"Sound Of Thunder" a brontosaurus-sized bomb

[ChrisII]

The film's opening day was 980, 000 and it placed in Thirteen. Ouch.

[Deathstroke]

I loved the headline of the review for the film on CNN.com.

"A Sound of Thunder, the smell of garbage."

[KenK]

I want to see it just to see if it's really THAT BAD! I mean, there's been like zero promotion for the film, and I'm wondering how it even got made.

[Dr. Banner]

^^^
It was actually made 2 years ago. After it finished, it seemed the studio was less than impressed, and kept pushing it back and back until now. They probably figure the movie is made, why waste money on advertising (if they hate it that much), so, they didn't advertise and nobody even knew about the movie until recently.

Which is a shame, the short story was great. I heard that the title of the movie
(VERY important in the short story) wasn't even mentioned in the film.

Plus the fact that the story basically ended a minute after the group returned from the past, where this movie seems to have taken a MUCH more Hollywood approach.

[KenK]

Plus the fact that the story basically ended a minute after the group returned from the past, where this movie seems to have taken a MUCH more Hollywood approach.

So basically, we're not meant to see as much of the alternate future as the movie shows?

[Chevan]

So basically, we're not meant to see as much of the alternate future as the movie shows?

Nope.

In the original story, the closing scene is when the hunting expedition comes back from the time-trip where they killed the T-Rex. At this point, they are not aware that the person who freaked out and left the path had stepped on the butterfly in the process. When they get back, they notice that the sign in the lobby of the time agency is different. Where before, it had said "Time Safari Inc. Safaris to any year in the past. You name the Animal. We take you there. You shoot it.", it now says "Tyme sefari inc. Sefaris tu any yeer en the past. Yu naim the animall. Wee taek yu thair. Yu shoot itt." They speak to the receptionist, who remarks that instead of a man named Keith having won the election as it had been before they left, now his opponent Deutscher is the victor. Deutscher is a man described as an 'anti-everything', and Keith is implied as a fair and balanced alternative. The safari guide shoots the man who steps on the butterfly, which is where the "Sound of Thunder" comes in. That's... kinda most of the story, but it can't have been more than the first, say, 15 minutes of the movie. Since the story obviously isn't the focus of the movie, that's really not spoiling anything unless you plan on reading it later. I do recommend that, though, as Bradbury is quite good.

Personally, I'm saddened by this movie. The story is very good, and Bradbury is an awesome writer. The movie might have worked as a short film, but a feature length movie? Nope, just not enough material without almost completely abandoning the source.

[KenK]

Nope.

In the original story, they come back, the sign in the lobby has phonetically spelling instead of common English spelling, the previous day's presidential winner is the one who had lost before the time trip, and so on. The "Sound of Thunder" is the guide shooting the man who stepped on the butterfly. The story ends there.


I don't get it.

[Chevan]

Probably needs more detail. I'll edit it to make it clearer.

[Chou Blaster]

I don't get it.


It is that the Butter Fly was not the time altering event but the man being shot was?

[Chevan]

It is that the Butter Fly was not the time altering event but the man being shot was?

Huh? No, it was definitely the butterfly that made time screw up.

[Headhunter]

Read the original/listened to the tape of Bradbury's short story in high school, was really impressed with it.

Watching the trailer for this, I was aghast. Not only does it look rediculous, but what's with Ben Kingsley's hair? Why does he keep taking horrible roles in between the good ones?

[GremlinClr]

Read the original/listened to the tape of Bradbury's short story in high school, was really impressed with it.

Watching the trailer for this, I was aghast. Not only does it look rediculous, but what's with Ben Kingsley's hair? Why does he keep taking horrible roles in between the good ones?

Maybe he liked the short story to.

[blackdragon6]

i never saw any promotion for it.not even on the net

[Dr. Banner]

Found some more info that may shed some light onto the subject on why the movie turned out the way it did:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0318081/trivia

- One major reason for the film's long delay is that the original production company went bankrupt during post-production, and there simply wasn't money to finish the film.

- Production was slowed when severe floods in the summer of 2002 in the Czech Republic caused considerable damage to the set.

- Renny Harlin left to direct the film Mindhunters (2004) instead. (Switching directors is rarely a good thing)

[Justin D.]

I completely forgot about "A Sound of Thunder" until I saw this thread. It was a long time ago, but I do remember seeing one or two commercial for this. Maybe I just saw them as trailers in front of a movie. It looked neat even if the trailers were a bit confusing. Sad that it has gotten such bad reviews so far. Then again, "Red Planet" got bad reviews too, but I remember really liking it when I finally saw it on HBO.

[Grant]

Watching the trailer for this, I was aghast. Not only does it look rediculous, but what's with Ben Kingsley's hair? Why does he keep taking horrible roles in between the good ones?

It's called a paycheck.