Donnie Darko: The Director's Cut

Donnie Darko: The Director's Cut is a 2004 re-cut version of Richard Kelly's directorial debut Donnie Darko. The original 2001 release was a critical success but a commercial failure that grew in popularity through word of mouth, strong DVD sales and regular midnight screenings across the United States. That growth led Bob Berney, president of distributor Newmarket Films, to approach Kelly about a rerelease, and Kelly was given 290,000 dollars to produce a director's cut reflecting his own interpretation of the film, later described as the first film to be given a director's cut after flopping commercially.