'Sound of Freedom' Viewers Forced to Evacuate Movie Theater, Video Claims

Social media rumors suggest there's something going on at movie theaters showing the new film Sound of Freedom, with people allegedly being forced from their seats for various reasons.

The latest example to go viral online shows a woman claiming that a theater full of people was evacuated without explanation and weren't allowed to go back and finish watching the movie. It's the latest in a number of accounts of people supposedly being "suppressed" from watching Sound of Freedom, though AMC Theaters CEO Adam Aron recently dismissed such allegations. The controversy stems partly from criticism, which several of those involved in the movie have vehemently denied, that it is linked to the baseless QAnon conspiracy theory.

Sound of Freedom has been a surprise hit from production company Angel Studios and producer Tim Ballard. It stars Jim Caviezel as Ballard, telling the true story of how he started the anti-child sex trafficking organization Operation Underground Railroad. On its first day of release on July 4, the film shocked the movie industry by beating Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny to top spot domestically at the box office.

On Monday, TikTok user @isntsheadaisy shared a 48-second video which went viral, with 800,000 views and thousands more comments.

"So I've been seeing all over TikTok that people are going to watch the movie Sound of Freedom and these weird things are happening like random emergency evacuations, the air conditioning not working and having to leave the theater," the TikTok user said in a voiceover seemingly shot in a cinema lobby.

"And I thought 'no that's probably just something that's happening in other theaters in other places. So I took me and my daughters to go watch Sound of Freedom today," the voiceover on the video said.

"About an hour and twenty minutes into the movie we get a random emergency evacuation. None of the staff knows what's going on. The mall wasn't being evacuated, just the theater," she said.

The TikTok user says she got her money refunded with no explanation, adding "but I guess you can call me a conspiracy theorist."

There are no clear indicators that the video was shot recently, nor any evidence that it was shot during a Sound of Freedom screening.

Newsweek has reached out to TikTok user @isntsheadaisy for comment.

Other examples of alleged unusual activity relating to cinema experiences at Sound of Freedom have also been shared online. User @jamskillet explained how the AC wasn't working during his screening, making the experience "unbearably hot."

AMC Theaters CEO Aron addressed the widespread rumors on Twitter on Saturday, assuring fans that his business was a supporter of the movie.

"Really bizarre [fear, uncertainty and doubt] floating around Twitter that we are suppressing attendance for Sound of Freedom," Aron tweeted on Saturday. "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 wrote.

Angel Studio co-founders and brothers Jeffrey, Neal and Jordan Harmon all responded thanking him for is support.

Responding to Newsweek's request for comment, a spokesperson for Angel Studios echoed their sentiment.

"Our theatrical partners at AMC, CineMark, Regal, and beyond have been absolutely wonderful to work with—they're helping us add theaters as we speak in the middle the busy summer movie season," Matthew Faraci told Newsweek.