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The controversial film Sound of Freedom has become the surprise hit of the summer, already grossing more than $85 million at the domestic box office.
The film about child sex trafficking saw a boom in ticket sales on Sunday, when it made 27-plus percent more in one day than the previous week, according to Box Office Mojo.
On July 16, Sound of Freedom raked in around $9.83 million, making it the second-most profitable film behind the Tom Cruise-led Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One.
Sitting in third place for the day was Harrison Ford's last hurrah as the fictional archaeologist in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, which earned $3.8 million at the box office on Sunday.
For the weekend, Sound of Freedom pulled in $27 million, a 37.2 percent jump from last week, while Mission: Impossible made $56.2 million in the same time.
Horror franchise Insidious: The Red Door was the third-biggest earner for the weekend, bringing in $13 million in ticket sales.
Sound of Freedom's success is particularly significant because, by Hollywood standards, it had a relatively paltry budget of $14.5 million and played in fewer cinemas than Cruise's and Ford's franchise films.
Angel Studios crowdfunded $5 million to distribute the film after 20th Century Fox previously had the rights to it, but it was bought by The Walt Disney Company in 2019. The film's producer, Eduardo Verástegui, managed to get back the rights and eventually released it this year, even though filming wrapped in 2018.
It stars Jim Caviezel as former Homeland Security Special Agent Tim Ballard, who forms Operation Underground Railroad (O.U.R.), an anti-child-trafficking organization.
"While the entire summer movie box office lineup is underperforming, our small independent film continues to grow week over week. Driven by millions of fans and supporters, Sound of Freedom has become a national—and soon international—movement for change," Jared Geesey, senior vice president of global distribution at Angel Studios, said in a statement.
The company's head of theatrical distribution, Brandon Purdie, added: "There have only been 10 wide-release movies in box office history that have had a second-weekend increase greater than 35 percent over their opening weekend. All of them achieved this milestone during Christmas. Angel Studios is the only studio to accomplish this feat during the summer blockbuster season."
But the film has been plagued with conspiracy theories that major theater chains such as AMC are suppressing the film at the instruction of Hollywood heavyweights to stop people from watching after multiple screenings had interruptions with technical issues.
Adam Aron, CEO of AMC Theatres, has taken to Twitter multiple times to shut down the conspiracy theories since the film premiered on July 4.
"Really bizarre FUD [fear, uncertainty and doubt] floating around Twitter that we are suppressing attendance for Sound of Freedom," Aron tweeted this month. "Yesterday we showed that movie 3,000 times at our 570 U.S. theatres and more than 100,000 people watched it @AMCTheatres. Misinformation on Twitter is astonishing. Bots? Haters?"
Aron tweeted again to clarify Sound of Freedom's performance over the weekend.
"Let's put this ridiculous conspiracy theory to bed. Fri/Sat more than 250,000 people watched Sound of Freedom at AMC in the U.S.," Aron tweeted.
He went on to quote the head of distribution at Angel Studios, the production company behind the film, who apparently said that "no other theater chain in the world has shown more support for Sound of Freedom and Angel Studios than AMC."
About the writer
Shannon Power is a Greek-Australian reporter, but now calls London home. They have worked as across three continents in print, ... Read more