Evolution (DVD)

Evolution is a 2001 American comic science fiction film directed by Ivan Reitman. It stars David Duchovny, Orlando Jones, Seann William Scott, Julianne Moore, and Ted Levine. It was released by DreamWorks Pictures in the United States and by Columbia Pictures internationally. The plot of the film follows college professor Ira Kane (Duchovny) and geologist Harry Block (Jones), who investigate a large meteor crash in Arizona. They discover that the meteor harbors extra-terrestrial lifeforms, which are evolving very quickly into large, diverse and outlandish creatures.

Evolution was based on a story by Don Jakoby, who originally wrote it as a serious science fiction horror thriller film, until director Reitman hired David Diamond and David Weissman to re-write much of the script into a comedy which Don liked. Shooting took place from October 19, 2000 to February 7, 2001 in California and Page, Arizona, with an $80 million budget, and the film was released in the United States on June 8, 2001. The film grossed $98.4 million internationally. A short-lived animated series, Alienators: Evolution Continues, loosely based on the film, was broadcast months after the film was released.

Plot

A large meteor crashes in the barren Arizona desert late at night, which aspiring firefighter Wayne Grey witnesses. The next day, science professors Ira Kane and Harry Block from nearby Glen Canyon Community College investigate the crash site, discovering the meteor has landed in a large cave and bleeds a strange blue liquid when scraped. They quickly learn that the meteor harbors extra-terrestrial nitrogen-based microorganisms that condense millions of years of evolution within a matter of hours: the next day, the microscopic organisms have evolved into asexual fungi and flatworms that cannot yet breathe oxygen, and aquatic life the day after that.

After the U.S. Army soon seals off the site, Ira and Harry ask Brigadier General Russell Woodman, Ira s former boss, and the clumsy Dr. Allison Reed, senior researcher in epidemiology at the CDC, to aid in their research, but their efforts fail when two weeks later, Ira goes to court to be allowed to be part of the federal investigation, and when Allison questions him as a witness, he reveals that he was discharged from the army in the summer of 1997 after an experiment in May of that year, in which he developed an anthrax vaccine and administered it to nearly 140,000 soldiers, resulted in terrible consequences, which led to his dismissal from his position as a top-level researcher at USAMRIID. Upon returning to the lab, Ira and Harry discover that Woodman has stolen their research, forcing them to infiltrate the base in disguise to get another meteor sample. They shockingly and amazingly discover that the caverns now harbor an alien rainforest teeming with tropical plant and animal life, including flying insects and carnivorous plant-life. That night, a large reptilian creature fatally mauls the owner of a local country club where Wayne works, and the next day a dog-sized frog-like animal attacks two elderly ladies in their home. Ira, Harry and Wayne find a valley behind the home filled with suffocating dragon-like creatures, which they theorize cannot yet breathe oxygen and are escaping from the meteor site through the local caverns. However, a newly-born dragon quickly adapts to the earth s oxygen and terrorizes a shopping mall before the trio gun it down.

With the media becoming increasingly aware of the alien attacks, Governor Lewis visits the site demanding answers, furious at not being informed earlier about the situation. Allison believes that the aliens will engulf the United States in two months, and Woodman suggests a napalm strike to destroy the meteor s contents and the surrounding town. Though Lewis opposes bombing the community, primate-like creatures suddenly attack the base and wound several members, persuading him to approve Woodman s napalm strike. Disgusted, Allison quits the CDC and joins Ira s crew. Ira later realizes that intense heat triggers the aliens DNA and that the initial impact to Earth activated its evolution. Woodman ignores Allison s pleas and the town begins evacuating for the impending bombing strike. Looking at the positions of nitrogen and carbon on the periodic table on the back of Allison s T-shirt, Ira theorizes that selenium might be as toxic to the aliens as arsenic is to Earth s carbon life. Rather surprisingly, two of his dumbest students, Deke and Danny Donald, recall that selenium sulfide is the active ingredient in Head & Shoulders hair shampoo, which they decide to use against the alien organisms.

