The Butterfly Effect

The Butterfly Effect
Directed by Eric Bress
J. Mackye Gruber
Produced by
  • Anthony Rhulen
  • Chris Bender
  • J.C. Spink
  • A.J. Dix
  • Associate Producer:
  • Johnny Fountain
  • Co-Producer:
  • Lisa Richardson
  • Executive Producer:
  • Cale Boyter
  • Richard Brener
  • Toby Emmerich
  • Jason Goldberg
  • David Krintzman
  • Ashton Kutcher
  • William Shively
Written by Eric Bress
J. Mackye Gruber
Starring
  • Ashton Kutcher
  • Amy Smart
  • Melora Walters
  • 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
Music by Michael Suby
Cinematography Matthew F. Leonetti
Editing by Peter Amundson
Distributed by New Line Cinema
Release date(s) January 22, 2004 (2004-01-22)
United States (United States)
January 23, 2004 (2004-01-23)
Running time 113 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $13 million
Gross revenue $96,060,858
Followed by The Butterfly Effect 2

The Butterfly Effect is a 2004 American psychological thriller film directed and written by Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber. The film stars Ashton Kutcher, Amy Smart, Eric Stoltz and others, and was distributed by New Line Cinema. The title is a reference to the butterfly effect, which is a metaphor that encapsulates the idea that if one were to make small changes, while going back to the past, the resulting changes to the present would be large and various.

The film was followed by two largely unrelated sequels, the direct-to-DVD The Butterfly Effect 2 and the After Dark Horrorfest release The Butterfly Effect 3: Revelations.

Contents

Plot

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 in his dorm room reading one of his journals to a girl, 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, thereby causing the blackouts he experienced as a child. There are consequences to his choices, however, that he then propagates back to the present: his alternate futures vary from frat boy to prisoner to amputee. His efforts are driven by the desire to undo the most traumatic events of his childhood which coincide with his blackouts, including saving his childhood sweetheart Kayleigh (Amy Smart), from being molested by her father (Eric Stoltz) and tormented by her sociopathic brother (William Lee Scott).

The actions he takes, and those he enables others to take during his blackouts, change the timeline in the new future wherein he awakes. As he continues to do this, he realizes that even though his intentions are good, the actions he takes have unintended consequences. Moreover, the assimilation of dozens of years' worth of new memories from the alternate timelines causes him brain damage. Ultimately he decides that his attempts to alter the past end up only harming those he cares about. He travels back in time once more to the first day he met Kayleigh and scares her away. He succeeds in undoing his childhood as he knew it, and then destroys all his journals so that he's not tempted to bring any of it back.

The film ends eight years in the future with Evan leaving an office building and passing Kayleigh on the street. After a moment's hesitation, he lets her pass by without noticing him.[1]

Alternate endings

The director's cut of the film ends with Evan travelling back to the day of his birth, and as a fetus, strangles himself with his umbilical cord. A voice-over replays of the fortune teller saying that he doesn't have a soul and was never meant to have been born and his mother saying she had miscarriages before him. The resulting time-line shows his friends and family happier without him. Another voice-over replays his mother's confession (originally heard when visiting the fortune teller earlier, saying that he was the third of three brothers, the other two having died during birth), this time altered to her telling her fourth child, now a daughter, that she survived while her three children before her did not. This is because his father kept going back in time trying to save one of his sons to make sure a child was born unknowingly making them like him, making Evan not the cause of the butterfly effect but the butterfly effect itself. It then shows Evan's mother with a new husband with a daughter and Kayleigh marrying someone she met in her new life.[2] Beside that, the Director's Cut includes numerous additional changes/extensions compared to the theatrical version.[3]

Another alternate ending shows Evan and Kayleigh stopping on the street when they cross each other. They introduce themselves and Evan asks her out for coffee.[4]

Yet another ending is similar to the one shown in the film, except this time Evan, after hesitating, turns back and starts following Kayleigh.[5]

Cast

Reception

Critical reception was mixed, although audience reaction was somewhat positive. According to the film review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes, The Butterfly Effect garnered mixed to average reviews, with the film receiving a 32% rating — classifying it as "Rotten".[6] On Metacritic, it has a score of 30 (generally negative reviews) out of 100.[7]

The film was a financial success, however, grossing around $57 million at the U.S. box office ($96 million worldwide), despite the often difficult subject matter and low budget of only around $13 million.[8]

Awards and nominations

2005 Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films (Saturn Awards)
2004 Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Film
2004 Teen Choice Awards

DVD release

The DVD was released on July 6, 2004 in the Infinifilm edition. The Infinifilm edition was released with the theatrical cut (114 minutes) on one side and the Director's cut (120 minutes) on the other.

Sequels

The Butterfly Effect 2 was released on DVD on October 10, 2006. It was directed by John R. Leonetti and was largely unrelated to the original film. It features a brief reference to the first movie in the form of a newspaper headline referring to Evan's father, as well as using the same basic time travel mechanics.

The third installment in the Butterfly Effect series, The Butterfly Effect 3: Revelations, was released by After Dark Films in 2009. This sequel follows the life of a young man who journeys back in time in order to solve the mystery surrounding his high school girlfriend's death. This movie has no direct relation to the first two movies and uses slightly altered time travel mechanics.[9]

References

  1. ↑ Ashton Kutcher (Executive Producer). Theatrical Cut Ending. [DVD]. New Line Cinema. 
  2. ↑ Ashton Kutcher (Executive Producer). Directors Cut Ending. [DVD]. New Line Cinema. 
  3. ↑ http://movie-censorship.com/report.php?ID=2027
  4. ↑ Ashton Kutcher (Executive Producer). Happy Ending. [DVD]. New Line Cinema. 
  5. ↑ Ashton Kutcher (Executive Producer). Open Ending. [DVD]. New Line Cinema. 
  6. ↑ "The Butterfly Effect (2004)". Rotten Tomatoes. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/butterfly_effect/. Retrieved 2009-08-08. 
  7. ↑ "Butterfly Effect, The Reviews". Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/video/titles/butterflyeffect. Retrieved 2009-08-08. 
  8. ↑ "The Butterfly Effect (2004)". Box Office Mojo. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=butterflyeffect.htm. Retrieved 2009-08-08. 
  9. ↑ Butterfly Effect: Revelation, Internet Movie Database.

External links