An Indie Ray of Light in a Dull Summer Box Office

It’s always good to see an independent movie gain traction with mainstream audiences. With a summer slate that hasn’t quite popped as loudly as people had hoped, there’s an unexpectedly fantastic indie performance quietly making its own mark on the Box Office slate. While it may not have the dazzling numbers the marquee and tentpole pictures can command, it’s still an important Box Office milestone that’s worth celebrating. Entertainment lawyer Brandon Blake, of Blake & Wang P.A, expands on why.

Brandon Blake

The Sound of Freedom

Let’s be honest- there’s little to celebrate in the idea of child trafficking. However, Sound of Freedom, from Angel Studios, has managed to unite a faith-based take on a controversial topic into something that is worth celebrating. To date, the film has netted domestic Box Office takings of $14.2M, with $11.5M of that coming from the 4th of July showings alone. Claims it ‘beat Indiana Jones’ may be overstating it just a little, but it’s still a solid performance.

The Return of the Indie

To date, the Box Office recovery we’ve seen has hinged on splashy, big-budget tentpoles. And that’s all well and good- they will always be the films that generate the biggest Box Office numbers. But we’ve looked before at how the overall recovery for medium and small-budget films, alongside those strictly in the ‘indie’ and ‘arthouse’ stables, has been lagging behind this wider mainstream recovery. From a reluctance of the demographics that traditionally support these films to return to cinemas, through to issues faced by smaller theaters in the wake of the pandemic disruptions, recovery in the ‘lower’ ranks of the Box Office has been considerably slower. Yet this is where the backbone, and the bread-and-butter, of the theatrical industry lies.

Sound of Freedom has some advantages that other independent fare does not. It’s marketed to faith-based audiences, who tend to be supportive and receptive, willing to turn out en masse if called to and support crowdfunding campaigns like the one that brought the film to life. And it managed to leverage some near-viral marketing out of a cute ticket campaign. But in seeing its unexpected rise through the mainstream charts to achieve any prominence at all, we finally see what we’ve been waiting for- great traction and high audience turnout for a small budget, independent drama. Let’s hope there’s many more to come.