Indie film shakes up Hollywood, grosses over $14M on debut
- "Sound of Freedom" debuted on Tuesday, raking in $14.2M on its opening day
- Plot: Protagonist quits his government job to track down child traffickers
- Goal: Get 2M people to see the film for the 2M children being trafficked
FILE – Movie theaters reopen after COVID-19 closures on March 5, 2021, in New York. For one day, Sept. 3, 2022, movie tickets will be just $3 in the vast majority of American theaters as part of a newly launched “National Cinema Day” to lure moviegoers during a quiet spell at the box office. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)
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This story has been updated to correct the box-office take for “Sound of Freedom” on July 4.
CHICAGO (NewsNation) — An indie film is proving to draw in more of a crowd than the typical big-budget summer box office hits.
Angel Studios’ “Sound of Freedom” opened Tuesday, grossing just over $14.2 million.
Disney’s “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” which played in nearly 2,000 more theaters, grossed roughly $11.6 million the same day, according to Box Office Mojo.
“Sound of Freedom” is shaking up the movie business, proving that small-budget films with a big message resonate with Americans.
The drama, inspired by a true story, stars “Passion of the Christ” actor Jim Caviezel. In the movie, Caviezel’s character quits his government job in order to track down child traffickers.
The film was initially finished in 2018 and was set to be released by 20th-Century Fox. However, that studio was bought out by the Walt Disney Company, which then shelved the film.
Then Angel Studios entered the picture and said the movie fits with its message.
“We started this studio 10 years ago with four brothers and a cousin with the goal of changing the content we were seeing coming into our homes,” Angel Studios President Jordan Harmon said. “Our big mission is that in 10, 20, 30 years, Angel is known throughout the globe as the home of stories that amplify light.”
And it’s a mission that appears to be working.
The movie’s production cost was estimated to be around $15 million, raking in $14.2 million on its Fourth of July opening.
Compare that to some of Hollywood’s big pictures out right now.
Disney’s Indiana Jones cost the studio around $300 million and its box office debut in late June raked in just a little over $72 million.
Disney Pixar’s “Elemental” also flopped in theaters with a production price tag of $200 million. But the film only collected $92 million in its opening week. It’s currently ranked the lowest debut in Pixar’s history.
As for “Sound of Freedom,” the studio created an initiative to get two million people to see the film for the two million children being trafficked around the world.
“Our goal is to inspire two million people to attend the film’s opening weekend to represent the two million trafficked children,” Caviezel said in a monologue at the end of the film’s trailer.
The studio also set up a “pay-it-forward” program where moviegoers could purchase another person’s ticket who may otherwise not have seen the film. Nearly $2.7 million of its July 4 haul came from this promotion.
Its success could also be credited to Caviezel’s close relationship with faith-based communities in addition to its “pay it forward” marketing push.
Indiewire also reported tickets were sold to churches, which then gave them out to congregants.
