The Butterfly Effect - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Butterfly Effect is a 2004 American sci-fi

Science fiction film

Science fiction film is a film genre that uses science fiction: speculative, science-based depictions of phenomena that are not necessarily accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial life forms, alien worlds, extrasensory perception, and time travel, often along with futuristic...

psychological thriller

Psychological thriller

Psychological thriller is a specific sub-genre of the broad ranged thriller with heavy focus on characters. However, it often incorporates elements from the mystery and drama genre, along with the typical traits of the thriller genre...

film that is written and directed by Eric Bress

Eric Bress

Eric Bress is an American screenwriter, film director and producer, probably best known for his work on the Final Destination series and The Butterfly Effect. He frequently collaborates with J...

and J. Mackye Gruber

J. Mackye Gruber

Jonathan Gruber, more commonly known as J. Mackye Gruber, is an American screenwriter and film director, probably best known for co-writing Final Destination 2 and co-writing and co-directing The Butterfly Effect....

and starring Ashton Kutcher

Ashton Kutcher

Christopher Ashton Kutcher , best known as Ashton Kutcher, is an American actor, producer, former fashion model and comedian, best known for his portrayal of Michael Kelso in the Fox sitcom That '70s Show...

and Amy Smart

Amy Smart

Amy Lysle Smart is an American television and film actress and former fashion model.-Early life:Smart was born in Topanga, California. Her mother, Judy Lysle , worked at a museum, and her father, John Boden Smart, was a salesman...

. The title refers to the metaphorical butterfly effect

Butterfly effect

In chaos theory, the butterfly effect is the sensitive dependence on initial conditions; where a small change at one place in a nonlinear system can result in large differences to a later state...

, a popular principle in chaos theory

Chaos theory

Chaos theory is a field of study in mathematics, with applications in several disciplines including physics, economics, biology, and philosophy. Chaos theory studies the behavior of dynamical systems that are highly sensitive to initial conditions, an effect which is popularly referred to as the...

which states that in any dynamic system, small initial differences may, over time, lead to large unforeseen consequences.

Kutcher plays 20-year-old student Evan Treborn, with Smart as his childhood sweetheart Kayleigh Miller.