Wayne procures a firetruck and fills it with the shampoo with help from his college students. However, Woodman s napalm strike goes off ahead of schedule before the team can try their plan, triggering the entire alien ecosystem to fuse together into a single immense amoeba-like blob that stands hundreds of feet tall. The giant mass begins multiplying through mitosis, which it would do infinitely until the country was overtaken by thousands of these gigantic creatures. The team maneuvers their firetruck underneath the mass and discovers a rectal-like orifice to spray the shampoo up-into; moments before the creature splits into two, the team succeeds and the monster explodes. The governor declares Ira, Harry, Wayne and Allison heroes; Wayne is made a fully-credentialed firefighter, and Ira and Allison begin dating.

Later, Harry, Ira and Wayne are shown promoting Head & Shoulders for both hair-care and fighting the aliens.

Cast

• David Duchovny as Colonel (Ret.) Dr. Ira Kane
• Julianne Moore as Dr. Allison Reed
• Orlando Jones as Professor Harry Phineas Block
• Seann William Scott as Wayne Grey
• Ted Levine as Brigadier General Russell Woodman
• Ethan Suplee as Deke Donald
• Michael Bower as Danny Donald
• Pat Kilbane as Officer Sam Johnson
• Ty Burrell as Colonel Flemming
• Dan Aykroyd as Governor Lewis
• Katharine Towne as Nadine
• Gregory Itzin as Barry Cartwright
• Ashley Clark as Lieutenant Cryer
• Stephanie Hodge as Jill Mason
• Kyle Gass as Officer Drake

Sarah Silverman, Richard Moll, Tom Davis, Jerry Trainor, Miriam Flynn, Mary Pat Gleason, Steven Gilborn and John Cho have smaller roles.

Production

Development

Evolution was based on a story by Don Jakoby, who originally wrote his draft in 1998 as a serious science fiction horror thriller that was described as humorless and violent and The Thing meets The Andromeda Strain, envisioning John Carpenter to helm his idea. Ivan Reitman loved the script but saw potential in the film being successful as a comedy, calling it the modern-day successor to Ghostbusters he had always planned to make. Reitman hired writers David Diamond and David Weissman to re-write much of the script and combine it with elements of another screenplay, a comedy written by Todd Phillips and Scot Armstrong about three friends who hunt aliens. Although Jakoby was initially upset about the script s change in tone and atmosphere, Diamond and Wiessman worked closely with him to ensure the final product was something he was happy with. The original script ended with the alien organisms evolving into an ultra-intelligent humanoid species that climaxed with a battle of wits , but this ending was deemed not exciting enough and was replaced with the climax seen in the final film.

Reitman produced the film Beethoven in which Duchovny had a small role, and had him in mind as a leading man who could do comedy. Seann William Scott was cast after starring in Road Trip which Reitman also produced. Duchovny wanted to move away from the character he was known for in the X-Files television series, and thought a comedy about aliens would help him transition to different roles.

Filming

Shooting took place from October 19, 2000 to February 7, 2001 in Page, Arizona and around the greater Los Angeles, California, particularly in the Santa Clarita, California region. The scenes taking place at the fictional Glen Canyon Community college were filmed at Cal State Fullerton. The shopping mall scenes took place at the Hawthrone Plaza in Carson, California. The first scene to be shot was the monster attack on two elderly ladies. Studio shooting took place at Downey Studios and Raleigh Studios.

Visual effects

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (October 2021)

Tippett Studio was put in charge of designing over 18 various aliens in the film, each different from the last. Sony Pictures Imageworks handled the animation for the alien flatworm CGI sequence with the leech alien from the pool and some additional VFX provided from Pacific Data Images.

Soundtrack

The film s music score was composed by John Powell, conducted by Gavin Greenaway, and performed by the Hollywood Symphony Orchestra. A soundtrack album was released on June 12, 2001 and is available on Varèse Sarabande.

