates back to the present; his alternate futures vary from frat boy to prisoner to amputee. As he continues to do this, he realizes that even though his intentions are good, the actions he takes have unintended consequences.

[edit] Cast


[edit] DVD release

The DVD was released on July 6, 2004 in the Infinifilm edition. The Infinifilm edition was released with the theatrical cut (113 min.) on one side and the Director's cut (120 min.) on the other.

  • Beyond the Movie features:
  • Documentaries:
    • The Science and Psychology of the Chaos Theory documentary
    • The History and Allure of Time Travel documentary
  • Fact Track - Trivia Subtitle Track
  • All Access Pass features:
  • Filmmaker Commentary by directors Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber
  • Deleted and alternate scenes
  • The Creative Process
  • Visual effects
  • Storyboard gallery
  • Original theatrical trailer
  • DVD-ROM features:
  • Script-to-Screen (Director's Cut)
  • Commentary digest
  • Gallery
  • Scene medleys
  • Links:

[edit] Sequel

The film was released on DVD on October 10, 2006, it was directed by John R. Leonetti and was largely unrelated.

[edit] Awards and nominations

2005 Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films (Saturn Awards)
2004 Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Film
  • Won—Pegasus Audience Award — Eric Bress, J. Mackye Gruber
2004 Teen Choice Awards
  • Nominated—Choice Movie: Thriller

[edit] Reception

According to the aggregate movie site Rotten Tomatoes, the Butterfly Effect garnered poor reviews, with the film receiving a 33% rating classifying it as "Rotten"

The movie, however, was very popular with audiences, grossing around $57 million at the US box office, ($96 million worldwide,) despite the often difficult subject matter and low budget of only around $13 million. [1]

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:


Preceded by
Along Came Polly
Box office number-one films of 2004 (USA)
January 25, 2004
Succeeded by
You Got Served