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{{short description|2004 American science fiction thriller film}}
{{about|the 2004 film|the 1995 film|The Butterfly Effect (1995 film){{!}}''The Butterfly Effect'' (1995 film)|the concept in chaos theory|butterfly effect|other uses|butterfly effect (disambiguation)}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = The Butterfly Effect
| image          = Butterflyeffect poster.jpg
| alt            = 
| caption        = Theatrical release poster
| director       = {{Plainlist|
* [[Eric Bress]]
* [[J. Mackye Gruber]]}}
| producer       = {{Plainlist|
* Anthony Rhulen
* [[Chris Bender (film producer)|Chris Bender]]
* [[Ashton Kutcher]]
* [[J.C. Spink|JC Spink]]
* A.J. Dix}}
| writer         = {{Plainlist|
* Eric Bress
* J. Mackye Gruber}}
| starring       = {{Plainlist|
* Ashton Kutcher
* [[Amy Smart]]
* [[Eric Stoltz]]
* [[William Lee Scott]]
* [[Elden Henson]]
* [[Logan Lerman]]
* [[Ethan Suplee]]
* [[Melora Walters]]}}
| music          = [[Michael Suby]]
| cinematography = [[Matthew F. Leonetti]]
| editing        = Peter Amundson
| studio         = {{Plainlist|
* FilmEngine
* BenderSpink
* [[Katalyst Films|Katalyst]]}}
| distributor    = [[New Line Cinema]]
| released       = {{Film date|2004|1|23}}
| runtime        = 114 minutes
| country        = United States
| language       = English
| budget         = $13 million<ref name="The Butterfly Effect">{{Cite web |title=The Butterfly Effect |url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0289879/ |access-date=2023-03-16 |website=Box Office Mojo}}</ref>
| gross          = $96.8 million<ref name="The Butterfly Effect"/>
}}

'''''The Butterfly Effect''''' is a 2004 American [[science fiction film|science fiction]] [[thriller film|thriller]] film written and directed by [[Eric Bress]] and [[J. Mackye Gruber]]. It stars [[Ashton Kutcher]], [[Amy Smart]], [[Eric Stoltz]], [[William Lee Scott]], [[Elden Henson]], [[Logan Lerman]], [[Ethan Suplee]], and [[Melora Walters]]. The title refers to the [[butterfly effect]].

Kutcher plays 20-year-old college student Evan Treborn,<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.imsdb.com/scripts/Butterfly-Effect,-The.html |last1= Gruber |first1= J. Mackye |last2= Bress |first2= Eric |title= ''The Butterfly Effect'': Shooting Draft |publisher= Internet Movie Script Database |access-date= Aug 12, 2017 |archive-date= August 12, 2017 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170812173658/http://www.imsdb.com/scripts/Butterfly-Effect,-The.html |url-status= live }}</ref> who experiences blackouts and memory loss throughout his childhood. In his later 20s, Evan finds he can travel back in time to inhabit his former self during those periods of blackout, now his adult mind inhabiting his younger body. He attempts to change the present by changing his past behaviors and set things right for himself and his friends, but there are [[unintended consequences]] for all. The film draws heavily on flashbacks of the characters' lives at ages 7 and 13 and presents several alternative present-day outcomes as Evan attempts to change the past, before settling on a final outcome.

The film had a poor critical reception;<ref name=rotten /><ref name=metacritic /><ref name=bradshaw/> however, it was a commercial success, generating box-office revenues of $96 million on a budget of $13 million. The film won the Pegasus Audience Award at the [[Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival]], and was nominated for Best Science Fiction Film at the [[Saturn Awards]] and Choice Movie: Thriller in the [[Teen Choice Awards]], but lost to ''[[Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind]]'' and ''[[The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003 film)|The Texas Chainsaw Massacre]]'', another film from [[New Line Cinema]], respectively.

==Plot==
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Growing up, Evan Treborn, his friends Lenny Kagan and Kayleigh Miller, and Kayleigh's brother Tommy suffered many severe [[psychological trauma]]s that caused Evan to experience frequent [[amnesia]]. These traumas include being forced to create [[child pornography]] with Kayleigh by Tommy's father George, Evan nearly being strangled to death by his institutionalized father Jason before Jason is killed in front of him by guards, accidentally killing a mother and her infant daughter while playing with [[dynamite]], and Tommy burning Evan's dog Crockett alive. Evan keeps meticulous journals of his day to day life as a [[coping mechanism]].

