Anyone who could have predicted that a $14 million thriller dogged by controversy and contention that shot five summers ago would end up as the single biggest box office breakout of 2023 should probably take a stab at guessing the lottery numbers, because Sound of Freedom blindsided everyone.
Upstart Angel Studios has already made a killing after the Jim Caviezel-fronted tale of trafficking raced past $100 million domestically in a matter of weeks, and its staggering performance that’s seen takings increase on a regular basis means that a running total close to – if not above – $200 million isn’t out of the question.
And yet, for a while it looked as though Sound of Freedom would be trapped in purgatory forever after being dropped by Disney following its acquisition of 20th Century Fox, with producer Eduardo Verástegui admitting that nobody was interested in acquiring the distribution rights, although there are several good reasons as to why.
As well as revealing that he’d been “knocking on doors with Netflix, Amazon, and other studios,” to no avail, Verástegui additionally detailed how “some of them, they just didn’t even answer my calls,” opining that he sent “hundreds and hundreds of messages from different people” only to end up with “nothing.”
It’s entirely debatable as to whether or not Sound of Freedom would find the same size of audience were it dumped on streaming given the demographic that’s been propelling it towards such a fortune, you can’t say that Angel Studios didn’t luck out on deciding to take a chance on the project.