“Sound of Freedom” will continue to disrupt the film distribution industry. With $216 million in domestic box office earnings since its early-July release, the film will arrive on home video beginning Oct. 13.
However, the film will be exclusive to the Angel Guild via Angel Studios apps. Its digital sell-through (EST) availability won’t begin until Nov. 3, with DVDs and Blu-Rays dropping on Nov.14. Finally, on Dec. 15, five months after its Independence Day week debut, it’ll be available for digital rental.
“The Angel Guild selected and made ‘Sound of Freedom’ so successful theatrically. They decide what projects are green-lit and are presented to audiences,” said Angel Studios Chief Distribution Officer Jared Geesey. “We are honored to give them exclusive early access to this film prior to its wider release through the world’s leading digital platforms and retailers.”
This kind of exclusivity is somewhat unusual for a highly successful theatrical release. Moreover, the order is a little skewed. A theatrical title arrives on PVOD (priced-to-rent for $20) and then EST (priced-to-buy for $20-$30) and then concurrently on physical media along with digital rental for around $5. Only then might the title debut for an exclusive streaming window on the likes of Netflix, Disney+ or Max.
Alejandro Monteverde’s “Sound of Freedom” was the biggest non-“Barbenheimer” story of the 2023 summer movie season. It domestically out-grossed, the likes of “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” and “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part I.” That was partially due to a unique pay-it-forward system where fans and moviegoers went online and bought tickets for other interested parties.
The feature, starring Jim Caviezel as a federal agent who goes vigilante to travel overseas and rescue a boy from human traffickers, was a rare example of a unique distribution outlet fiddling with the rules and actually winning.
Beyond the pay-it-forward scheme, it was another example of a demographically specific event film that played mostly to a comparatively niche fanbase. As we learned with the later “Harry Potter” and “Twilight” sequels, if your fanbase is big enough, you can be a blockbuster by just playing to the fans. Monteverde’s next picture, “Cabrini” will open theatrically — courtesy of Angel Studios — on March 8, 2024, which will be National Women’s Day. Angel Studios next has “After Death” for Oct. 27 and “The Shift” on Dec. 1.
