‘Sound of Freedom’ is hit despite numerous reported barriers at box offices
Movie expected to keep playing in Hobbs for a couple more weeks
God’s children are not for sale!
No, they are not.
God’s children are not for sale!
This is a powerful message being magnified at the movie theaters with the surprising summer box office smash, “The Sound of Freedom,” a movie produced by the independent company, Angel Studios, which shines the spotlight on the horrors of child-sex trafficking.
Ironically, myself and a group of friends were not able to see “Sound of Freedom,” a faith-based film, on Independence Day. Sounds crazy, right?
We were not able to see a movie about freedom on the Fourth of July. We were not alone.
Since the movie was released three weeks ago, movie-goers from nearby places such as Midland and Big Spring, and also from around the country, have reported barriers to seeing this movie in multiple and strange strings of “coincidences” which include everything from broken projectors, faulty internet connections, air conditioning units going out only in the movie theaters where the “Sound of Freedom” was to be shown and movie apps and displays showing movies to be sold out or with only least favorable seats available — such as in the very front rows, only for movie-goers to go in and see many empty seats during the showings.
I’ve received such complaints from some of my friends, but I’ve also seen similar complaints in online articles, including one by users of TikTok.
To be fair, I did contact Russell Allen, president and owner of Allen Theaters, which is headquartered in Las Cruces and owns Eagle 9 movie theater in Hobbs. I must say I appreciate what Allen had to tell me, and I believe our situation in Hobbs, which I will describe in a little bit, was not done purposefully.
Furthermore, Allen assured me “Sound of Freedom,” which is his highest-grossing movie right now and was hard to get due to its limited distribution, will continue to be shown for at least a couple of more weeks in Hobbs. I highly recommend you see this great movie.
However, with numerous other barriers to seeing this movie being reported across the country, I truly believe, and as you will read in some of the comments by my friends below, some movie theater companies are trying to make it hard for people to see this movie — at least they did during its first two weeks of release. Jim Caviezel, the lead actor in “Sound of Freedom,” describes the nontraditional barriers Angel Studios, itself, went through just to get the movie into theaters, noting in a special interview at the end of the movie that it took an unusual three years just to get the movie distributed.
Despite this, “Sound of Freedom” was the No. 2 movie in the country last weekend, setting box office records.
During the July 14-16 weekend, “Sound of Freedom” beat “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” raking in a whopping $27 million while Indiana Jones only took in $12 million, according to Internet Movie Database Charts.
“Sound of Freedom” was beaten at the box office last week only by “Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One” with Tom Cruise.”
Why would anybody not want people to see this important movie which could help end child sex-trafficking, which, believe it or not, happens in the United States, and probably even in nearby cities as well?
Conspiracies?
You decide.
But let me start with my telephone conversation with movie theater owner, Allen, on the telephone on Tuesday.
I explained to Allen I went with a group of friends from our Walking With Purpose women’s Bible study on July 4 to see the 12 p.m. showing of “Sound of Freedom.”
We had already bought our tickets online, but when we got there we were told that the movie projector was broken and we could not see that movie. We were offered rainchecks.
Ironically, that was the only movie projector broken.
All of the other movies were working. We were told that they did not know when the movie would be up and running. Some women from my group felt that this was a spiritual attack from Satan who was trying to keep us from watching this movie. In the lobby, we got to talking to other people from another faith and decided to do an interdenominational prayer in front of the movie theater. However, it was taking long for some of our members to get their rainchecks because they had to go through the concession stand line, so some women from our group opted to go back to our church, St. Helena Catholic Church, instead, and pray a rosary.
I soon started to see online stories about people from across the country reporting experiencing obstacles to seeing “Sound of Freedom.” I decided that I had to write about this. I called Allen but my call was taken by another person and I left a message.
Being a former newspaper reporter, quite frankly, I was cynical and did not expect Allen to call me back, and if he did, he would probably say something like, “no comment.”
But Allen did call me back and I was pleasantly surprised.
Allen reminded me that Hobbs had been getting a series of thunderstorms during the July 4 weekend. I knew that the movie theater had been experiencing some off-and-on technical problems during a part of the summer. Allen explained that in the particular auditorium where “Sound of Freedom” was to be shown, a power part on the projector went out which he said costs $5,000 and could not be immediately obtained.
“It hurts me to lose any showing of ‘Sound of Freedom’ because that is my highest grossing film right now,” Allen said. He added that with a movie company as small as Angel Studios, that they didn’t have the ability, like larger studios, to get needed encryption or some technical necessity to get the movie up and running right away.
Allen added that he had to practically beg to get the “Sound of Freedom” movie to Hobbs, because, with its limited distributions, it was mostly going to larger cities.
“I can tell you right now that I am so grateful to have ‘Sound of Freedom’ because it has been a shining star during a summer in which other movies are not doing as well,” Allen noted. “I have seen stories on the Web about people having trouble seeing the movie. Personally, I cannot imagine movie theaters not selling tickets. It is mind boggling to think that.”
I told Allen that my friends and I feel that even if these movie problems are not a result of intentional human actions, that we believe these could also be spiritual attacks from the evil one who does not want this message to get out. Allen said that he is a man of faith and believes in things like that, too.
“On that day, with it being just that movie, it was coincidental. All of the tickets had already been sold for that particular theater as well as in our other theaters, so we could not just move that movie,” Allen said, and then added, “I promise that we will keep this movie here in Hobbs. As long as people keep coming to watch it, it is not going anywhere. ‘Sound of Freedom’ has a heartbreaking message and it is tough to watch, but it is a super important message.”
