Rotten Tomatoes Score: 85%
IMDB Score: 8.1
Budget: $4.5 million
Gross: $515,000
Beginnings:
26 year old film school graduate Richard Kelly, wrote a script called Donnie Darko, which he intended to direct, and sent it to many distributors. After several rejections, it was eventually found by Drew Barrymore, who was willing to produce the film giving it an independent release, and to play a small role in it. This allowed for a larger budget than Richard Kelly expected, and allowed him to get well known actors such as Patrick Swayze, Noah Wyle, Jenna Malone, and Mary McDonnel. However, for the lead role Kelly chose an at-the-time unknown actor, Jake Gyllenhall. As a side note, this movie was also the big screen debut for Seth Rogen, who also plays a small role.
Kelly felt like he needed to keep the film under two hours, so he cut several minutes out of the original cut, which gave it a mysterious and ambiguous nature.
Story
Gyllenhall plays the title character, a high school student in the 1980s, who is medicated for mental problems. The movie begins when he narrowly escapes death when a plane engine falls onto his house. He begins to see images of a man in a rabbit suit who tells him that the world is going to end in a month. The movie is about the dark interactions with Donnie and the rabbit.
Rise to Cultdom:
The movie bombed. Despite good reviews, the movie suffered from a bad case of dark-apocalyptic-movie-involving-a-plane-crash-being-released-the-month-after-9/11-itis. However, it gained attention after a theater in New York City played it at midnight one night, and kept playing it for 28 months. Soon after, other theaters followed, and DVD sales exploded earning over $10 million. It also launched Jake Gyllenhall's successful acting career.
As a side note, Gary Jules' depressing rendition of Tears for Fears song "Mad World", which was recorded for the movie, became a number one hit in the UK in late 2003.
The success of the movie allowed Richard Kelly to release the directors cut of the movie into theaters. This didn't make much more money than the original release, but was also a hit on DVD. There was also a straight to DVD sequel called S Darko in 2009, which focused on Donnie's sister. The actress who played her was the only cast member from the original to be in this movie, and Richard Kelly had no part in it. The film was hated by both fans and critics (3.7 on IMDB, 0%(!) on Rotten Tomatoes).
Analysis
Due to the film's ambiguous story, people have dedicated a lot of time to trying to crack the mysteries of it. The original cut of the film is considered to be a movie that needs to be seen multiple times to be understood. It also requires reading The Philosophy of Time Travel, a fictional book in which pages are on the movie's website. However, the story is clearer in the director's cut, and there are several online articles explaining it.
However, there is a reason that people stuck with this movie in spite of how confusing it is. It's an intriguing movie. It's a dark and bizzare movie that is unique and original. It also has some comedy and social commentary. This is why the movie was so popular and enduring.
Conclusion
At the time of it's release, it seemed that this independent low-budget sci-fi bomb would fade into obscurity. But that was not the case, because it's mysterious, bizarre, and ambiguous tone gained it popularity.
Sources:
http://news.moviefone.com/2011/10/26/25-things-you-may-not-know-about-donnie-darko/
http://www.salon.com/2004/07/23/darko/
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