Title	Artist	Written by
Bombshell	Powerman 5000	Mike Tempesta and Michael Cummings
Out with a Bang	Matt Mahaffey	Matt Mahaffey
Anyway the Main Thing Is	Patty Larkin	Patty Larkin
Borderline	Buckcherry	Josh Todd, Jonathan JB Brighman, Keith Nelson and Devon Glenn
Baby, Come On Over	Samantha Mumba	Samantha Mumba, Arnthor Birgisson and Anders Bagge
Work It Out	Brassy	Muffin Spencer, Stefan Gordon, Jonny Barrington and Karen Frost
Makin Whoopee	Walter Donaldson, Gus Kahn	Walter Donaldson, Gus Kahn
Parking Lot	Morgan Nagler	Morgan Nagler
You Are So Beautiful	Bruce Fisher, Billy Preston	Bruce Fisher, Billy Preston
Play That Funky Music	Wild Cherry	Rob Parissi

Home media

The film was released on VHS and DVD on December 26, 2001.

Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes the film has a rating of 44% based on 139 reviews and an average rating of 4.90/10. The site s critical consensus reads, Director Reitman tries to remake Ghostbusters, but his efforts are largely unsuccessful because the movie has too many comedic misfires. On Metacritic, the film holds a score of 40 out of 100 based on 32 critics, indicating mixed or average reviews . Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade B+ on scale of A to F.

Todd McCarthy of Variety called it A consistently amusing action romp. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times the film 2.5 out of 4, and wrote: it s not good, but it s nowhere near as bad as most recent comedies; it has real laughs, but it misses just as many real opportunities. A. O. Scott of The New York Times wrote: The movie itself evolves in reverse, starting life as a moderately clever grab bag of high-concept noodling and half-witty badinage before descending into the primordial ooze of explosions and elaborate lower- intestinal gags.

Television series

Evolution was made into an animated series called Alienators: Evolution Continues, which ran on Fox Kids from 2001 to 2002.

Condition

New

Amazon ASIN

B00005R874

UPC / EAN

667068892321

Year

2001

ReleaseDate

2001-06-08

RuntimeMins

101

RuntimeStr

1h 41min

Awards

Awards, 2 nominations

Directors

Ivan Reitman

Writers

Don Jakoby, David Diamond, David Weissman

Stars

David Duchovny, Orlando Jones, Julianne Moore

Produced by

Jeff Apple, Paul Deason, Daniel Goldberg, Sheldon Kahn, Joe Medjuck, Tom Pollock, Ivan Reitman, David Rodgers, Ken Schwenker, Ronell Venter

Music by

John Powell

Cinematography by

Michael Chapman

Film Editing by

Wendy Greene Bricmont, Sheldon Kahn

Casting By

Margery Simkin

Production Design by

J. Michael Riva

Art Direction by

David F. Klassen, Richard F. Mays

Set Decoration by

Lauri Gaffin

Costume Design by

Aggie Guerard Rodgers

Makeup Department

Ken Chase, Judith A. Cory, Karyn Alexander Huston, Christopher Allen Nelson, Elaine L. Offers, Colette Slattery, Edward St. George, Laini Thompson, Ken Wensevic, Alan Tuskes

Production Management

Martin Cohen, Paul Deason, Lisa Dennis, Angela Heald, Athena Portillo

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director

Sonia Bhalla, Dieter Busch, Anthony E. Kountz, Michael Neumann, Kenneth Roth, Yumiko Takeya, Heather Kritzer

Art Department

Luke Adkins, Marc Baird, Matthew Bekoff, Kelly Birrer, Darrel D. Bricker, Steve Burg, Dennis Butterworth, Ron Davis, Kent Demaine, Tammy DeRuiter, Terry Doherty, David French, Bryan D. Garofalo, David Goldstein, Walt Hadfield, Val Harris, Bill Kauhane Hoyt, Jude Jensen, John S. Karas, Mark David Kersey, Noelle King, Helen Kozora, Steve Lauritzen, Thomas W. Lay Jr., Marco López, Masako Masuda, Dana McCall, Douglas McKay, Thomas Meikle, David J. Negron, Jeff O Bannon, James V. Oliveri, Hope M. Parrish, Efren N. Perez, Eric Ramsey, Prentice Randolph, John-Paul Riva, Leslie Ross, Paul Rylander, Monti Santilli Rainbolt, Eric Sundahl, Samuel J. Tell, Brian Walker, James F. Walker, Dean Wilson, Ben Woolverton, Jan S. Young, Warner Zavala, José Ignacio Álvarez, Claudia Bonfe, Shane Buckallew, Randy L. Childs, Michael Denering, Yacine Elghorri, Amy Feldman, Aaron Florez, Diana Goodwin, Christopher Hayes, Julia K. Levine, Steven Olds, Edward V. Pannozzo, Mark William Robinson, Marco Rubeo, Michael Ruby, Jordu Schell, Chad Simpson

