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UPDATE, 2:20PM: Disney/Lucasfilm’s Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny officially wins Tuesday with $11.698M over Sound of Freedom‘s reported $11.5M. Monday revised on Dial of Destiny was $11.7M, which means business was even on July 4th; and that’s solid for any tentpole on that holiday. 5-day on Dial of Destiny is $83.7M.
PREVIOUS: Angels Studios’ Jim Caviezel thriller Sound of Freedom, came on strong Tuesday and gave Disney/Lucasfilm’s Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny a run for its money at the domestic box office. However, until actuals are reported, it remains to be seen who won on July 4th, with both distributors reporting $11.5 million.
Rival distributors off their own calculations see Sound of Freedom as a clear No. 2 in its opening yesterday with $11M at 2,634 theaters, with Indy winning the day.
Nonetheless, all industry eyes are watching the anomaly of this non-major-studio independent title that has faith-based elements. Some pre-release projections had Sound of Freedom doing $11M-$15M over six days, not one. We also heard a six-day total of $20M. The movie nabbed an A+ CinemaScore yesterday, which is standard for a faith-based-fueled title.
Angel Studios is a using a crowdfunding platform to spur its ticket sales. Known as Pay It Forward, the patent-pending technology from the distributor is billed as empowering moviegoers to purchase tickets for other people. It was first launched in March with the release of His Only Son, about the prophet Abraham; the movie opened to $5.5M and finaled stateside at $12M.
Angels Studios reports this morning that an additional $2.6M has been raised by crowdfunding, bringing the gross for Sound of Freedom to $14M. We were told Monday that crowdfunded presales reached $10M for the movie, which is based on the true story of homeland security officer Tim Ballard, who took rescuing abducted children around the globe into his own hands.
What’s going on here? I hear from theater owners that some of them were allowed to screen the movie as early as Monday. Also, there’s a big right-wing fueling of grosses here, many tell me.
Passion of the Christ star Caviezel was a guest on Steve Bannon’s War Room show, where the host was urging viewers to turn out for the opening. I’m hearing whispers that many right-wing groups snapped up tickets and are giving them out for free.
Appropriate comps for Sound of Freedom are faith-based titles based on true stories or are part of a thriller genre, but it’s even blowing those titles away: examples like 2011’s Soul Surfer, which had a first Friday of $3.6M, 3-day opening of $10.6M, and final of $43.8M; and 2008’s Fireproof, which opened to $6.8M over three days and grossed over $33M stateside.
Meanwhile, Dial of Destiny‘s better-than-expected July 4th — a day not always known for moviegoing — was only off 3% from Monday’s $11.8M, putting its five-day haul at $83.6M. If the movie follows the second-weekend path of other older-guy-skewing titles like No Time to Die and posts a 57%-60% decline, it’s looking at around $24M-$25M this coming weekend. Indy‘s advantage is that he’ll keep all the PLFs and Imax in weekend 2.
Some believe it will be a close call this coming weekend between Indy and Sony/Screen Gems/Stage 6 Films/Blumhouse’s Insidious: The Red Door, directed by the franchise’s star Patrick Wilson and also starring series actress Rose Byrne. While Sony is only spotting $18M-$20M at 3,150 theaters on the movie that cost a thrifty $16M, others see it higher with tracking at $23M. Under 25 women are tracking the best for the fifthquel. No review score recorded yet by Rotten Tomatoes. Previews start Thursday at 4 p.m. at 2,700 theaters.
The highest opening for an Insidious movie belongs to the 2013 sequel Insidious Chapter 2, which saw $40.2M. That’s also the highest-grossing installment in the horror series in the U.S./Canada at $83.5M. The previous installment, Insidious: The Last Key, did well off its $10M production cost with a $29.5M opening, $67.7M domestic take and overall global gross of $167.8M, making in the highest-grossing chapter for the horror franchise. Through four movies, the Insidious films have minted $542.7M worldwide.
Lionsgate has the R-rated raunchy Asian-American female comedy, Joy Ride, which is looking at $7M-$9M at 2,800 locations over four days. The movie directed and co-written by Crazy Rich Asians scribe Adele Lim made its world premiere at SXSW and currently counts a 91% fresh Rotten Tomatoes critics score from 53 reviews at the time of this post. Previews begin today at 6 p.m. The comedy is a co-production between Seth Rogen’s Point Grey and Red Mysterious Hippo.
The last Asian American comedy, Easter Sunday from stand-up Jo Koy, opened to $5.4M in August 2022 and finaled at $13M.