Some time later, while entertaining a girl in his college dorm room, Evan discovers that he can time travel and redo parts of his past by reading his journals; his time-traveling episodes account for the frequent blackouts he experienced, since those are the moments when his older self occupied his consciousness.

After a traumatized Kayleigh commits suicide, Evan travels back in time and prevents George from molesting her. He comes back to a reality where he and Kayleigh are a happy couple in college, but discovers George ended up taking out all of his abusive tendencies on Tommy, who grew up to become even more violent and dangerous. When Evan is attacked by Tommy, he kills Tommy in self defense and is imprisoned. There, he manages to time travel once more after his mother brings him a journal during a visit.

Upon returning, Evan stops Tommy from killing Crockett, but Lenny, relentlessly bullied by Tommy and mentally unstable following the dynamite incident, kills Tommy with a metal shard. Following Tommy’s death, Evan wakes up in a new reality where Lenny has been institutionalized and Kayleigh is a drug-addicted prostitute. Evan travels back to prevent the dynamite accident; while Tommy shields the mother and baby from the blast, Evan is caught directly in the explosion.

In the new reality, Lenny and Kayleigh are happily in a relationship and Tommy has become religious, but Evan is a double amputee. His mother, stricken with grief over her son's injuries, began smoking obsessively and developed [[lung cancer]]. To save his mother and himself from this fate, Evan goes back to his childhood and prepares to discard the lit dynamite, but Kayleigh picks it up when it is smacked out of his hand by her father, and it explodes, killing her.

Evan awakens in a mental hospital and finds that his journals no longer exist and he has suffered irreversible brain damage due to the rigors of time travel. He discovers that his father had the same ability before losing the photographs that allowed him to time travel. Evan ultimately reasons that he and his friends will never have good futures as long as he keeps altering the past.

After escaping the hospital staff and barricading himself in an office, Evan uses an old home movie to travel back to the day he first met Kayleigh. He intentionally upsets her so that she and Tommy choose to live with their mother rather than their father in the wake of their parents' divorce. As a result, the siblings are not subjected to a destructive upbringing, and Lenny is never bullied.

Evan awakens in a college dorm room, where Lenny is his roommate. To ensure that his plan worked, he asks where Kayleigh is; Lenny does not know who Evan is referring to. Satisfied that his friends' futures are secure, Evan burns his journals and videos to avoid altering the past ever again.

Eight years later, in [[New York City]], Evan and Kayleigh pass each other on the street, briefly look at each other, and continue walking.
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===Director's cut===
The [[director's cut]] features a different ending. With his brain terribly damaged and aware that he is committed to a psychiatric facility where he will lose access to his time travel ability, Evan makes a desperate attempt to change the timeline by watching a family video, which shows his mother just before she was about to give birth to him. He travels back to that moment and strangles himself in the womb with his [[umbilical cord]] so as to prevent the multi-[[generational curse]] from continuing, consistent with an added scene where a psychic palm reader tells Evan "you have no lifeline" and that he does "not belong to this world". Kayleigh is then seen as a child in the new timeline having chosen to live with her mother instead of her father, and a montage suggests that the lives of the other childhood characters have become loving and less tragic.

==Cast==
<!-- Cast and order per closing tombstone credits, roles per closing credits scroll -->
{{Cast listing|
* [[Ashton Kutcher]] as Evan
** [[John Patrick Amedori]] as Evan at 14
** [[Logan Lerman]] as Evan at 7
* [[Melora Walters]] as Andrea
* [[Amy Smart]] as Kayleigh
** [[Irene Gorovaia]] as Kayleigh at 14
** Sarah Widdows as Kayleigh at 7
* [[Elden Henson]] as Lenny
** [[Kevin Schmidt|Kevin G. Schmidt]] as Lenny at 14
** Jake Kaese as Lenny at 7
* [[William Lee Scott]] as Tommy
** [[Jesse James (actor)|Jesse James]] as Tommy at 14
** [[Cameron Bright]] as Tommy at 7
* [[Eric Stoltz]] as Mr. Miller
* [[Callum Keith Rennie]] as Jason
* [[Lorena Gale]] as Mrs. Boswell
* Nathaniel Deveaux as Dr. Redfield
* [[Ethan Suplee]] as Thumper
* [[Camille Sullivan]] as Cricket
* [[Kevin Durand]] as Carlos
}}

