Evolution (2001)

***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 meteorite crash in Arizona. They discover that the meteorite harbors extraterrestrial life, which is evolving very quickly into large, diverse and outlandish creatures. The film was released in the United States on June 8, 2001. A short-lived animated series, *Alienators: Evolution Continues*, loosely based on the film, was broadcast months after the film was released.

## Plot

When a meteorite falls to Earth two college professors, Dr. Ira Kane and Prof. Harry Phineas Block, are assigned the job of checking the site out. At the site, they discover organisms not of this planet. Soon the site is taken over by the government, forcing Ira and Harry to the side. As the new life-forms begin to evolve and start to get more and more dangerous, it's up to the two professors to save the planet.

## Why It Rocks

1. The creatures looks stunning.
2. The idea of extraterrestrial life creatures is interesting.
3. It launched the career of Ty Burrell alongside with *Black Hawk Down*.
4. Ivan Reitman does a good job for directing it.
5. The ending is great where the governor declares Ira, Harry, Wayne and Allison heroes; Wayne is made a fully credentialed firefighter, while Ira and Allison skip the festivities for sex in the fire truck.
6. Good acting of David Duchovny, Orlando Jones, Seann William Scott, Julianne Moore, and Ted Levine.

## Bad Qualities

1. Some disgusting humor.
2. The plot is slightly rehash of *Ghostbusters* (though its not as the infamous 2016 reboot by Paul Feig).

## Reception

*Evolution* received mixed reviews from critics and audiences upon its released, although many people nowadays are taking a positive response to it, while the film subsequently became cult classic. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a rating of 43% based on 138 reviews and an average rating of 4.94/10. 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.

### Box office

*Evolution* opened up at #2 on its opening weekend making a domestic gross of $13,408,351. The total domestic gross was $38,345,494. In foreign territories, it made $60,030,798. Overall, *Evolution* grossed $98,376,292 against its $31 million budget, making it box office failure.

## Trivia

* Initially written as a serious science-fiction thriller, Ivan Reitman hired David Diamond and David Weissman to re-write the project as a comedy. The original writer, Don Jakoby, actually enjoyed the changes so much, he continued working on the film alongside the other writers.
* At the time the film was made no Head & Shoulders product contained selenium sulfide, but the company used the film to introduce their selenium product which was released when the film came out.
* The placement of the element selenium in Head and Shoulders shampoo is technically correct. Though regular Head and Shoulders shampoo does not have any of the element, Head and Shoulders Intensive Treatment Shampoo actually does consist of approximately 1% selenium sulfide.
* DreamWorks Pictures was the original distributor, but months before release, they sold international distribution rights to Sony due to budget concerns.
* The plot of the film revolves around the discovery of alien life forms. While staring on the X-Files David Duchovny's character Fox Mulder, spent much of his time searching for proof of alien life.
* Orlando Jones admires the backside of one of the mutant bugs. This is a direct reference of his sucessful 7 Up advertising campaign for viewers to "Show Us Your Cans" for which he was their spokesperson.
* Richard Moll yells "wake up!" as the fire instructor just as he does as the gym teacher in Sidekicks (1992).

## External Links

* Template:IMDb
* Template:Rotten Tomatoes
* Template:Metacritic
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2000s films]]
Science fiction films]]
Decent films]]
Science Fantasy films]]
Comedy films]]
Columbia TriStar films]]
Sony Films]]
American films]]
Cult films]]
DreamWorks movies]]
Box Office Bombs That Received Positive Feedback]]
Classics]]
Live-action films]]