At the top of the US box office, the film “Sound Of Freedom” evokes child trafficking and shakes up Hollywood
Screenshot by photography – Angel Studio
FILM – The day after its release in cinemas in the United States, Tuesday July 4, the thriller Sound Of Freedomhas already garnered $11.5 million in pre-sales. Directed by Alejandro Monteverde with Jim Caviezel in the leading role, the feature film addresses the theme of child trafficking. It traces the true story of Tim Ballard, a former American government agent who fought against this criminal activity, particularly in South America. Despite impressive public enthusiasm (with a better start at the box office than the blockbuster Indiana Jones), the support of personalities like Elon Musk or actor Mel Gibson and numerous positive reviews, Sound of Freedom is not mentioned in mainstream media. Will it be shown in French cinemas ? Where can we see the film, from France ?
Timothy Ballard is the founder of the non-profit organization, Operation Underground Railroad(OUR), specializing in the fight against sex trafficking and child trafficking. Before launching this organization, Tim Ballard, author of several books, claims to have served for 12 years in the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), within a task force (a working group, editor's note) responsible for investigating crimes perpetrated on the Internet against children. He was deployed as an undercover agent within a US team against child sex tourism, we read on the OUR website.
“Frustrated” by the lack of strategies to save kidnapped or trafficked children, particularly in underdeveloped countries, Tim Ballard, who also challenged the American Congress on this subject, left the DHS and founded his non-profit organization in 2013, alongside “former FBI agents and CIA teammates”.
“Weapon of mass instruction” on child trafficking
His character is played by actor Jim Caviezel, known for his role in The Passion of the Christ, a worldwide hit film directed in 2004 by Mel Gibson and retracing the last hours of the life of Jesus of Nazareth.
Questioned by OSV News, the actor returned to “the objective” of this film, to “to sell 2 million tickets for 2 million children” affected by trafficking. The producer of the film, the Mexican Eduardo Verástegui, explains, for his part, that he intends to make this thriller “a weapon of mass education and inspiration” against this activity as criminal as it is inhumane.
To achieve this goal, the film's distributor, Angel Studios, is adopting the same crowdfunding method already applied for its successful series, “The Chosen”.Viewers who purchase tickets will allow others to watch this thriller for free.
Eduardo Verástegui also returned to the origins of the film, work on the script of which began in 2015. “I was in Los Angeles and met Tim Ballard and his team – ex-CIA agents, ex-FBI agents – and I learned what they were doing, traveling the world undercover, rescuing children kidnapped for sexual exploitation.”< /em>, he testified. “And I was in shock. I couldn't sleep for a few days when they told me what was happening”.
Sound Of Freedom is intended to be “a weapon against the greatest evil we have ever seen. And when the public realizes this, they will be surprised how evil these people are. Doing this to children…”, he added.
$14 million in sales
Broadcast on July 4 in more than 2,600 cinemas in the United States, the film, which achieved $10 million in pre-sales the day before, reached $14 million in total, surpassing the blockbuster Disney’s “Indiana Jones and the Clock of Destiny””. 11.5 million was raised in direct box office sales and $2.6 million was made through its crowdfunding platform, called “Pay it Forward”.
Sound of Freedom is America's #1 movie, taking the top spot at the box office on Independence Day.
See it in theaters TODAY, get showtimes at https://t.co/tUytCofxfr #AngelStudios #2MillionFor2Million #SoundOfFreedomMovie pic.twitter.com/PZCRQJWATt
— Angel Studios (@AngelStudiosInc) July 6, 2023
A success widely mentioned by the media and specialized sites such as Box Office Mojo or DeadLine, on the contrary mainstream media which focus particularly on the Disney feature film, in the United States and in France, overlooking the film distributed by Angel Studios.
Fox News is one of the few American media outlets to have dedicated its headlines to Sound Of Freedom, broadcasting interviews with Tim Ballard and Jim Caviezel, in addition to publishing a review of the film.
Despite promotion from several well-known figures, this box office success seems to have gone unnoticed. Twitter boss Elon Musk, who promised to make the hunt for child pornography his priority, even recommended publishing the film on his social network “free for a brief period”< /em>.
Mel Gibson also dedicated a video in which he calls for watching the cast of Angel Studios. “One of the most disturbing problems in the world is human trafficking, particularly children. The first step to eradicating this crime is awareness. Go watch Sound Of Freedom”, he said.
I recommend putting it on this platform for free for a brief period or just asking people to subscribe to support (we would not keep any funds)
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 14, 2023
Is the film shunned by the mainstream media because of the criticism aimed at Tim Ballard, whose rescue testimonies have been called into question ? His relationship with foreign government representatives suspected of corruption is pointed out pointed out by some critics. A debate should then take place, in relation to the success of Sound Of Freedom with the public, which is shaking up Hollywood.
Angel Studios acquired worldwide distribution rights to the thriller in March 2023, but release dates outside the United States, including in France, have not yet been announced.< /p>
In the meantime, where can we watch Sound Of Freedom ? For the moment, the film is exclusively shown in cinemas and is not available on different video on demand platforms such as Amazon Prime, NetFlix, Hulu or HBO. Additionally, Sound Of Freedom is only available in English and Spanish, i.e. Original Version.
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