A Sound of Thunder (2005)

Last updated:
October 15, 2025

A Sound of Thunder is a 2005 science fiction adventure film directed by Peter Hyams, loosely based on the classic 1952 short story by Ray Bradbury. The film explores the dangers of time travel, chaos theory, and the butterfly effect — literally — in a futuristic setting where greed and science collide.

Table of Contents

Detailed Summary

The Future of Time Travel

Set in the year 2055, the movie introduces Time Safari Inc., a company that offers the ultimate luxury experience — traveling back in time to hunt dinosaurs. But there’s a catch: participants must not disturb anything in the past. Even a small change could drastically alter the future. To enforce this, the hunters must stay on a designated “Time Path,” and only pre-selected dinosaurs — moments before their natural deaths — are allowed to be killed.

The First Safari

The film opens with a thrilling time-travel safari led by Travis Ryer (Edward Burns), a cool-headed team leader. Wealthy clients are taken back to the Cretaceous period, where they hunt a massive Allosaurus. Everything seems under control until the team returns to the present. But unbeknownst to them, something tiny has gone wrong.

The Butterfly Effect

Soon after, strange “time waves” begin sweeping across Chicago. These waves drastically alter the environment — climate, vegetation, and even life forms evolve into bizarre hybrids. Scientists realize that each wave represents another stage of evolution being rewritten, slowly transforming the world into a prehistoric jungle.

Dr. Sonia Rand (Catherine McCormack), a former member of the Time Safari project, deduces that someone must have stepped off the path and changed history. She and Travis team up to find out what happened before the final wave rewrites human existence completely.

Uncovering the Mistake

After examining the logs, they discover that during one of the safaris, a client accidentally stepped on a butterfly — a single, seemingly insignificant act that caused catastrophic ripple effects through time. This literal interpretation of the “butterfly effect” drives the story’s tension and urgency.

As time waves continue, mutated creatures like bat-lizards, giant leeches, and vine-covered skyscrapers begin appearing. The city becomes a chaotic blend of futuristic and prehistoric elements.

Racing Against Time

Travis and Sonia decide to travel back again to the precise moment of the mistake to prevent the butterfly’s death. However, Time Safari Inc.’s system is collapsing as the timeline continues to distort. They navigate through a transformed city filled with monstrous creatures and rogue humans before making their final jump.

Movie Ending

In the climax, Travis returns to the exact safari where the butterfly was stepped on. He sacrifices himself by ensuring the mistake never happens — this time, he stops the client from leaving the path and prevents the butterfly’s death. As he stands in the prehistoric forest, a new time wave hits, erasing the altered reality.

Travis’s actions reset history. Back in the present, time resumes as if nothing ever happened. Sonia, now safe and unaware of the time-altering events, receives a message Travis recorded for her before his sacrifice. The final shot shows the city back to normal, leaving viewers with a bittersweet reflection on fate, choice, and consequence.

It’s a poetic ending — Travis saves humanity, but at the cost of his own existence. The timeline has been corrected, yet no one remembers his heroism.

Are There Post-Credits Scenes?

No, A Sound of Thunder does not have any post-credits scenes. Once the credits roll, the story concludes completely, emphasizing the film’s cyclical and closed-loop narrative about time and consequence.

Type of Movie

A Sound of Thunder is a sci-fi thriller with strong elements of adventure and cautionary environmental allegory. It blends action, speculative science, and existential dread in a cautionary tale about human arrogance and the unpredictable power of nature.

Cast

Edward Burns as Travis Ryer
Catherine McCormack as Dr. Sonia Rand
Ben Kingsley as Charles Hatton
Jemima Rooper as Jenny Krase
August Zirner as Dr. Lucas
Wilfried Hochholdinger as Dr. Jan Six

Film Music and Composer

The music was composed by Nick Glennie-Smith, known for his work on The Rock and We Were Soldiers. The soundtrack combines orchestral intensity with suspenseful electronic cues, helping heighten the tension as the time waves transform the world.

Filming Locations

The movie was filmed primarily in Prague, Czech Republic, and the Barrandov Studios — a popular European shooting location for sci-fi and fantasy productions. Some exterior scenes were shot in London, particularly for urban shots of the futuristic city. The European architecture was enhanced with CGI to create the 2055 cityscape.

Awards and Nominations

While A Sound of Thunder did not win major awards, it received attention (and sometimes criticism) for its ambitious use of CGI, which suffered due to the bankruptcy of the production company mid-filming. The film later gained a small cult following among fans of “so-bad-it’s-fun” sci-fi movies.

Behind the Scenes Insights

The film’s production was severely disrupted when the studio Franchise Pictures went bankrupt midway through filming, forcing delays and severe budget cuts.
Much of the CGI was unfinished or rushed due to financial issues, explaining the sometimes inconsistent effects.
Edward Burns reportedly described the filming process as “chaotic but fascinating,” given the amount of green screen work.
The movie’s concept had been in development since the early 1990s, with multiple directors and studios attached before Peter Hyams took over.

Inspirations and References

The film is based on Ray Bradbury’s short story “A Sound of Thunder”, one of the most famous tales about the butterfly effect and time travel. Bradbury’s story focuses more on the philosophical implications of small actions, whereas the movie expands it into a large-scale sci-fi adventure with mutant creatures and global catastrophe.

Alternate Endings and Deleted Scenes

Some deleted scenes reportedly explored more of the mutated creatures and showed extended “time waves” hitting the city. Early drafts of the script featured a darker ending where humanity failed to restore the timeline. However, test audiences found it too bleak, so the filmmakers opted for a more hopeful resolution.

Book Adaptations and Differences

The original short story by Ray Bradbury is much shorter and more symbolic. In the story, the butterfly incident leads to subtle yet terrifying changes in the future — like altered spelling and political shifts — rather than a full-blown apocalyptic mutation. The movie expands this into a blockbuster disaster premise, adding corporate greed, romance, and mutant monsters for cinematic appeal.

Memorable Scenes and Quotes

Key Scenes

The first dinosaur hunt where the team kills the Allosaurus with high-tech weapons.
The first “time wave” hitting Chicago — buildings twist, plants overgrow, and the city morphs into a jungle.
The revelation that a butterfly caused all of history to unravel.
Travis’s final sacrifice to restore the timeline.

Iconic Quotes

Travis Ryer: “You step on one butterfly, and the whole world changes.”
Charles Hatton: “We sell time travel… we make history — before it happens.”
Dr. Sonia Rand: “Nature doesn’t like being pushed around.”

Easter Eggs and Hidden Details

In the background of Time Safari’s office, there’s a digital poster referencing “Eckels,” the name of the original protagonist from Bradbury’s short story.
The Time Path design — glowing blue light — was inspired by Tron (1982).
A brief cameo of Ray Bradbury’s portrait appears in one of the Time Safari offices as an homage.

Trivia

The film’s title refers to the sound of a dinosaur’s gunshot echoing through time — the metaphorical “sound of thunder.”
The film was delayed several times and released almost two years after completion.
The dinosaur scenes used a mix of animatronics and CGI — some of which were unfinished when the movie hit theaters.
Despite critical backlash, the movie became a cult favorite among sci-fi fans for its ambitious premise.

Why Watch?

If you enjoy time travel paradoxes, chaotic world transformations, and sci-fi thrillers with a moral punch, this movie is worth your time. It’s a fun ride through chaos theory, wrapped in an action-packed (if sometimes messy) package. It’s also a great conversation starter about how one small action can change everything.

Director’s Other Movies

2010: The Year We Make Contact (1984)
Timecop (1994)
End of Days (1999)
The Relic (1997)

A Sound of Thunder (2005)