==Reception==

===Critical reception===
Critical reception for ''The Butterfly Effect'' was generally poor.<ref name=rotten /><ref name=metacritic /><ref name=bradshaw/> On [[review aggregator]] website [[Rotten Tomatoes]], the film holds a 34% approval rating based on 170 reviews; the [[Weighted mean|rating average]] is 4.8/10. The site's consensus reads: "The premise is intriguing, but it's placed in the service of an overwrought and tasteless thriller."<ref name=rotten>{{cite web|url = http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/butterfly_effect/|title=The Butterfly Effect (2004) |access-date=March 10, 2025|website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]]}}</ref> On [[Metacritic]], another review aggregator, it has a score of 30 out of 100 based on 35 reviews, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".<ref name=metacritic>{{cite web|url=http://www.metacritic.com/video/titles/butterflyeffect|title=Butterfly Effect, The Reviews|access-date=Aug 12, 2017|website=[[Metacritic]]|archive-date=March 27, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100327144051/http://www.metacritic.com/video/titles/butterflyeffect|url-status=dead}}</ref> Audiences polled by [[CinemaScore]] gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Home |url=https://www.cinemascore.com/ |access-date=2023-02-11 |website=[[CinemaScore]] |language=en-US}}</ref>

[[Roger Ebert]] wrote that he "enjoyed ''The Butterfly Effect'', up to a point" and that the "plot provides a showcase for acting talent, since the actors have to play characters who go through wild swings." However, Ebert said that the scientific notion of the [[butterfly effect]] is used inconsistently: Evan's changes should have wider reverberations.<ref>Ebert, Roger. "Back and forth, and back again - ''Butterfly Effect'' causes the feeling of being jerked around." ''[[Chicago Sun-Times]]''. January 23, 2004. p. 31. "This is a premise not unknown to science fiction, where one famous story has a time-traveler stepping on a cockroach millions of years ago and wiping out humanity. The remarkable thing about the changes in ''The Butterfly Effect'' is that they're so precisely aimed: They apparently affect only the characters in the movie."</ref> Sean Axmaker of the ''[[Seattle Post-Intelligencer]]'' called it a "metaphysical mess", criticizing the film's mechanics for being "fuzzy at best and just plain sloppy the rest of the time".<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.seattlepi.com/ae/movies/article/Butterfly-Effect-is-wrapped-in-a-cocoon-of-grim-1135163.php|title='Butterfly Effect' is wrapped in a cocoon of grim absurdity|author=Axmaker, Sean|newspaper=[[Seattle Post-Intelligencer]] |date=22 January 2004 |access-date=Aug 12, 2017}}</ref> Mike Clark of ''[[USA Today]]'' also gave the film a negative review, stating, "Normally, such a premise comes off as either intriguing or silly, but the morbid [[subplot]]s (there's [[prison sexuality|prison sex]], too) prevent ''Effect'' from becoming the unintentional howler it might otherwise be."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/reviews/2004-01-22-butterfly-effect_x.htm|title=Change is not so good for Kutcher in 'The Butterfly Effect'|author=Clark, Mike|newspaper=USA Today|date=22 January 2004|access-date=Aug 12, 2017|archive-date=2012-07-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120729024436/http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/reviews/2004-01-22-butterfly-effect_x.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> Additionally, Ty Burr of ''[[The Boston Globe]]'' went as far as saying, "whatever train-wreck pleasures you might locate here are spoiled by the vile acts the characters commit."<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.boston.com/movies/display?display=movie&id=2150 |title=Kutcher falls flat in 'The Butterfly Effect' |author=Burr, Ty |newspaper=The Boston Globe |date=23 January 2004 |access-date=Aug 12, 2017 |archive-date=10 February 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090210191438/http://www.boston.com/movies/display?display=movie&id=2150 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Matt Soergel of ''[[The Florida Times-Union]]'' rated it three stars out of four, writing, "''The Butterfly Effect'' is preposterous, feverish, creepy and stars Ashton Kutcher in a dramatic role. It's a blast... a solidly entertaining B-movie. It's even quite funny at times..."<ref>{{cite news |last= Soergel |first= Matt |title= Time after time... Ashton Kutcher revisits his past, again and again |work= [[The Florida Times-Union]] |location= Jacksonville, Florida |date= January 23, 2004 |url= http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/012304/enm_14599338.shtml |page= WE-5 |access-date= Aug 12, 2017 |archive-date= November 7, 2013 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131107181937/http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/012304/enm_14599338.shtml |url-status= live }}</ref> ''[[The Miami Herald]]'' said, "''The Butterfly Effect'' is better than you might expect despite its awkward, slow beginning, drawing you in gradually and paying off in surprisingly effective and bittersweet ways," and added that Kutcher is "appealing and believable... ''The Butterfly Effect'' sticks to its rules fairly well... overall the film is consistent in its flights of fancy."<ref>{{cite news |last= Ogle |first= Connie |title= Kutcher Effective in Grown-Up Role |work= [[The Miami Herald]] |date= January 23, 2004 |page= 9G |url= http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_product=AWNB&p_theme=aggregated5&p_action=doc&p_docid=10053849153BFA25&p_docnum=18&p_queryname=4 |access-date= May 7, 2013 }}</ref> The ''Worcester Telegram & Gazette'' praised it as "a disturbing film" and "the first really interesting film of 2004," adding that Kutcher "carries it off": {{blockquote|Written and directed by Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber, who co-wrote ''[[Final Destination 2]]'', this is much more intelligent than their earlier film would suggest... ''The Butterfly Effect'' may be a little too unconventional to succeed with a mass audience, but filmgoers claiming they want 'something different' from Hollywood ought to take note.<ref>{{cite news |last= Kimmel |first= Daniel M. |title= Kutcher transforms into serious actor in dark ''Butterfly'' |work= [[Telegram & Gazette]] |location= Worcester, Massachusetts |date= January 23, 2004 |url= http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_product=AWNB&p_theme=aggregated5&p_action=doc&p_docid=10054EFEDEC667B0&p_docnum=14&p_queryname=1|page= C5 |access-date= May 7, 2013}}</ref>}}

