Evolution (2001 film)

Evolution is a 2001 American science fiction comedy film directed by Ivan Reitman. It stars David Duchovny, Orlando Jones, Seann William Scott, Julianne Moore, and Ted Levine. 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, until Reitman hired David Diamond and David Weissman to re-write much of the script into a comedy which Jakoby liked. Shooting took place from October 19, 2000, to February 7, 2001, in California and Page, Arizona, with an $80 million budget.

The film was released by DreamWorks Pictures in the United States on June 8, 2001 and by Columbia Pictures internationally. Evolution received mixed-to-negative reviews from film critics and grossed $98.4 million at the box office worldwide. 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.

The professors 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 following day.

The U.S. Army soon seals off the site, so 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. Their efforts fail when, two weeks later, Ira goes to court to be allowed to be part of the federal investigation.

Allison questions Ira on the stand, where he reveals he was discharged from the army in the summer of 1997 after he conducted an experiment in which he developed an anthrax vaccine and then administered it to nearly 140,000 soldiers. The side effects were severe, resulting in 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, so they infiltrate the base in disguise to get another meteor sample. They discover that the caverns now harbor an alien rainforest teeming with tropical plant and animal life, including flying insects and carnivorous plants.

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 older women in their home. Ira, Harry, and Wayne find a valley behind the house filled with suffocating dinosaur-like creatures, they theorize that evolved aliens from the meteor site used underground caverns to spread to local areas but died due to their lack of adapting to Earth's oxygen. However, a newly-born flying creature quickly adapts to the earth's oxygen, takes off, and terrorizes a shopping mall before the trio guns 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 calculates that the aliens will engulf the US within two months, so Woodman suggests a napalm strike to destroy the meteor's contents and the surrounding town, although 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 on Earth activates its evolution. Allison tries to warn Woodman but he ignores Allison's pleas so the town begins evacuating for the impending bombing strike.

Looking at the positions of nitrogen and carbon on the periodic table, 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 shampoo with help from Ira's college students. However, Woodman's napalm strike goes off before the team can try their plan, triggering the alien ecosystem to fuse 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 thousands of these gigantic creatures overtook the country. 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 plan succeeds and the amoeba implodes. The governor declares Ira, Harry, Wayne, and Allison heroes; Wayne is made a fully credentialed firefighter, and Ira and Allison begin dating.

Development
Evolution was based on a story by Don Jakoby. Ivan Reitman loved the script but saw potential in the film being successful as a comedy, calling it a "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 David Duchovny had a small role, and had him in mind as a leading man who could do comedy. Duchovny turned down an unspecified role in Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones to instead pursue this film, a decision he has never regretted. 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. Seann William Scott was asked to audition after starring in Road Trip which Reitman also served as an executive producer, beating out Jerry Trainor, who was instead cast in a lesser role. Michael J. Fox was also offered an unspecified lead role but turned it down due to his battle with Parkinson's disease.

Filming
Shooting took place from October 19, 2000 to February 7, 2001 in Page, Arizona and around the Greater Los Angeles area, 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 Hawthorne Plaza in Hawthorne, 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
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, designed by Peter Konig, the alien mosquito shape moving around within Harry's body and some additional VFX provided from Pacific Data Images. Studio ADI was responsible for the designs of the primate alien creatures.

Music
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.

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

The film received a Blu-ray release in the United States on November 23, 2021 by Paramount Home Entertainment, while a Blu-ray release for the Columbia Pictures print of the film was released on April 22, 2024 in the United Kingdom by 88 Films.

Reception
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 44% based on 140 reviews, with an average score of 4.90/10. The website'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 received a score of 40 based on 32 reviews, 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.