by FilmInk Staff
The American summer has brought us a slew of high-budget action-adventure blockbusters such as Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. Yet the story of the season seems to come from an unexpected hit, Sound of Freedom.
Sound of Freedom, which follows a former government agent turned vigilante, who embarks on a dangerous mission to rescue hundreds of children from sex traffickers, is based on the supposed true story of anti-trafficking activist Tim Ballard, the founder of Operation Underground Railroad.
As of July 17, Sound of Freedom has grossed $85.5 million in the US alone. Interestingly, in this age of global releases, it has only been seen US cinemas. Australian cinemas are reporting hundreds of queries about playing the film, but no one really knows who to turn to, and there are no plans for the film to release here, or any other territories as far as we can tell. We sent an email to producers Angel Studios, with no reply, and local exhibitors have asked the usual faith-based distributors if they know anything, but, crickets…
Could it be that the film’s producers only care about the US market? Could ideology and swinging the next election be the MO here? If that’s the case, then using post-Covid, streaming-impacted cash-strapped cinema operators to push out the message unknowingly could be an ingenious strategy.
The runaway hit is not without its controversies, with claims that bulk tickets were bought and no one turning up, and numerous left-leaners suspecting the involvement of the alleged political movement, QAnon. The core belief of QAnon is that a group of “Satanic child molesters are operating a global child sex trafficking ring which conspired against former U.S. President Donald Trump”.
Although the theory could be relegated to ‘conspiracy’, the allegations gained serious traction after Donald Trump announced that he will be hosting a special screening of the film at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster. Furthermore, Jim Caviezel, the film’s lead actor – who famously protested about being blacklisted after his turn in The Passion of the Christ – recently called QAnon “a good thing”.
Holy shit what is wrong with you?
“Sound of Freedom” is a dangerous child-trafficking exploitation film being weaponized to incite a death cult to target Democrats in order to destabilize American democracy.
It was funded by actual sex traffickers and accused sexual predators.… https://t.co/hdO1Y1mJbW
— Jim Stewartson, Anti-disinfo activist ???????????????????? (@jimstewartson) July 15, 2023
On the far-right side, a different conspiracy has found traction, this one involving AMC Theatres. Soon after its 4th of July opening (get it patriots?!), social media was inundated with audience members claiming that the theatre chain was out to tank the film. One alleged AMC staff member even reported that they were fired for not spiking audience members’ drinks with a liquid that contained ‘nanobots’. Others claimed that the theatre chain was “pulling some sketchy crap” after they received refunds due to technical difficulties with air-conditioners, which apparently indicated the chain’s intentions to discourage audience members from attending. Luckily for them, needing to show proof of being vaxxed has been relaxed, otherwise, we don’t imagine that many of them would be allowed to see the film at all.
@bleighve1112
AMC CEO Adam Aron has since broken his silence with a tweet stating that “more than ONE MILLION people have watched Sound of Freedom at AMC Theatres. More than at any other theatre chain on the planet”. The tweet was backed by Angel Studios’ head of theatrical distribution who said, “Angel Studios and the producers of Sound of Freedom are asking our fans to support AMC and all of our other theatrical partners”.
Despite the controversies, Sound of Freedom’s theatrical success is unprecedented. In its opening weekend, the film took home $32.4 million in the domestic box office, ranking it third behind Insidious: The Red Door and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. As the latter films fell in box office receipts, Sound of Freedom soared, adding another $25 million in its second weekend.
Much of the film’s success has been attributed to its faith aspect, which has drawn in a very vocal minority. Paul Dergarabedian, a senior analyst at Comscore, stated that the film “shows that a grassroots marketing strategy and tapping into the power of the faith-based audience has proven to be a very effective method to generate profits”. As is divisiveness, which is something the social media platforms discovered a while ago.
We are sure that the truth is out there and that it will come out in time, but let’s face it, on the box, Sound of Freedom is the kind of vigilante thriller that would go straight to Digital on any other day, and worse still, it’s potentially propaganda. Does that sound like freedom to you? Lest we forget Leni Riefenstahl.
