• Home
  • Reviews
  • Interviews
  • Lists
    • Yearly Top Tens
    • Trailers
    • Contact
    • Hire Me
    • About
Menu

World of Reel

Street Address
City, State, Zip
Phone Number
Home
IMG_5240.jpg
‘Kung Fury 2’: Batsh*t Crazy Footage Leaks Online as Movie Remains “Held Hostage”
IMG_5239.jpg
AMC to Slash Movie Ticket Prices by 50% on Wednesdays
IMG_5235.jpg
Austin Butler to Star in Matt Ross-Directed ‘City on Fire’
IMG_5228.jpg
Kevin Costner’s $100M Gamble on ‘Horizon’ Now Mired in Legal Dispute
IMG_5226.png
Madonna Biopic is Now A Netflix Limited Series
Featured
Capture.PNG
Aug 19, 2019
3-Hour ‘Midsommar' Director's Cut Screened in NYC
Aug 19, 2019

This year’s 12th edition of the Scary Movies festival at Film at Lincoln Center premiered Ari Aster’s extended version of “Midsommar” this past Saturday.

Aug 19, 2019

World of Reel

  • Home
  • Reviews
  • Interviews
  • Lists
  • More
    • Yearly Top Tens
    • Trailers
  • About
    • Contact
    • Hire Me
    • About

Alex Proyas Calls Mainstream “Conspiracy” to Tarnish ‘Sound of Freedom’

July 26, 2023 Jordan Ruimy

You can have quips about who the artists are behind box-office hit “Sound of Freedom”, and they might have said some dubious things during its outrageously entertaining marketing campaign, but its success hints at a bigger, more powerful, future for indie films.

I also won’t take the bait in going along with the mainstream tarnishing of this film, which has been associated with everything from the QAnon movement, Trump, and Nazis, because, quite frankly, there’s a much bigger picture here.

Here’s Alex Proyas, director of “Dark City,” “The Crow” and “I, Robot” trying to make sense of the “Sound of Freedom” box-office success, via his Patreon:

SOUND OF FREEDOM is a fascinating phenomenon at the US box office. I’ve heard so many mainstream media reviews refer to it as a “faith-based” movie - I’ve not yet seen it, and who knows when it’ll be released in Australia — but from all I know it seems there is little religiosity in this other than the man the story is based on is Christian and so are Jim Caveziel (who stars) and Mel Gibson (who helped produce I believe). Seems like the mainstream uses “faith-based” as a way to make “sensible” people stay away. Other than this is a story about good people doing good things, I'm puzzled to know why anyone would think this might be a reason to not see a film. 

The “conspiracy” angle the mainstream are trying to pin on this seems like so much nonsense however true to life — or not — this is. I mean have these reviewers ever seen a biopic? An absolutely 100% TRUE one? It is a dramatic medium after all, not a documentary. I think the only “conspiracy” here might be that the mainstream are annoyed this movie is doing so well, while bigger budget franchises are failing - the mainstream seem to be looking for ways to play down its success.

What also fascinates me is how this movie was made. Angel Studios are paving the way with the power of crowd investing — a New Model for changing times perhaps? And not too different to the model I'm currently building and will tell you more about on Patreon. It's good to see filmmakers succeed with something so similar - gives me hope. That, and the legacy-media struggling to keep up. Ha!

So, he’s basically implying, hell, convinced, that the hate this film has been getting from the “mainstream” is pure, unadultered jealousy that a conservative-based independent movie is doing so well at the box-office. Fair enough.

What I’m most fascinated by, when it comes to “Sound of Freedom,” is not its qualities as a film — it’s fine, minor, watchable — but rather by its success as a $15 million independent production. It’s already made $125 million domestically. I get it, I get it, some of those receipts come from the “Pay it Forward” program, but the movie, undeniably, is still a major success.

Proyas hasn’t been successful in greenlighting a film since his 2016 panned “Gods of Egypt.” What the success of “Sound of Freedom” means to him is a potential opportunity to make more movies. I am certain many other indie filmmakers are curiously watching this phenomenon as well.

This isn’t just good news for “faith-based” movies, it’s good news for any indie filmmaker looking for his or her movie to branch out. What Angel Studios is doing might the pave the way for the future of a struggling industry. Crowd investing!

Check your politics at the door and look at the bigger picture here. It’s become the most successful indie movie of the decade, nearly doubling the totals of EEAAO.

← Mattel Developing Whopping 14 Feature Films, including Lena Dunham’s ‘Polly Pocket’Kevin Spacey NOT Guilty →

FOLLOW US!


Trending

Featured
IMG_4571.jpg
David Fincher & Brad Pitt Reunite for ‘The Continuing Adventures of Cliff Booth' + Plot Details
IMG_4549.png
Warners Bros. Chief Admits Missteps on ‘Joker: Folie à Deux’: “We Misread the Room”
IMG_4541.jpg
Scorsese’s Next Film? Hawaiian Mob Epic With Dwayne Johnson Eyes 2026 Shoot
Capture.png
Jim Caviezel to be De-Aged in ‘The Resurrection of the Christ'
IMG_4465.png
Harmony Korine Says Hollywood Struggling Because “Movies Suck Today”

Critics Polls

Featured
Capture.PNG
Critics Poll: ‘Vertigo’ Named Best Film of the 1950s, Over 120 Participants
B16BAC21-5652-44F6-9E83-A1A5C5DF61D7.jpeg
Critics Poll: Kubrick’s ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ Tops Our 1960s Critics Poll
Capture.PNG
Critics Poll: ‘The Godfather’ Named Best Movie of the 1970s
public.jpeg
Critics Poll: ‘Do the Right Thing' Named Best Movie of the 1980s
Critics Poll: ‘Mulholland Drive' Named Best Film of the 2000s
g4.jpg
Critics' Poll: ‘Goodfellas' Named Best Movie of the 1990s
Critics Poll: ‘Mad Max: Fury Road' Named Best Movie of the 2010s
World of Reel tagline.PNG
 

Content

Contribute

Hire me

 

Support

Advertise

Donate

 

About

Team

Contact

Privacy Policy

Site designed by Jordan Ruimy © 2023