Taking Chance premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 16, 2009, and aired on HBO in the United States on February 21, 2009.

The movie is based on the recollections of U.S. Marine Lt. Col Michael Strobl, a real person, who accompanied the remains of Lance Corporal Chance Phelps, a Marine fatally wounded by gunfire near Baghdad during the Iraq War, from Dover Air Force Base to Dubois, Wyoming in April 2004.

He attended both Phelps's funeral and his memorial service, and wrote an essay about the entire experience, the emotions he felt and the people he met.

"[citation needed] On the other end is Slant Magazine, saying "Instead of well-drawn characters or real human drama, we are presented with a military procedural on burial traditions.

[7] During a White House press conference in 2017, former White House Chief of Staff and Retired Marine Corps General John F. Kelly, who was next to Chance when he was killed and is the father of First Lieutenant Robert Kelly who was killed in action in Afghanistan, recommended that the Washington press corps watch the film in order to understand the solemnity and dignity of the process of returning fallen military service members to their families.