A woman who went to watch the new hit film Sound of Freedom has claimed that the theater she visited “turned the movie off” just minutes in, citing technical difficulties.
The movie, produced by and based on the life of anti-child trafficking campaigner Tim Ballard, opened to positive numbers, beating Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny at the box office when it was released on the Fourth of July.
Sound of Freedom follows former Homeland Security special agent Ballard (played by Jim Caviezel) as he sets up Operation Underground Railroad (O.U.R.), an anti-child trafficking organization. The film made $14,242,063 on its first day in theaters, while the new Indiana Jones movie made $11,698,989 domestically.
However, multiple videos have gone viral across social media, suggesting viewers are being forced out of seeing Sound of Freedom at AMC Theatres and Regal Cinemas venues via different means. One TikTok user claimed her theater was evacuated without explanation while another said the air conditioning was broken in their screening making it “unbearably hot.”
Another film viewer, who did not specify which movie theater she visited, has now weighed in with their own experience while attempting to watch Sound of Freedom.
In a TikTok video that has been viewed more than 1 million times, a woman called Stephanie Smith said on Tuesday that she had “just experienced a conspiracy theory in person for the first time ever” when she attempted to watch the film.
Smith, who appears to be based in Madison, Wisconsin, claimed that “studios and everything are trying to hush-hush this movie and make it seem like not so many people are going to see it. And they’re not promoting it at all. And they’re basically trying to make it seem like it seem like no one is going to see it.”
The TikTok user said that after she heard of all the “weird things” happening at theaters across the U.S., she was “super curious so I came to see it and the lights didn’t turn off for the first 10 minutes, and also there was like a voiceover, like a narrator, for blind people. And so I could tell around me, like tons of people kept getting up to go complain.”
Smith continued that “after about 15 minutes, someone came in and they turned the movie off and someone came in and was like, ‘We can’t fix it, so you all have to leave. We’re gonna give you free passes.’ And people were like, ‘Why this movie? I’ve never had this happen before.’ And they were like, ‘We can’t turn the speaker off because we have to go in a back room and climb a ladder to turn the speaker off. And so basically, we’re gonna have to fix it.'”
The social media user, who didn’t specify which theater she visited, added that the theater staffers had “no explanation,” after some customers countered, “Well, it’s been playing for quite a while. Why is this just happening now?”
“People were kind of rumbling, like, ‘Oh, I heard there’s some shady stuff going on around this movie and now we’re seeing it in person,’ Smith said, before suggesting that “Hollywood” was suppressing the film.
“Why doesn’t Hollywood want people to see this Jim Caviezel human trafficking movie?” Smith asked. “Why doesn’t Hollywood want there to be awareness around human trafficking and pedophilia? I’m flabbergasted. I mean, why wouldn’t they want to? So, I don’t know.”
“Sound of Freedom” fury as multiple people claim AC not working during film
Smith urged viewers of the video to watch the movie “before they, you know, make it disappear forever or something,” before conceding that she had experienced issues while previously watching another film.
“I’ve never experienced anything like this in a movie except for one time I went to see Interstellar and like the film was messed up and… the edge of the movie had a weird line on the side that they couldn’t remove,” she recounted.
“They came in and they were like, ‘We’ll give you all discounts, but you can still watch the movie.’ And so we just watched the movie, but it was like the picture was kind of messed up. So yeah, I’ve never gotten kicked out of a movie 15 minutes in, especially not a movie with this, you know, far reaching implications.”
In a video update shared on Wednesday, Smith said that she eventually got to see the film at a branch of Flix Brewhouse in Madison, Wisconsin.
Adam Aron, CEO of AMC Theatres, recently slammed rumors that his chain was “suppressing” the release of Sound of Freedom.
“Really bizarre FUD [fear, uncertainty and doubt] floating around Twitter that we are suppressing attendance for Sound of Freedom,” Aron tweeted on Saturday. “Yesterday we showed that movie 3,000 times at our 570 U.S. theatres and more than 100,000 people watched it @AMCTheatres. Misinformation on Twitter is astonishing. Bots? Haters?”
Aron tweeted again on Sunday to clarify some more stats about how Sound of Freedom performed over the weekend.
“Let’s put this ridiculous conspiracy theory to bed. Fri/Sat more than 250,000 people watched Sound of Freedom at AMC in the U.S.,” he tweeted. He went on to quote the head of distribution at Angel Studios, who apparently said that “no other theater chain in the world has shown more support for Sound of Freedom and Angel Studios than AMC.”
Aron reiterated his point on Wednesday, tweeting: “Sadly, conspiracy theorists are so prevalent in America. So much garbage information is spread. More than ONE MILLION people have watched Sound of Freedom at AMC Theatres. More than at any other theatre chain on the planet. Yet people falsely claim otherwise. It is so bizarre.”
The team behind Sound of Freedom has also rejected claims that the movie theater chain is “suppressing” people from seeing the film.
Responding to Newsweek‘s request for comment, a spokesperson for Angel Studios, the production company behind the film, absolved AMC Theatres of blame for any alleged problems.
“Our theatrical partners at AMC, CineMark, Regal, and beyond have been absolutely wonderful to work with—they’re helping us add theaters as we speak in the middle the busy summer movie season,” Matthew Faraci of Angel Studios told Newsweek.
Newsweek has contacted representatives of AMC Theaters and Regal Cinemas for comment via email.
This content was originally published here.
