Poster © Newmarket Films. Shown at reduced size for review and commentary.
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GenreDrama, Mystery & Sci-Fi
RatedR
Runtime1 hr 53 mins
ReleasedOctober 26, 2001
StreamingSee Where to Watch
DirectorRichard Kelly
StarringJake Gyllenhaal, Jena Malone, Drew Barrymore
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Donnie Darko (2001)
| ▶Stream It | ★The Numbers |
| 🎫Get Tickets | ✎Edit History |
| iIMDb Profile | %Rotten Tomatoes |
| WWikipedia | LLetterboxd |
| TTMDB | +Add to Top 8 |
| Donnie Darko's Details | |
| Genre | Drama, Mystery & Sci-Fi |
| Rated | R |
| Released | 01/19/2001 (Sundance); 10/26/2001 (United States) |
| Streaming | See Where to Watch on this page. |
| Running Time | 1 hr 53 mins |
| Budget | $4.5M (reported) |
| Box Office | Updated daily from Box Office Mojo. See the numbers below. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Donnie Darko's Interests | |
| General | Rabbit costumes, golf courses, sleepwalking, falling jet engines, Smurf debates, 1988 radio. |
| Music | Michael Andrews. His cover of "Mad World" with Gary Jules became a surprise hit. |
| Movies | Brick (2005). Another moody teen movie that treats high school like a mystery. |
| Television | Twin Peaks. A strange small town, and dreams that might mean something. |
| Heroes | Frank. A giant rabbit who is annoyingly specific about deadlines. |
| Donnie Darko's Crew | |
| Director | Richard Kelly |
| Writers | Richard Kelly |
| Producers | Sean McKittrick, Nancy Juvonen, Adam Fields |
| Cinematography | Steven Poster |
| Music | Michael Andrews |
| Edited By | Sam Bauer, Eric Strand |
| Production | Flower Films |
| Distributed By | Newmarket Films (United States), Pandora Cinema (international) |
Nobody gets Donnie Darko on the first watch, and the movie is a little too proud of that. Richard Kelly hides half the rules of his own story and dares you to go find them. Fine. What you can’t miss is the mood. Jake Gyllenhaal is perfect as a moody teenager who might be a prophet or might just need a nap, and the guy in the creepy rabbit suit is the most unsettling thing to hit a suburb since lawn flamingos. Patrick Swayze shows up as a smiling self-help guru you should not trust for one second. The school hallway scene set to a Tears for Fears song glides like a music video. It made just $8.6 million worldwide in theaters, and the people who found it later have been arguing about it ever since. An 8.7 because it’s weird, sad and refuses to leave your head. $4,647 says you finish it, swear you got it, then spend most of the night reading fan theories to prove it.
What works: Jake Gyllenhaal’s moody lead performance, the eerie atmosphere, and a soundtrack that makes the suburb feel haunted.
What doesn’t: The movie hides key rules of its own story so well that the plot barely holds together without outside reading.
Who it’s for: Teens and grown-ups who like puzzle movies, time travel and talking about a film for weeks after.
Spoilers
Right before the countdown runs out, Gretchen is killed in an accident, and Donnie sends the jet engine back in time, then chooses to stay in bed when it crashes into his room. Everyone else wakes up with no memory of the month, though a few of them feel like they lost something.
It's October 1988 in a Virginia suburb, and Donnie Darko (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a smart, moody teenager who sleepwalks. One night a voice pulls him outside, where he meets Frank (James Duval), a figure in a creepy rabbit costume, who tells him the world will end in twenty-eight days, six hours, forty-two minutes and twelve seconds. When Donnie wanders home the next morning, his bedroom has a jet engine sitting in it, and nobody can say whose plane it fell off. There is also a new girl at school, Gretchen (Jena Malone). Richard Kelly directs. One hundred thirteen minutes, and counting.
Anyone who knows when the world ends. Frank has a pretty exact number.
| Jake Gyllenhaal | Donnie Darko |
| Holmes Osborne | Eddie Darko |
| Maggie Gyllenhaal | Elizabeth Darko |
| Daveigh Chase | Samantha Darko |
| Mary McDonnell | Rose Darko |
| James Duval | 'Frank' / Franklin Anderson |
| Arthur Taxier | Dr. Tad Fisher |
| Patrick Swayze | Jim Cunningham |
| David St. James | Bob Garland |
| Jazzie Mahannah | Joanie James |
| Seth Rogen | Ricky Danforth |
| Jolene Purdy | Cherita Chen |
| Stuart Stone | Ronald Fisher |
| Gary Lundy | Sean Smith |
| Alex Greenwald | Seth Devlin |
| Beth Grant | Kitty Farmer |
| Jena Malone | Gretchen Ross |
| David Moreland | Principal Cole |
| Noah Wyle | Dr. Kenneth Monnitoff |
| Drew Barrymore | Karen Pomeroy |
| Kristina Malota | Susie Bates |
| Marina Malota | Emily Bates |
| Carly Naples | Suzy Bailey |
| Tiler Peck | Beth Farmer |
- (cur | prev) 14:30, 17 October 2026 DataBot +400 Numbers refreshed: Worldwide box office $8.6M; Domestic box office $2.5M; Opening weekend $110K; Profit / loss (est.) -$2.5M; Rotten Tomatoes 88%; box office chart updated; RT 88% (125 reviews); Metacritic 71 / 100; IMDb users 8.0 / 10 (922,996 votes); movie.guru score 8.9.
- (cur | prev) 12:00, 17 October 2026 DataBot +2,000 Profile created from Wikipedia and Box Office Mojo: cast, crew, release dates, budget, official trailer.