Sound Department

Christopher Assells, Laura Harris Atkinson, Karen Baker Landers, Bob Beemer, Dino Dimuro, Todd Egan, Scott Martin Gershin, Nerses Gezalyan, Thomas Giordano, Kevin Globerman, Laura Graham, Per Hallberg, Dan Hegeman, Chris Hogan, Larry Hopkins, Craig S. Jaeger, Chris Jargo, Paul Jyrälä, William B. Kaplan, Randy Kelley, Tony Lamberti, Greg LaPlante, Kimaree Long, Scott Millan, James Moriana, Philip D. Morrill, Peggy Names, Tony Negrete, Michelle Pazer, Fred Peck III, Jeff Porrello, Scott Sanders, Dennis S. Sands, David Stanke, Peter Staubli, Lauren Stephens, Cary Weitz, Jeffrey Wilhoit, Greg Zimmerman, David Schneider, Philip A. Schwartz, Greg Steele

Special Effects by

William Aldridge, Chad Atkinson, Frank Ayre, Brent Baker, Philip Bartko, Jay Bartus, Howard Berger, Judy Bowerman, Rodney M. Byrd, Connie Cadwell, Wes Campbell, Mario Castillo, Terry Chapman, Brian Clawson, Jason Collins, Val Crawford, Steve Cremin, Gino Crognale, Burt Dalton, Albert Delgado, Alex Diaz, Dawn Dininger, Dale Ettema, Yuri Everson, Peter Farrell, Steve Frakes, Frederick Fraleigh, Alec Gillis, Lance Gilmer, Connie Grayson Criswell, Karin Hanson, Steve Hartman, Beth Hathaway, David Hoehn, James Hogue, Mark Hull, Mark Irvin, James Kagel, Sean Kennedy, Rick Kess, Kris Kobzina, Steve Koch, Robert Kurtzman, Charles Kuzela, Mike Larrabee, Timothy Leach, Julian Ledger, Phred Lender, Alex Little Al Lorenzana, Patrick Magee, Garth Majors, Mike Manzel, Paul Martos, Tony Matijevich, Donald Myers, Ned Neidhardt, Greg Nicotero, Paul Palos, Christine Papalexis, Cristina Patterson, David Penikas, Arnold Peterson, Ryan Peterson, Elia P. Popov, Bill Roth, Shannon Shea, Thomas Tate, Mark Tavares, Glenn Thomas, Keith Urban, Bruno Van Zeebroeck, Jeffrey Watts, Ralph Winiger, Garth Winkless, Tom Woodruff Jr., Kamar Bitar

