Here's a list of major Stephen King adaptations and their potential pop culture butterflies:
Carrie (1976): This has been seen as a breakthroughfor Brian De Palma and Sissy Spacek, but both were already active in Hollywood and probably would have been successful even without this film.
The Shining (1980): This was a career-defining film for both Jack Nicholson and Stanley Kubrick, and spawned a million-and-a-half parodies of the "here's Johnny" scene.
Children of the Corn (1984): This is one of the classic horror franchises of the '80s, and without it I think the genre would be dominated by more straightforward slasher flicks.
Stand By Me (1986): Rob Reiner's third feature film, and first that wasn't a comedy, without this movie, he might have gotten pigeonholed in comedies and not gone on to direct A Few Good Men. This may also have butterflied away the career of Aaron Sorkin, who wrote the screenplays for A Few Good Men and The American President. Stand By Me was also a breakout role for Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Jerry O'Connell, and Kiefer Sutherland.
Misery (1990): Another film directed by Rob Reiner, butterflying this movie away costs Kathy Bates her Oscar, which would go instead to Anjelica Huston, Julia Roberts, Meryl Streep, or Joanne Woodward.
The Shawshank Redemption (1994): This film wouldn't actually have had much of a butterfly effect on casting, since Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman were already established when it came out, but the movie itself is widely considered a classic and has been influential on generations of viewers.
Apt Pupil (1998): One of the earlier sexual abuse allegations against Bryan Singer occured during the filming of this movie, and this movie never having been made may have influenced how future allegations against him were received. The film was also a major role for Brad Renfro, whose personal life went into a downward spiral shortly after filming and who died of a drug overdose in 2008. It's tempting to imagine that without this film the butterflies would have worked out in such a way that things turned out better for Renfro.
The Green Mile (1999): This was a breakout role for Michael Clarke Duncan, who went on to star in several action and comedy movies in the early 2000s.
It (2017-2019): One of the few blockbusters in the second half of the 2010s that wasn't heavily reliant on an existing franchise. Without it, studios might beeven less willing than they are now to greenlight non-franchise movies.