In a retrospective, [[Peter Bradshaw]] of ''[[The Guardian]]'' wrote that critics, including himself, were too harsh on the film at the time of its release.  Describing the film as having been patronized, Bradshaw cited critical disdain for Kutcher as making the film uncool to like.<ref name=bradshaw>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2009/aug/13/time-travelers-wife-butterfly-effect|title=Don't cast The Butterfly Effect to the winds of time|last=Bradshaw|first=Peter|work=[[The Guardian]]|date=August 13, 2009|access-date=June 1, 2016}}</ref>

===Box office===
The film was a commercial success, earning $17,065,227 and claiming the #1 spot in its opening weekend.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna4057480 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121001184745/http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/4057480/ns/today-entertainment/t/butterfly-effect-floats-top-box-office/ |url-status=live |archive-date=1 October 2012 |title='Butterfly Effect' floats to top of box office |publisher=AP |date=25 January 2004 |access-date=21 May 2011}}</ref> Against a $13 million budget, ''The Butterfly Effect'' grossed around $57,938,693 at the U.S. box office and $96,060,858 worldwide.<ref name="BOM" >{{mojo title|butterflyeffect|The Butterfly Effect}}</ref>

===Accolades===
;[[31st Saturn Awards|2004 Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films Saturn Award]]
* [[Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film|Best Science Fiction Film]] - ''nominated''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.saturnawards.org/nominations.html|title=Saturn Awards Nominations|date=2005-10-29|access-date=2017-05-28|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051029093056/http://www.saturnawards.org/nominations.html|archive-date=2005-10-29}}</ref>

;2004 [[Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Film]]
* Pegasus Audience Award — Eric Bress, J. Mackye Gruber - ''won''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bifff.org/en/archive/film1.php?id=496|title=BIFFF - The Butterfly Effect (2004)|access-date=2017-08-11|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050117173509/http://www.bifff.org/en/archive/film1.php?id=496|archive-date=2005-01-17}}</ref>

;2004 [[Teen Choice Awards]]
* Choice Movie: Thriller - ''nominated''<ref name=AnW>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/event/ev0000644/2004|title=Teen Choice Awards|publisher=IMDb|access-date=November 12, 2014|archive-date=July 2, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120702140322/http://www.imdb.com/event/ev0000644/2004|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Home media==