Visual Effects by

Nathan Abbot, David P. Allen, Simon Allen, Tom Allen, Holly Almaguer, Ana Maria Alvarado, Dovi Anderson, Charles Aquilina, Eric Armstrong, Jason Armstrong, Arnold Ayala, James Bambauer, Damon Bard, Yuri Bartoli, Gregg Baumgarten, Rachelle Baylo, Brian Begun, Lloyd Bernberg, Jim Berney, Renee Binkowski, Jodi Birdsong, Jeremy Birn, Sirena Boden, Bob Booker, Alan Boucek, Todd Boyce, Kandece Brown, Eric Bruneau, Wes Burian, Markus Burki, Bonjin Byun, Aimee Campbell, Jeremy Cantor, Des Carey, Dan Cayer, Mike Chambers, Yina Chang, Richard Chuang, Webster Colcord, Clint Colver, Lon Cook, Carol Corwin, Stéphane Cros, Chanda Cummings, Kirk Cummings, Virgine d Annoville, Ken Dackermann, Tim de Pala, Alessandra de Souza, Mark A. Decker, Kent Demaine, Philippe Denis, Sylvain Doreau, Brennan Doyle, R. Stirling Duguid, John Dunlap, Mark Edwards, Douglas Epps, Dan Feinstein, Dave Florek, Crys Forsyth-Smith, Page Frakes, Patricia Frazier, Chris Gibbons, Tom Gibbons, Rick Glenn, Charles Granich, Laura Grieve, Kevin T. Hahn, Joseph Hamdorf, Anthony Harris, David Hart, Christopher Hatala, Craig Hayes, Jason Heapy, Tulio Hernandez, Nicole Herr, Marty Holthaus, Mark Hopper, Traci Horie, Don Howe, Jaynee Howe, Heather Hoyland, Nathaniel Hunter, Cynthia Hyland, Diana Stulic Ibanez, Gun Ho Jang, Julie Jaros, Eric Jeffery, Eric Jennings, Sven Jensen, Krystin Johnson, Darby Johnston, Kirk Jung, Michael Kaelin, Mel Kangleon, Sandy Kao, Mark Kauffman, Ken Kokka, Peter Konig, Pete Kozachik, Zsolt Krajcsik, Scott Kravitz, Thomas Krebs, Ondrej Kubicek, Daniel Kuehn, Mark Lambert, Mike Larrabee, Demetrius Leal, Chris Ledesma, Michele Xian Lee, Phred Lender, Jennifer Leo, Eric Leven, Matt Linder, Randy Link, Dave Loomis, Patrick Lowery, Keith MacGowan, Simon Maddocks, Marco Marenghi, Rick Markle, Eric Marko, John McLaughlin, Jim McVay, Alberto Menache, Michael A. Miller, Sean Mitchell, Stephanie Modestowicz, Chris Morley, Natalya Lissa Mortimer, Matthew Muntean, Guido Muzzarelli, Maks Naporowski, John Nelson, Audrey Newell, Peter Newsome, Betsy Nofsinger, Steven Olds, William Opdyke, Ethan Ormsby, Ease Owyeung, Chris Paizis, David Palmer, Zoe Peck-Eyler, Maricela Perdomo, Frank Petzold, Erik Pope, Athena Portillo, Jason Predock, Steven Quinones-Colon, Søren Ragsdale, Naomi Ruth Raine, Morgan Ratsoy, Raine Reen, Eric Reynolds, Tracey Roberts, Matthew M. Robinson, Ann M. Rockwell, Dennis Rogers, Dan Rolinek, Jules Roman, Charles Rose, Kevin Rose-Williams, David Rosenthal, Krzysztof Rost, Dan Rounek, Neil Rubenstein, Alonzo Ruvalcaba, Karim Sahai, Vicki Saulls, David Schaub, Thomas Schelesny, Jordu Schell, Julien Schreyer, Sarah Schubart, Andrea Schultz, Anthony Scott, Eric Scott, Jeff Shank, Qin Shen, Sara Simon, Young Song, Nancy St. John, Stephen Stanton, David Stephens, Russ Sueyoshi, Christine Sugrue, Mark Tamny, Tim Teramoto, Deborah Thomas, Paul G. Thuriot, Phil Tippett, Matthew Tomlinson, Jordan Torrey, Peter G. Travers, Andy Trickel, Bart Trickel, Guerdon Trueblood, Melissa Tseng, Leslie Valentino, Jimmy Valladao, David Van Dyke, Bil Van Ness, Jcee Villadelgado, Kenneth Voss, Barry Weiss, Mark Wendell, Shannon Wiggins, Erik Winquist, Vicki Wong, Adam Wood, Suzanne Niki Yoshii, Dustin Zachary, J.J. Blumenkranz, Liz Borges-Herzog, John Clinton, Colin Epstein, Robert Gardiner, Philip R. Garrett, Jason M. Halverson, Taigne Hammock, Anthony Harris, Matt Jacobs, Karen Jine, Jeff A. Johnson, Jennifer Juen, Joanie Karnowski, Stephen Sobisky, Christine Steele, Joshua Viers

