Some controversy has slowly been creeping into Angel Studios’ thriller “Sound of Freedom.” The trailer can be seen here.
The film, which wrapped filming way back in 2018, was released today. Surprise: ticket sales are insanely high. The Jim Caviezel starring film will screen in 2,600 locations and is projected to make $20 million in its opening week.
These numbers are astonishing for a film that isn’t IP and barely has a big star to its name, unless you count Caviezel, or the likes of Bill Camp and Mira Sorvino, as major draws.
“Sound of Freedom” was actually a Fox movie before Disney bought the company. Caviezel has claimed that Disney tried to kill the project while it was in production. He’s also saying that the film is set to outsell “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” at a “3 to 1” margin.
Deadline’s Antony D’Allessandro says rival studios are tracking this semi-faith-based, based-on-a-true-story film because it is set to become the most profitable indie movie of the year, by a wide margin.
The film, about about former Homeland Security agent Tim Ballard (Jim Caviezel), who “took rescuing abducted children around the globe into his own hands,” sold more than 2 million tickets in pre-sales.
So, why all the hate for this film? Maybe it has to do with the fact that Angel Studios primarily releases conservative content, which is more than a rarity in Hollywood, it’s practically non-existent. The second is that Caviezel, very much like Mel Gibson, has become a marked man.
Caviezel is very religious and very conservative. He’s mentioned the need to “fight child sex trafficking, Satan and liberal values”. He’s very Christian. For example, in 2001, while shooting “Angel Eyes,” Caviezel requested that he wear a shirt and that his co-star Jennifer Lopez wear a top during a love scene just out of respect for his wife.
Caviezel’s beliefs seem to have irked all the wrong people in Hollywood, to the point where he’s really only been starring in Christian-based films these last ten years.
Caviezel recently admitted in an interview that, one of his very good friends, Mel Gibson wept while watching “Sound of Freedom.”
I showed this movie to two Academy Award-winning film directors. Both of them were absolutely stunned. One of them is my good friend, Mel Gibson. The other one likes to remain anonymous. Mel was weeping.
Caviezel went on to say, “In a fair world, [“Sound of Freedom”] would hands down win the best picture [Oscar], but like ‘The Passion of the Christ,’ they won’t touch this one.”
Reciting words from Walt Huntley’s poem “God’s Hall of Fame,” Caviezel said, “’Your name may not appear down here in this world’s Hall of Fame. In fact, you may be so unknown that no one knows your name.'”
“The Oscars and the praise of men may never come your way, but don’t forget God has rewards that he’ll hand out someday,” Caviezel continued.
So, who’s going to start the Oscar campaign for this one?
The exact details of the MPA’s rating for “Wildwood” are as follows: Rated PG-13 for “strong fantasy violence/bloody images, thematic material, suicide related material, brief partial nudity and language.”