MovieChat Forums > First Daughter (2004) Discussion > what's the story with this and Chasing L...

what's the story with this and Chasing Liberty?

posted 17 years ago by KAnnD86
8 replies | jump to latest

How did Hollywood manage to churn out two movies almost completely alike at the same time? Did some writer sell his script twice and this is what happened? Why is Chasing Liberty's alternate title First Daughter? Did the same people work on both movies? This is intriguing to me. Not that movies about the president's daughter haven't been done before, the fact that they are practically the same plot is just too weird to simply be a coincidence. There's that theory that the same idea can be plucked out of the air at the same time by different people, like Picasso and that other guy both inventing cubism at the same time in different countries, but I don't believe that's what happened here. Since these movies were probably made at the same time, did the people on each set know about the other movie? Were there any lawsuits filed? I really want to know how Chasing Liberty and First Daughter came to be.

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[–] ofuoku71 17 years ago

I think it could be just a coincidence, yet a weird one, that they were both very similar to each other and that they came out around the same time. Maybe some of the crew members from each of the movies knew about the plot from each other's movie, but nobody knows for sure. No lawsuits were filed or anything to that effect, but I do agree that it is a little strange.

[–] 17 years ago

[deleted]

[–] andy2008 17 years ago

These movie "pairs" happen alot. "Antz" and "A Bug's Life". "Happy Feet" and "Surf's Up". I know there are more, just not at the tips of my fingers right now.

So much TV, so little time!

[–] andy2008 17 years ago

"Sky High" and "Zoom".

So much TV, so little time!

[–] coolinout1 17 years ago

Yeah, studios tend to come up with similar ideas once in a while. Then, by the time they've both finished the projects, they end up be released to theaters around the same time (or year). It happens, but there's nothing you can really do about it. It may take a film 1-3+ years to make it to theaters (see: 2007's "Lucky You" or "DOA: Dead or Alive"), so if it happens to be released around the same time as another film with the same plotline, or setup, they couldn't help it.

"First Daughter" was pushed back to the end of 2004, mainly because "Chasing Liberty" was released during the first months of the year.

[–] andy2008 17 years ago

"Flushed Away" and "Ratatouille".

So much TV, so little time!

[–] tinkerbells_sweetheart 8 years ago

"Dante's Peak" and "Volcano", "Twister" and "Tornado", "Armageddon" and "Deep Impact", just to name a few more. It happens sometimes, don't know if it's intentional or not though.

[–] AtheistRevolution 17 years ago

Its not a coincidence. Studios tend to hear about another studio making a movie from a producer,writer,etc. And then decide if they are making such a movie then they should make something like it also. No, there wasn't a lawsuit. Studios don't sue over someone copying a generic idea because you most likely won't win. Unless they copy everything word from word. Now if another studio tried to make a Spiderman movie or something similar then Sony would sue.

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