After completing "Hope" Malone was cast in Robert Zemeckis's science fiction film "Contact" (1997), playing the child counterpart of Jodie Foster's lead character. For her portrayal she won a Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor. The following year Malone was cast opposite Susan Sarandon and Julia Roberts in the drama "Stepmom" (1998), playing an adolescent girl whose father has remarried and whose mother is dying of terminal cancer. The film was a box office success, grossing over $150 million against a $50 million budget. In 1999 Malone filed for legal emancipation from her mother in a Los Angeles County Court, and subsequently alleged that her mother had mismanaged her earnings, spending $280,000 of her trust account. She was granted legal emancipation in January 2000. After dropping out of high school in 1999, Malone obtained a General Educational Development certificate in 2001.