A Sound of Thunder (2005)

When a scientist sent back to the prehistoric era strays off the path he causes a chain of events that alters history in disastrous ways.

Director:

Peter Hyams

Writers:

Ray Bradbury (short story), Thomas Dean Donnelly (screen story)

Stars:

Edward Burns, Ben Kingsley, Catherine McCormack

4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Armin Rohde	...	John Wallenbeck (as Armin Rhode)
Heike Makatsch	...	Alicia Wallenbeck
Jemima Rooper	...	Jenny Krase
David Oyelowo	...	Payne
Wilfried Hochholdinger	...	Dr. Lucas
Edward Burns	...	Travis Ryer
August Zirner	...	Clay Derris
Ben Kingsley	...	Charles Hatton (as Sir Ben Kingsley)
Catherine McCormack	...	Sonia Rand
Alvin Van Der Kuech	...	Young Technician
Andrew Blanchard	...	George the Doorman
Bill Armstrong	...	Ted Eckles (as William Armstrong)
Corey Johnson	...	Christian Middleton
Nikita Lespinasse	...	Newswoman on TV (as Nikita Le Spinasse)
Scott Bellefeville	...	Onlooker (as Scott Bellefeuille)

Storyline

2055, Charles Hatton has made a fortune by founding 'Time safari', which offers rich 'big game hunters' short time travels to kill off dinosaurs just before their natural death. When Travis notices the weather and wildlife are not behaving as usual, he consults Dr. Rand, the contractually invisible inventor of the supercomputer which controls the time travel. They soon face 'time waves', each worsening the effects in 2055 of evolutionary distortions, lower lifeforms first. They attempt to identify and rectify the past alteration, but each attempt gets harder in their distorted present.

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Plot Keywords:

time travel | hunter | alternate reality | plant | hunting | 

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Taglines:

Some Rules Should Never Be Broken.

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for sci-fi violence, partial nudity and language

Details

Official Sites:

Warner Bros. [United States]

Country:

Czech Republic UK Germany USA

Language:

English Mandarin

Release Date:

2 September 2005 (USA)

Also Known As:

O Som do Trovão

Filming Locations:

Barrandov Studios, Prague, Czech Republic

Box Office

Budget:

$80,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$1,190,791, 4 September 2005, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$1,891,821, 2 October 2005

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$5,989,640, 13 October 2005

Company Credits

Production Co:

Franchise Pictures,Crusader Entertainment,ApolloMedia Distribution

Technical Specs

Runtime:

102 min (Cinemax)

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Spota's supermarket is a reference to director Peter Hyams's wife's family name.

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Goofs

While one might expect that each group jumping to the same moment in the past (5 minutes before the volcano erupts) would in turn encounter all those from previous trips as well, adherence to such a claim would render the concept of time vacations completely unfeasible, and thus the film maker's decision to disregard this bit of logic is crucial to the film's coherency. This being said, Travis is only ever able to see himself and others by worm-holing to a point one year before the disturbance occurred and then slingshotting forward in time, not backward.

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Quotes

Travis Ryer: Some things to remember us by: A safari suit, boots, helmet and a holo-disk so you can relive the jump. And I suggest you take an especially close look at this disk, Mr. Wallenbeck.
John Wallenbeck: Why's that?
Travis Ryer: Well I can't be certain until I review it myself, however, I'm pretty sure it was your shot that brought him down.
John Wallenbeck: [laughs] Well, yeah.

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Connections

Featured in Troldspejlet: Episode #35.8 (2006)

User Reviews

Austin Movie Show Review

Imagine a film student who's learning to use CGI technology for the first time. His final project in class is to create a full-length feature film using everything he's learned in class the entire semester. His film would be better than A Sound of Thunder.

It's Jurassic Park meets The Butterfly Effect, but it's total crap. The production of this futuristic, sci-fi tale (based on the classic Ray Bradbury short story) is pathetically cheap and completely distracts from an otherwise interesting story. It's 2055, and time travel is now possible. When a group of safari hunters travel back to prehistoric time to kill a tyrannosaurus Rex, an equipment failure causes one time traveler to panic and step on a butterfly, thus disrupting the entire evolution of life on earth.

Cool story, right? Poorly, poorly, poorly executed. The CGI dinosaur is a joke, as are all the other "creatures," and the futuristic outside shots are so lame you can practically see the green screen outline on the actors. Shot during the 2002 flooding of Prague, A Sound of Thunder was delayed for so long because the production company went bankrupt. And it shows.