Stunts

Brian Bennett, Janet Brady, Troy Brown, Joe Bucaro III, Clint Cadinha, Keith Campbell, Kofi Elam, Ousaun Elam, Tom Elliott, Annie Ellis, Eurlyne Epper, Debbie Evans, Donna Evans, Kevin Foster, Troy Gilbert, Thomas Robinson Harper, Christie Hayes, Freddie Hice, Steve Holladay, Tommy J. Huff, Kevin L. Jackson, Randy Johnson, Stacy Logan, Cole McLarty, David Powledge, Gary Price, Chad Randall, Tim Rigby, Larry Rippenkroeger, Mic Rodgers, Erik Rondell, Debby Lynn Ross, Kevin Scott, Tim Trella, Christopher J. Tuck, Glen Yrigoyen, Jacob Chambers, Edward Conna, Jimmy Hart, Cinda-Lin James, Mike Justus, Mark Kubr, Lane Leavitt, Oakley Lehman, Janie Liszewski, Peewee Piemonte, Joanna Shelmidine

Camera and Electrical Department

Sammy Beavers, Murray Close, Rick Colosimo, David Dunbar, Wayne L. Duncan, Ian Fox, Jay Galbo, Renan Galindo, Daniel C. Gold, Ron Goodman, Eldon Hansen, Tony Hibbard, Lonnie Leslie, Mitchell Lookabaugh, Trevor Loomis, David Luckenbach, Melton Maxwell, Larry Pausback, Ruben T. Reyes, Rodney Sandoval, Gomidas Semerjian, Chuck Sharp, Alan Shultz, John Skotchdopole, Gary Slemp, Donald A. Spadoni, Michael Strong, Zoran Veselic, Paul Williams, Steve Wolfe, John Zirbel, Saeed Adyani, Waide R. Allen, Rocky Buzzini, Bryan Fletchall, Rick Grover, Mauriece Jacks Jr., Sergius Nafa, Nino Neuboeck, Derek Page, Derek Paulin, Stephen Martin Paull, Aaron Richards, John Stewart, Chuck Turner, Sandy Williams

Animation Department

Ana Maria Alvarado, Steven G. Lee, Marco Marenghi, Anthony Scott

Casting Department

Michael Chinich, Tony Hobbs, Ray Miceli, Alexi Saldamando, Michele Short, Pete Sutton

Costume and Wardrobe Department

Camille Argus, Winnie D. Brown, Nancy Collini, Candice Dobkousky, Lorenzo Hearns Jr., Marci R. Johnson, Chanthou Kozberg, Carol Demarti, Daniel Dirks, Carlos Rosario

Editorial Department

Gary Burritt, Brandon Crummett, Jonathan Finkel, Dana E. Glauberman, Adam Peiken, Glen Phipps, Robert Raring, Saul Saladow, Lisa Marie Serra, Anna Solorio-Catalano, Kevin Du Toit

Location Management

Kokayi Ampah, Rhonda Baer, Steve Knisely, Lori Mannie, Anthony J. Saenz, Donovan Terranova, Pamella D Pella

Music Department

Bunny Andrews, Rick Baptist, Steve Becknell, Wayne Bergeron, Julian Bratolyubov, Sandy DeCrescent, George Doering, Elizabeth Finch, Bruce Fowler, Walt Fowler, Gary Grant, Gavin Greenaway, Daniel Hamuy, Sean M. Hickey, Andy Hill, Todd Homme, Alex Iles, Tommy Johnson, Alan Kaplan, Dan Kelley, Harry Kim, Edie Lehmann Boddicker, Charlie Loper, Malcolm Luker, Ladd McIntosh, James McKee Smith, Malcolm McNab, Alan Meyerson, Yvonne S. Moriarty, Daniel Nielsen, Bill Reichenbach, John Reynolds, Bob Sanders, Curt Sobel, Sally Stevens, Phillip A. Teele, Brad Warnaar, Phillip Yao, Julie Butchko, Joel J. Richard, Gregg Silk, James Thatcher