===Release===
The film was released on both VHS, as well as [[DVD]] as the [[Infinifilm]] edition on July 6, 2004. This edition was released with the theatrical cut (113 minutes) on one side and the [[director's cut]] (120 minutes) on the other. The DVD also includes two [[Documentary film|documentaries]] ("''The Science and Psychology of the Chaos Theory''" and "''The History and Allure of Time Travel''"), a trivia subtitle track, [[Audio commentary|filmmaker commentary]] by directors [[Eric Bress]] and [[J. Mackye Gruber]], [[Deleted scene|deleted and alternative scenes]], and a short feature called "The Creative Process" among other things.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.amazon.com/Butterfly-Effect-Infinifilm-Ashton-Kutcher/dp/B0001Z52RU |title=The Butterfly Effect (Infinifilm Edition) (2004)|website=Amazon|date=12 September 2006 }}</ref>

===Alternative endings===
''The Butterfly Effect'' has four different endings that were shot for the film:
#The theatrical release ending shows Evan passing Kayleigh on the sidewalk, he sees her, and recognizes her, but keeps walking. She also has a brief moment of recognition but also keeps walking.
#The "happy ending" alternative ending shows Evan and Kayleigh stopping on the sidewalk when they cross paths. They introduce themselves and Evan asks her out for coffee.<ref>{{cite video|people = Ashton Kutcher (Executive Producer)|title = Happy Ending|publisher = New Line Cinema}}</ref>
#The "open-ended" alternative ending is similar to the one where Evan and Kayleigh pass each other on the sidewalk and keep walking, except this time Evan, after hesitating, turns and follows Kayleigh.<ref>{{cite video|people = Ashton Kutcher (Executive Producer)|title = Open Ending|publisher = New Line Cinema|medium = DVD}}</ref> This ending was utilized in the film's novelization, written by [[James Swallow]] and published by Black Flame.
#The [[director's cut]] ending shows Evan watching the recording of his mother giving birth to him. He proceeds to go back in time to the day when he was born and then strangles himself inside his mother's uterus.

==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 film in the form of a newspaper headline referring to Evan's father, as well as using the same basic time travel mechanics. It received a negative reception from Reel Film Reviews, which called it "An abominable, pointless sequel."<ref>{{citation|url=http://reelfilm.com/buttfly.htm#2|work=Reel Film Reviews|first=David|last=Nusair|title=The Butterfly Effect 2|access-date=May 28, 2017|archive-date=June 15, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210615035400/https://reelfilm.com/buttfly.htm#2|url-status=live}}</ref>

The third installment in the 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 film has no direct relation to the first two and uses different time travel mechanics. Reel Film Reviews characterized the third installment as "A very mild improvement over the nigh unwatchable ''Butterfly Effect 2''."<ref>{{citation|work=Reel Film Reviews|first=David|last=Nusair|access-date=May 28, 2017|url=http://reelfilm.com/buttfly.htm#3|title=The Butterfly Effect 3: Revelations|archive-date=June 15, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210615035400/https://reelfilm.com/buttfly.htm#3|url-status=live}}</ref>

==See also==
*''[[Fetching Cody]]''
*''[[Time Freak (2018 film)|Time Freak]]''
*''[[Frequency (2000 film)|Frequency]]''
*''[[Erased (manga)|Erased]]''
*''[[Life Is Strange]]''
*''[[A Sound of Thunder|A Sound of Thunder (1952 short story by Ray Bradbury)]]''
* [[List of films featuring time loops]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
* {{IMDb title|0289879}}
* {{Mojo title|butterflyeffect}}
* {{Metacritic film}}
* {{Rotten Tomatoes|butterfly_effect}}

{{The Butterfly Effect (film series)}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Butterfly Effect, The}}
[[Category:2000s American films]]
[[Category:2000s English-language films]]
[[Category:2000s films about time travel]]
[[Category:2000s science fiction thriller films]]
[[Category:2004 directorial debut films]]
[[Category:2004 films]]
[[Category:2004 psychological thriller films]]
[[Category:2004 science fiction films]]
[[Category:American psychological thriller films]]
[[Category:American science fiction thriller films]]
[[Category:English-language science fiction thriller films]]
[[Category:Films about amputees]]
[[Category:Films about child sexual abuse]]
[[Category:Films about fraternities and sororities]]
[[Category:Films about mathematics]]
[[Category:Films scored by Michael Suby]]
[[Category:Films set in 1989]]
[[Category:Films set in 1995]]
[[Category:Films set in 2002]]
[[Category:Films set in 2010]]
[[Category:Films set in a movie theatre]]
[[Category:Films set in Manhattan]]
[[Category:Films set in universities and colleges]]
[[Category:Films shot in Vancouver]]
[[Category:New Line Cinema films]]
[[Category:Time loop films]]