Topline
Misleading claims that Netflix and Amazon Prime Video have “banned” or “just turned down” streaming the controversial box office hit after its theatrical run in order to hide alleged pedophilia in the film industry are going viral on social media—but these claims misinterpret a quote from the film’s producer saying only that they had passed on the film’s initial release.
Key Facts
A viral tweet with more than 81,000 likes and 4.6 million views, posted by right-wing social media creator Matt Wallace, falsely asserts “Netflix and Amazon Prime JUST TURNED DOWN Sound of Freedom” to hide alleged pedophilia in Hollywood.
Citing Wallace’s tweet, The Quartering, a right-wing YouTube channel with 1.5 million subscribers, posted a video titled, “Netflix & Amazon Just BANNED Sound Of Freedom,” accusing the streaming platforms of “being against this movie that’s about protecting kids.”
The Quartering and some social media users criticized Netflix for allegedly declining to stream Sound of Freedom while hosting the 2020 French film Cuties, which was the subject of controversy as conservative critics alleged that the film sexualizes young girls, though the film’s director, Maïmouna Doucouré, has said the film was meant to criticize child sexualization, and it received generally positive reviews.
These claims likely stem from a weeks-old interview with Sound of Freedom producer Eduardo Verástegui, who told Breitbart in July that he went “knocking on doors with Netflix, Amazon, and other studios” in search of a distributor for the film’s initial release, all of whom declined before he struck a deal with Angel Studios earlier this year.
The film, which wrapped production in 2018, previously had a deal with 20th Century Fox, but once Disney acquired the company in 2019, Angel Studios CEO Neal Harmon said Disney declined to release the film.
Angel Studios acquired the distribution rights to Sound of Freedom in early 2023 and launched a crowdfunding effort to release the film, which opened in theaters July 4.
Vulture reported earlier this month the Sound of Freedom team has been shopping the film to streamers for weeks, claiming it is “more likely to land on a major streamer than not,” citing sources at three different streaming platforms.
Forbes has reached out to Netflix and Prime Video for comment.
Key Background
Sound of Freedom became the subject of heated political controversy this summer, with the right wing championing the film’s anti-sex-trafficking message and the left criticizing the film’s ties to the QAnon conspiracy theory—the central idea being that a group of Satanic global elites are running the world and preying on children. The film stars Jim Caviezel as Tim Ballard, a former government agent and founder of Operation Underground Railroad, which conducts missions to rescue children from sex traffickers. Caviezel has reportedly spoken at multiple QAnon events, where he has promoted the baseless “adrenochrome harvesting” conspiracy theory, which suggests that the Hollywood and political “elite” ingest the adrenochrome chemical from children’s blood to stay young. Ballard has also voiced support for the adrenochrome theory, though he has said he and Caviezel condemn “the majority of what they see with conspiracy theories.” A Vice investigation also claimed Operation Underground Railroad exaggerated its role in sex-trafficking rescues, with multiple law enforcement agencies calling their partnerships with OUR “insubstantial.” Plenty of right-wing figures, including former President Donald Trump, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and pundits Sean Hannity and Jordan Peterson have promoted the film on social media. It has a 65% critics score and 99% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Surprising Fact
This isn’t the only false claim about Sound of Freedom that’s gained traction among right-wing social media users. After the film’s opening in July, claims that AMC theaters deliberately sabotaged screenings by randomly refunding tickets, evacuating theaters or making the room’s temperature uncomfortable went viral. Heavyweight boxer David Niño Rodriguez claimed on social media the screening he attended at an AMC was “horrendous” because the volume was turned “all the way down to nearly inaudible.” AMC CEO Adam Aron criticized these allegations as “conspiracy theories.” Harmon thanked Aron for AMC’s support for Sound of Freedom in response.
Big Number
$180,587,629. That’s how much Sound of Freedom has grossed at the global box office so far, more than 12 times its $14 million budget. It’s the tenth-highest-grossing film in the United States and the nineteenth-highest-grossing film worldwide so far this year. Sound of Freedom surprised by outgrossing films thought to be surefire blockbusters: It’s made more money at the domestic box office than Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning Part One and Elemental, all of which struggled to profit on their huge nine-figure budgets.
What To Watch For
How much Sound of Freedom’s box office numbers will continue to rise. The film began opening in international markets in August and is set to premiere in Latin America on August 31 and the United Kingdom and Ireland on September 1.
Further Reading
‘Sound Of Freedom’ Outgrosses Big-Budget Films ‘Fast X,’ ‘Elemental’ At Domestic Box Office (Forbes)
Is Sound of Freedom About to Strike Streaming Gold? (Vulture)
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August 30, 2023 at 10:57PM
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No, ‘Sound Of Freedom’ Hasn’t Been ‘Banned’ From Netflix—And Other Growing False Conspiracies About The Controversial Film - Forbes
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