TheQuartering [8/28/2023]
The new film Sound of Freedom has been a hit with audiences. Unfortunately, it’s taken years to get to this point, with Disney having shelved the movie following their acquisition of Fox. They were the original distributors of the film, and since Disney chose not to release it, Angel Studios ultimately had to release it themselves. Now it looks like other potential distributors – namely Netflix and Amazon – similarly refused to release Sound of Freedom.
Producer and actor Eduardo Verástegui explained as much via Breitbart. He began by summing up the situation with Disney and how they managed to get the rights back to the film. Unfortunately, it was still quite the journey to the big screen.
Here’s what he shared about looking for a new distributor and how the likes of Netflix and Amazon turned the film down:
“I took the movie out of Disney and then I started knocking doors with Netflix, Amazon, and other studios. And they all rejected it. Some of them didn’t even answer my phone calls. I said, ‘I have a very important project. This is for you. We want the whole world to see it and you have the platform. You have the right platform for this movement, please help us. It’s not about the movie anymore. It’s not about me. It’s about the children.’”
He further adds that there was a time where he nearly put the film online for free:
“We sent hundreds of hundreds of messages from different people. Nothing. So you have two options. Either you give up, call your investors, ‘I did what I could. Let’s put this movie on YouTube for free.’ But then I thought they may cancel it. So should I put it on my Facebook? They may cancel it too. So I was really frustrated.”
Fortunately, Angel Studios came around and picked up the film. This paved the way for its eventual theatrical release. Now Sound of Freedom has been making a smash at the box office, and moviegoers seem quite pleased to finally be seeing the film.