Sound of Freedom beats Mission: Impossible, The Flash

“Barbenheimer” is not the only phenomenon at the July box office.

Over the past four weeks, Angel Studios’ “Sound of Freedom,” an independent film that has been backed by former President donald trump and other conservatives, has grossed nearly $150 million in domestic ticket sales.

The number may seem small compared to Hollywood’s blockbuster performances Warner Bros.’ “Barbie” and The universal ones “The Super Mario Bros.,” each of which has grossed several hundred million dollars, but that’s a solid theatrical run for a movie that only cost $14.5 million.

It’s especially impressive considering Paramount’s The Tom Cruise vehicle “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One” has grossed less than $140 million since its July 12 release and Warner Bros. DC Comics “The Flash” which barely broke $100 million domestically.

“Sound of Freedom” is also at the top of from Disney “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” which has generated an estimated $167 million at the box office in the United States and Canada.

“Angel Studios deserves a lot of credit for designing and executing one of the most unexpected indie blockbusters of recent years,” said Shawn Robbins, chief analyst at BoxOffice.com.

“Sound of Freedom,” which opened over the July 4 holiday weekend to $14.2 million, saw ticket sales surpass its debut during its second and third weekend in theaters, a rarity in Hollywood. Over the past two weekends, ticket sales for the film have dropped below 40%.

Typically, blockbuster features will experience at least a 50% drop each week, receiving diminishing returns until the film ends its run in theaters.

The slow decline of “Sound of Freedom” shows that audiences who might have missed the film when it first opened have heard enough positive word of mouth to go to theaters weeks later.

In fact, the film was initially only released in about 2,600 theaters and has grown to over 3,400 in recent weeks. By comparison, both “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” and “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” opened in more than 4,000 locations, according to Comscore data.

“‘Sound of Freedom’ is a summer movie success story that wasn’t even on the radar a few weeks ago,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore. “[It] has become one of the most talked about movies of the summer a movie [and its] Box office revenues have surpassed those of titles with much bigger stars, brands and budgets.”

“Sound of Freedom” centers on Tim Ballard (Jim Caviezel), a character inspired by a real-life government agent who quits his job to rescue a girl from sex traffickers in Colombia.

Part of the box office success of “Sound of Freedom” has been a campaign by filmmakers to urge moviegoers to buy tickets that can be claimed online for future screenings by those who might not be able to afford them. Angel Studios calls the “pay it forward” model, and it has sold nearly 14 million of those tickets since the film’s releaseaccording to the study’s website.

“The sustained success of ‘Sound of Freedom’ demonstrates that grassroots campaigning still has significant impact in our day and age and that the film’s core audience continues to be overlooked and underserved,” Robbins said.

Angel Studios’ post-promotion method isn’t the only unique aspect of their business. The studio bankrolled $5 million to distribute the film after 20th Century Fox, which previously held the rights, was bought by the Walt Disney Co. and suspended its release. “Sound of Freedom” finished filming in 2018.

The sex-trafficking thriller has struck a chord with the biggest audiences, many of whom haven’t been back to theaters since before. the covid pandemic. It has also been popularized in conservative political circles. Trump hosted one private screening of the film at his New Jersey-based golf club last month.

Also in attendance were Steve Bannon, Trump’s former chief strategist; Kari Lake, a former Arizona gubernatorial candidate who supported Trump’s claims of voter fraud during the last presidential election; and Jack Posobiec, an activist and TV correspondent who promoted the debunked claim that Democrats were using a Washington pizzeria for a child sex ring.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., also held a screening of the film last week for members of Congress from both sides of the aisle.

“Films often come along that fill a void in the market,” Dergarabedian said, echoing Robbin’s comments about underserved theater audiences. “‘Sound of Freedom’ benefited not only from that, but also from providing a non-typical summer-style movie experience.”

Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC.