This is Hilary Duff's world and we're just living in it. 2003 saw the Disney Channel star open The Lizzie McGuire Movie, a movie with a budget of $17 million, to $300,000 more than that during its opening weekend on its way to earning $42.7 million domestic. Duff followed that up by anchoring the Steve Martin/Ashton Kutcher comedy, Cheaper by the Dozen. That $40 million production earned $27.6 million in its first three days on the way to bringing in $163.4 million worldwide. Stating the obvious, these films were financially successful to an unexpected degree.
What did Hollywood suits take from these successes? Relatively cheap + unexpectedly popular makes Hilary Duff a good choice to anchor family and teen films. The result is that like her cohort/rival Lindsay Lohan (they are the Tiffany and Debbie Gibson of the new millennium), Duff finds herself with a full plate of movies in the next year and a half. A Cinderella Story, The Perfect Man and Outward Blonde are all on the docket in addition to Heart of Summer.
All of the productions on Hilary's slate mirror each other in two ways: they have Duff and they have a fiscally conservative budget. Despite being a relatively sure thing for box office success, Summer is reported to cost only $14 million to shoot. It's easy to understand why the child actor turned pop sensation is so popular in casting discussions.
In this outing, Duff plays Terri Fletcher, a talented young singer (natch), who is battling depression stemming from the recent death of her older brother. His car crash eventually leads Terri to decide that a change of scenery is needed. She accepts a prestigious invitation to spend the summer at a Fame-like school for the arts in Los Angeles. Note that the actual school is in NYC, so this will not be the genuine artifact.
While there, Duff's character begins to experience what are probably a Julia Stiles-esque series of life-altering events as opposed to being Jennifer Beals-esque. Under any circumstance, I am sure said events are all somehow music related and the big recital will lead to any number of epiphanies about Terri's life and love.
On a typecasting note, the brother is played by Jason Ritter, who is currently co-starring on Joan of Arcadia as the handicapped older brother of Joan. His paralysis was due to...you guessed it...a car wreck. Ritter, the son of the late John Ritter, is not the only cast member with a famous relative. Ashlee Simpson, who plays Duff's best friend in the movie, has an older sister named Jessica. You might know her as the chick from Newlyweds who doesn't understand the differences between chicken and tuna. (David Mumpower/BOP)
Vital statistics for Raise Your Voice |
| Main Cast |
Hilary Duff, Oliver James, John Corbett |
| Supporting Cast |
Lauren Mayhew, Jason Ritter, Rebecca de Mornay, Ashlee Simpson, Rita Wilson, Dana Davis, Kat Dennings, Johnny K. Lewis |
| Director |
Sean McNamara |
| Screenwriter |
Sam Schreiber |
| Distributor |
New Line Cinema |
| Trailer |
Click Here for Trailer
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| Official Site |
http://www.raiseyourvoicemovie.com/ |
| Rating |
PG |
| Running Time |
103 minutes |
| Screen Count |
2,521 |
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Talent in red has entry in The Big Picture |
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