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Scam: Sound of Freedom' Is Cleaning Up at the Box Office -
RW boosters are funneling millions into the film, encouraging devotees to get their 'free' tickets.
‘Sound of Freedom’ Is Cleaning Up at the Box Office Because You [and dark money] Can Buy Tickets for Strangers
The Jim Caviezel child-trafficking drama “Sound of Freedom” from faith-based distributor Angel Studios made $14.2 million in a single day when it opened July 4. You can chalk that success up to any number of reasons: Religious audiences are underserved, the film has been bolstered by major right-wing pundits (and Donald Trump himself), and it opened on a rare Tuesday after “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” had five days to quiet down.
But the film’s real godsend is the ability for “Sound of Freedom” fans to buy movie tickets for complete strangers.
Angel Studios calls it “Pay It Forward,” in which you can buy a ticket for “Sound of Freedom,” pay for another one, and someone else can apply to redeem it if they don’t have the financial means. A larger group of people buying tickets in bulk, such as for a company or a church, can even redeem a portion of their tickets for free. The distributor says of its $14.2 million haul, $2.6 million came from people overpaying through those Pay It Forward ticket sales.
That’s not just a few “angel” investors, either. Angel Studios’ website boasts that over 200,000 individual contributors chipped in for additional tickets, with a goal of 2 million tickets sold in the first week. (That would represent the 2 million kids who are trafficked each year; Angel claims to have already hit 1.4 million tickets.) Jared Geesey, Angel Studios’ senior VP of global distribution, tells IndieWire the team had to scale up Angels’ servers in response to a wave of people who wanted to support the film after seeing it on the 4th.
But the film’s real godsend is the ability for “Sound of Freedom” fans to buy movie tickets for complete strangers.
Angel Studios calls it “Pay It Forward,” in which you can buy a ticket for “Sound of Freedom,” pay for another one, and someone else can apply to redeem it if they don’t have the financial means. A larger group of people buying tickets in bulk, such as for a company or a church, can even redeem a portion of their tickets for free. The distributor says of its $14.2 million haul, $2.6 million came from people overpaying through those Pay It Forward ticket sales.
That’s not just a few “angel” investors, either. Angel Studios’ website boasts that over 200,000 individual contributors chipped in for additional tickets, with a goal of 2 million tickets sold in the first week. (That would represent the 2 million kids who are trafficked each year; Angel claims to have already hit 1.4 million tickets.) Jared Geesey, Angel Studios’ senior VP of global distribution, tells IndieWire the team had to scale up Angels’ servers in response to a wave of people who wanted to support the film after seeing it on the 4th.
https://www.indiewire.com/news/business/sound-of-freedom-box-office-analysis-crowdfunding-pay-it-forward-1234881363/
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