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Chasing Liberty (2004)

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4 articles from 2004

24 September 2004 | From Studio Briefing | See recent Studio Briefing news

First Daughter ought to be called Worst Daughter, Lou Lumenick puns in the New York Post. Most other critics appear to agree that it is worse than Chasing Liberty, which came out in January with pretty much the same plot about a presidential daughter falling for a Secret Service bodyguard -- and quickly faded. In fact, says Wesley Morris in the Boston Globe, the movie "is such a phony-cutesy fairy tale that it makes the European gallivanting in Chasing Liberty seem like Bonnie and Clyde." Writes Carrie Rickey in the Philadelphia Inquirer: "In a year glutted with teenage movie heroines who are either hereditary or civic royalty, First Daughter is the second presidential-child film. Is there a limit to this incessant princessitude?"

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13 January 2004 | From Studio Briefing | See recent Studio Briefing news

Just like the primary character's stories in Big Fish, Sony's claim that the movie had beaten The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King at the weekend box office turned out to be something of an exaggeration. On Sunday, the studio estimated that Big Fish had earned $400,000 more than ROTK.But a final tally on Monday found that the reverse was true. ROTK had taken in $400,000 more than Big Fish.While disparities between studio estimates and actual results are common, today's (Tuesday) Los Angeles Times observed that "it's extremely rare that a movie thought to be No. 1 on Sunday has to relinquish the top spot come Monday morning." In an interview with the Associated Press, Sony distribution chief Jeff Blake insisted that the misjudgment was not "maliciously intended." He explained: "It was just a situation where we thought we had the right to anticipate a better Sunday than we got." Studio estimates released on Sunday are based on actual Friday and Saturday receipts plus forecasts of Sunday business.

The top ten films over the weekend, according to final figures compiled by Exhibitor Relations (figures in parentheses represent total gross to date): 1. The Lord of The Rings: The Return of The King, New Line, $14,209,098, 4 Wks. ($312,320,936); 2. Big Fish, Sony, $13,811,191, 5 Wks. ($23,386,775); 3. Cheaper By the Dozen, 20th Century Fox, $11,751,349, 3 Wks. ($101,147,842); 4. Cold Mountain, Miramax, $7,881,729, 3 Wks. ($55,340,445); 5. Something's Gotta Give, Sony, $7,727,359, 5 Wks. ($92,515,314); 6. My Baby's Daddy, Miramax, $7,548,819, (New); 7. Chasing Liberty, Warner Bros., $6,081,483, (New); 8. Paycheck, Paramount, $5,146,378, 3 Wks. ($46,443,104); 9. The Last Samurai, Warner Bros., $4,550,419, 6 Wks. ($97,181,327); 10. Mona Lisa Smile, Sony, $4,383,072, 4 Wks. ($56,883,304).

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12 January 2004 | From Studio Briefing | See recent Studio Briefing news

In its first weekend in wide release, Tim Burton's Big Fish from Sony Pictures made a big splash at the box office, but just how big a splash quickly became a subject of much debate among studio distribution chiefs. Sony estimated the film's take at $14.5 million. If the estimate should pan out in actual figures due to be released later today (Monday), that would put it $400,000 above the gross for the fourth week of New Line Cinema's The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, whose box-office take was said to be $14.1 million. The Associated Press reported that the box-office race was "too close to call" and quoted Exhibitor Relations President Paul Dergarabedian as saying, "This is very rare to have a photo-finish for the No. 1 spot." A report by the Hollywood Reporter, carried by Reuters, called the race "contested." Weekend estimates are based on actual box office totals for Friday and Saturday and an educated guess for Sunday. In any case, the projected figure for King would lift it well past the $300-million mark, to about $312.2 million after just 26 days in release. At the same time, 20th Century Fox's Cheaper by the Dozen crossed the $100-million mark after 18 days, landing in third place. The debut of Warner Bros.' Chasing Liberty, starring Mandy Moore, was received by the public as poorly as it was with the critics, earning only $6 million to place seventh. On the other hand, Miramax's My Baby's Daddy, a low-budget urban comedy that was not screened for critics, performed well in only 1,447 theaters to earn an estimated $7.8 million -- good enough for sixth place. Overall, the top 12 films earned a total of about $92.4 million, 5 percent higher than the comparable weekend a year ago.

The top ten films for the weekend, according to studio estimates compiled by Exhibitor Relations: 1. Big Fish, $14.5 million; 2. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, $14.1 million; 3. Cheaper by the Dozen, $12 million; 4. Something's Gotta Give, $8.2 million; 5. Cold Mountain, $7.9 million; 6. My Baby's Daddy, $7.8 million; 7. Chasing Liberty, $6 million; 8. Paycheck, $5.2 million; 9. The Last Samurai, $4.53 million; 10. Mona Lisa Smile, $4.5 million.

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9 January 2004 | From Studio Briefing | See recent Studio Briefing news

Poor Mandy Moore. She's now made four films and received mostly good notices in all of them, but the films themselves have generally been critically derided. Her current film, Chasing Liberty, is no exception. "Chasing Liberty is a comedy with no sense of fun, a romance with no passion," comments Jami Bernard in the New York Daily News. Claudia Puig in USA Today describes it as "an innocuous, occasionally cute movie made watchable by the appealing Mandy Moore and hunky Matthew Goode. Megan Lehmann in the New York Post calls it "a feather-light, doggedly formulaic romantic comedy that's almost instantly forgettable despite the sunny presence of teen queen Mandy Moore." And Elvis Mitchell in the New York Times observes: "The movie puts a lot of weight on Ms. Moore's adorability factor -- and exhausts it rather quickly." Still, the film does get a handful of positive reviews. Writes Philip Wuntch in today's Dallas Morning News: "What we have is a sprightly comedy with Ms. Moore delivering a sprightly performance and speaking reasonably sprightly dialogue. If you prefer dour movies, look elsewhere."

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4 articles from 2004