The independent, faith-based thriller has managed to outperform huge franchises from Hollywood studios in the process.
Sound of Freedom heads into this weekend with a massive revenue feather in its cap, having become only the second faith-based movie ever to reach $175 million in ticket sales at the domestic box office. It crossed that threshold yesterday, its 45th day in release, and currently sits ahead of huge studio properties like the latest Mission: Impossible and Indiana Jones flicks.
The picture, which stars Jim Caviezel, is based on the true-to-life story of a U.S. Department of Homeland Security official named Tim Ballard who stepped down from his post at that agency in order to devote himself full-time to the fight against child sex trafficking. Filmed in 2018 as a 20th Century Fox project, the movie was shelved for years after The Walt Disney Company purchased that studio.
Ultimately, the filmmakers behind the project bought back the rights for north of $14 million and, wow, they must be thrilled that they did. Only the 2004 smash hit The Passion of the Christ - which interestingly also starred Caviezel - has ever brought in this much revenue among films in the faith-based genre; as a point of reference, that picture was sitting at $344 million after 45 days in release, ultimately going on to earn a whopping $370 million in domestic revenue (it topped out at $611 million with international earnings added in).
Sound of Freedom will not overtake it since it is now on the downside of the slope, as it were: the picture will play in 2,100 theaters this weekend, well off its peak of 3,411 at the beginning of the month. The movie is nonetheless bound to add at least several million dollars more to its haul before it finally wraps up its domestic theatrical run and, better still, it has not yet released internationally. Christian Film Blog is thus confident that total revenue will end up topping the $200 million mark.