Running Free
| Budget: $25 million (estimated) | Financed by: Sony |
|---|---|
| Domestic Gross: $117,608 | Domestic Distributor: Sony |
| Overseas Gross: $0 | Directed by: Sergei Bodrov |
Starring: Lukas Haas | Produced by: Jean-Jacques Annaud |
Running Free was financed by Sony for an estimated $25 million and it was acclaimed Russian filmmaker Sergei Bodrov’s first Hollywood movie. There was apparently studio interference during the entire process and the final product was a disaster. The film was first dated for August 27, 1999 under the title Hoofbeats, but Sony removed it from their calendar. It was eventually retitled and rescheduled for June 2, 2000. Reviews were miserable, with most critics comparing the family drama to a Mr. Ed episode and reducing the movie to a punchline. Sony dumped Running Free into 100 theaters, where it pulled in all of $55,451 with an awful $554 per screen average. The domestic run cumed all of $117,608.
There is no reported overseas gross for Running Free, which was dumped straight to video in almost every market. In Sony’s quarter financial report, the film division posted a $53 million loss: “Motion picture operating results were adversely affected by the film losses of the first quarter, including I Dreamed of Africa and Running Free.“