The movie indeed has such an important message that something has been happening with this movie that I have never seen done with other movies. There are many pay-it-forward systems in which you can pay for movie tickets so others can see it as well. Just look online.
I ended up finally getting to see “Sound of Freedom” the following Sunday with my friends Cori and Robi and Robi’s parents, and it was a tear-jerker. It is a true story based on Tim Ballard, a former government agent, who risks everything to rescue a boy and his sister, as well as hundreds of other children, from child sex-trafficking. Following the movie, some men came up to us, while we were still in the movie auditorium, and asked if they could pray with us. We prayed with them.
I cannot understand why “Rolling Stone” magazine slammed this movie while Rotten Tomatoes scored this drama with a 100 percent audience score. In an interview, Cavaziel addressed the backlash the film has received by some media and suggested that some media members are trying to distract from the film’s message.
Now here are some reports that I received from some of my friends.
The first is from my friend Lori Boatenhamer who wrote in a group chat, (I am sharing this with her permission), “I just want to let everyone know that if you go to see the movie ‘Sound of Freedom,’ to say a prayer before going in and after the movie is over. I truly believe there are evil forces trying to stop people from seeing it.”
Boatenhamer is a former Hobbsan who now lives in Big Spring, Texas. She added, “At our theater, the AC stopped working before the movie started. It was so hot that my clothes were drenched in sweat. I got lightheaded but I refused to leave! The theater guy told us that the AC stopped working yesterday, too, the same day that the movie premiered in Big Spring. They had it fixed and it went out again today. It was only in the ‘Sound of Freedom’ screen. Not to scare anyone, but just a reminder that the enemy never sleeps.”
Later on, Boatenhamer added these comments from a friend of hers who went to see “Sound of Freedom’ in Midland, Texas.
“The first time my sister and I went to watch this movie at Cinergy, the 7:30 show showed only 2 seats available in the very front. We went to dinner instead and caught the 10:35 movie. We got OK seats but the theater was not packed like the screen was showing (when we chose our movie seats).”
She added, “Two days later is when I went again, with my mom and dad. My brother had 3 passes we could use. We get there for the 10:35 and there were only a few rows with 3 seats available together. When the employee asked where we prefer to sit, I chose the very back. Those were not showing available. We were the only 3 in the theater for quite sometime before others started to show, but it was still not a packed theater.”
In addition to this, Boatenhamer’s friend said that during the middle of the movie, her mom made a comment that she was getting hot, like if the air conditioning had been turned off.
Her friend said, “It’s always freezing in the theater that mostly everyone walks in with a blanket.”
I talked to two other people, two Hobbs sisters who also tried to see ‘Sound of Freedom’ on the July 4th weekend at Eagle 9 theater in Hobbs,
“People were coming into the movie theater wearing red, white and blue; patriotic and excited to see ‘Sound of Freedom,’” Debra Fisher recalled. “The experience was not a good one. We got to the movie theater and they didn’t have signs up, but they told us that the projector was struck by lightning or something. I don’t know if this was a coincidence or not or if it was a liberal agenda.”
Fisher said that “it was a mess,” noting what she called a lack of communication from the theater and a long wait to get their refund.
Fisher’s sister, Kim Webb, told me that her sister Debra was the one who was adamant about seeing “Sound of Freedom,’ noting that she had not even heard about it at the time. When the movie was canceled, Webb said that she posted about it on Facebook to warn others.
“People were asking why it was just this movie?” Webb said. “The movie theater said that it was because of the lightning and storms.”
I guess you can call that an unfortunate coincidence. But what about these other incidents below?
The Website, “Distractify” may sound like a questionable source, but in an online article titled, “TikTokers believe movie theaters are being sabotaged!” users suggest someone is trying to stop people from seeing “Sound of Freedom.”In the article, someone named Jim recalls his experience at an AMC theater on July 4. In the article, he says that when he bought tickets online the movie was showing that it was nearly sold out, but then says when he arrived the theater was nearly empty. He said that the air conditioning also was not running.
Another TikToker alleged to have had a similar experience at an AMC theater location in Pineville, N.C. She says that when she arrived at the movie theater after buying online tickets, she was told the movie was canceled because there was no air conditioning in the theater, while ACs seemed to be working fine in the lobby, hallways and bathrooms.
To be fair again, in another article on the same “Distractify” Web site, AMC theaters have denied any wrongdoing.
In a statement posted on Twitter by AMC Theaters CEO, Adam Aron, Aron says, “Yesterday we showed that movie 3,000 times at our 570 U.S. theaters, and more than 100,000 people watched it.”
He goes on to suggest the rumors were “misinformation.”
So what are the chances of only the “Sound of Freedom” movie being struck by lightning and by numerous technical, online and air conditioning problems? Apparently more chances than of being struck by lightning. Like my friend Lori said, “The enemy never sleeps.”
There is great news though. If this is, indeed, a spiritual battle — and everything is — then things are just warming up.
Angel Studios, who also produced the critically-acclaimed TV drama, “The Chosen,” will be releasing another powerful movie next spring titled, “Cabrini,” based on the life of American citizen (Italian-born) saint, Mother Cabrini. In addition, in 2024, Caviziel will star in the sequel to Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ,” which is called, “The Passion of the Christ: Resurrection.”
Faith will fill our theaters.
Helena Amanda Rodriguez is a former newspaper reporter, an educator and writer. Contact her at: Rodriguezhelena550@gmail.com.