Script and Continuity Department

Barbara Tuss, Randi Feldman, Ray Felipe

Transportation Department

Jim Alfonso, Anthony J. Ardiolino, Mike Belt, Vaughn Bladen, Clint Coyle, Rose Echeverria, Gary Gray, Maxwell R. Johnson, Scott Loveless, Brian Maguire, Glen Marygold, Alan Meyers, Dave Moir, Thomas O Donnell, Moses Paskowitz, Rick Purdy, Dave Robling, Frank Roughan, Myron P. Shepherd, Gordon Spencer, Jim Sullivan, Mike Sullivan, Tom Sweeney, Kip Wolverton, Paul Youds, Roger Youds, George Zimmerman, Fabian Arroyo, Chris Haynes, Jack Jay Reece

Additional Crew

Jorge Agraz, Crisoforo Aguilar, John Barnette, Bruce Benson, Claudia Bonfe, Jason Boots, Felicity Cockram, Jon Crush, Susan Deal, Maria DeVane, Stephen Dudycha, Fred Einesman, Patrick Emery, David Ernst, Mary Jane Faris, Cliff Fleming, Primrose Fukuchi, James Gerlach, Tim Gonzales, Diana Goodwin, Bernie Granados, Chris Hopson, Michael P. Hunter, Brett L. Johnson, J.R. Kehoe, Joy Kuraitis, James Land, Janet Lonsdale, Jodi Macaulay, Mary Lamar Mahler, Margaret J. Orlando, Mark Palmer, Edward V. Pannozzo, Frank Pelluchon, Sharon Phegley, Angie Ryan, Chris Saunders, Nina Saxon, John T. Scanlon, Jill Anne Schliesman, C. Alexander Sears, Mark Shelley, Peter J. Silbermann, Stephen P. Sweeney, Aaron Lee Syrett, Jim Turner, Michael Vaquilar, Juliet Ward, Kellyann Wargo, Robert West, Heather Wusterbarth, Donald E. Wygal, Daniel Myers Boone, Thom Buckley, Aliethea D Angelo, Jason De Meo, Ryan DeGard, Candice Dobkousky, Nathan Fackrell, Cory Fleming, Marc Haimes, Levi Holiman, Ethan Jensen, Steven Jetton, Jason Z. Kemp, Steve Koch, Steven R. Molen, Christine Papalexis, Freesia Pearson, Christian Rice, Jim Roberts, Michael Satterfield, Brian Stansbarger, Scott Stravitz, Marcel Valcarce, Francis Meade Warner

Genres

Comedy, Sci-Fi

Companies

Columbia Pictures, Dreamworks Pictures, The Montecito Picture Company

Countries

USA

Languages

English

ContentRating

PG-13

ImDbRating

6.1

ImDb Rating Votes

129274

Metacritic Rating

40

Short Description

Evolution is a 2001 American comic science fiction film directed by Ivan Reitman. It stars David Duchovny, Orlando Jones, Seann William Scott, Julianne Moore, and Ted Levine. It was released by DreamWorks Pictures in the United States and by Columbia Pictures internationally. The plot of the film follows college professor Ira Kane (Duchovny) and geologist Harry Block (Jones), who investigate a large meteor crash in Arizona. They discover that the meteor harbors extra-terrestrial lifeforms, which are evolving very quickly into large, diverse and outlandish creatures.

Evolution was based on a story by Don Jakoby, who originally wrote it as a serious science fiction horror thriller film, until director Reitman hired David Diamond and David Weissman to re-write much of the script into a comedy which Don liked. Shooting took place from October 19, 2000 to February 7, 2001 in California and Page, Arizona, with an $80 million budget, and the film was released in the United States on June 8, 2001. The film grossed $98.4 million internationally. A short-lived animated series, Alienators: Evolution Continues, loosely based on the film, was broadcast months after the film was released.

Box Office Budget

$80,000,000 (estimated)

Box Office Opening Weekend USA

$13,408,351

Box Office Gross USA

$38,345,494

Box Office Cumulative Worldwide Gross

$98,376,292

Keywords

Shampoo,alien,chase,hero,helicopter