‘Sound Of Freedom’ Distributor Angel Studios Pays Crowdfunders Back; Pic’s Domestic B.O. Bests ‘Indiana Jones & The Dial Of Destiny’

Angel Studios, the distributor behind Alejandro Monteverde’s summer surprise hit, Sound of Freedom, is exclaiming that they’ve paid back their 6,678 P&A investors 120% of their original investment in the Jim Caviezel movie.

Angel Studios raised $5M for the pic’s marketing through crowdfunding, the anti-child trafficking movie recently clicking past $174M in the middle of its sixth week through yesterday — more than Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny ($172.9M) and Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning – Part One‘s ($160.8M) domestic box office (the pic beat Indy this past weekend).

Sound of Freedom tells the story of former government agent Tim Ballard who quit his day job to recuse a little girl from sex traffickers in the Colombian jungle. Ballard has reportedly saved 123 people, 55 of which are children, from one mission alone.

“6,678 Angel Guild members have now received $1.20 for every $1 they invested into the launch budget for Sound of Freedom, and we are thrilled to be able to get funds back to them in three months,” said Neal Harmon, CEO of Angel Studios. “The Angel Guild is key to our theatrical strategy and paying out as quickly as possible is always our first priority.”

It’s been no secret that the movie’s popularity and ticket sales have been fueled by right wing think groups and a QAnon fever has catapulted the film’s box office in the heartland and in California. However, in recent interviews, Monteverde has spoken up and distanced himself from the pic’s right-wing embrace, recently telling the Los Angeles Times, “It’s heartbreaking, and it hurts me. The minute they started labeling it with conspiracy theories, it discredits the purity of the work. A lot of times, I’m like, ‘Wow, all this headache would have gone away if it was just based on fiction. None of this would have happened.’ … If you’re telling me that there is all these conspiracy theories in the film, terminologies, that I’ll see symbols of pizza and the names Q or Z, or whatever — no. There’s none of that.” In particular, the filmmaker said there were never any political themes imbedded in Sound of Freedom during its development or production given how the picture was made in 2015 before Donald Trump’s presidency; which stoked the QAnon movement.

Sound of Freedom hits theaters overseas in 21 territories before Sept. 1. Here’s the overseas release schedule: