The faith-driven movie Sound of Freedom continued soaring at the box office over the weekend, finishing in the top 3 and passing the $40 million mark in total gross.
The Angel Studios movie made an estimated $18.2 million in its first weekend, placing it No. 3 behind Insidious: The Red Door ($32.7 million) and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny ($26.5 million). On a per-theater average, Sound of Freedom ($6,388) was No. 2, trailing only Insidious ($10,241).
Sound of Freedom opened July the Fourth as the No. 1 movie in America and now has grossed an estimated $40.2 million. It also surpassed Angel Studios' goal of selling 2 million tickets in its first week, representing the 2 million children being sex trafficked. As of Monday, 3.8 million tickets had been sold, according to Angel.
The film tells the true story of a government agent, Tim Ballard, who quit his job at the Department of Homeland Security so he could dedicate his life to rescuing children in other countries from sex trafficking. Jim Caviezel portrays Ballard.
"As with our July 4th numbers, today's numbers exceed our expectations, and we're going to continue this momentum. Sound of Freedom has taken on a life of its own," said Brandon Purdie, head of theatrical distribution at Angel Studios. "We're getting messages from all over the country telling us about packed theaters, sold-out theaters, and spontaneous standing ovations for the film in numerous locations. Seeing this film has become a must thanks to incredible word-of-mouth."
Purdie added, "We're deeply grateful to AMC, Cinemark, Regal, and all our theater partners – and their hard-working theater staff members – for working with us to accommodate the surging demand for this film and having the courage to release Sound of Freedom during the busiest movie season of the year."
The film received an A+ CinemaScore from moviegoers and has a "fresh" rating of 77 on Rotten Tomatoes (meaning 77 percent of critics liked it).
Related:
4 Things You Should Know about Sound of Freedom
'Sound of Freedom' to Expand after Stunning Success: 'It's Been a Surprise to Hollywood'
Photo courtesy: ©Angel Studios, used with permission.
Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
