The “QAnon adjacent” film Sound of Freedom will be shown in several Australian cinemas in August, with the Mel Gibson co-owned chain Dendy among those saying it would screen the movie, citing “overwhelming demand”.
Sound of Freedom is based on the true story of Tim Ballard, a former homeland security department agent who tried to rescue children from sex traffickers in Colombia. Ballard is played by Jim Caviezel, who played Jesus Christ in Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ.
The film does not directly reference QAnon, a baseless conspiracy theory that asserts Democrats are a cabal of Satan worshippers who traffic children for sex. However, Caviezel has pushed claims of the conspiracy theory in the past, and when promoting the film on Steve Bannon’s podcast, dropped the QAnon line “there is a big storm coming”.
The $15m film has passed $100m in sales in the United States, but questions have been raised over how many people are actually seeing it. A social media campaign from QAnon followers that encouraged watchers to buy up seats for “someone who would otherwise not be able to see the film” has reportedly resulted in cinemas selling out sessions but with many vacant seats during the sessions.
Sound of Freedom will be released in Australia and New Zealand on 24 August, and Dendy – the cinema chain co-owned by Gibson – posted on social media on Thursday that “due to overwhelming demand” it would screen the film.
Due to overwhelming demand, we can now confirm SOUND OF FREEDOM will be released at Dendy Cinemas on August 24.#SoundOfFreedom pic.twitter.com/IHgqqBt4ik
— Dendy Cinemas (@DendyCinemas) July 27, 2023
Dendy did not say which cinemas would run the film, but the company has five cinemas across New South Wales, Queensland and the ACT.
The film is also listed as coming soon on the websites of Hoyts, Orpheum and Event cinemas. Guardian Australia sought comment from those cinemas, as well as Dendy.
Event Cinemas said: “As part of our wide variety of programming, Event Cinemas is working with the local distributor of Sound of Freedom to screen locally from 24 August.”
The biggest support for the film from the rightwing comes from former US president Donald Trump, who last week hosted a screening at Trump National golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey. The event was attended by Ballard, Caviezel, Bannon and Kari Lake, a former candidate for governor of Arizona who promoted the “big lie” of the stolen election.
In an email after the event, Trump said the film “has been a national sensation and a colossal success at the box office, really big numbers, everyone should see it”.
“This is a very important film and very important movie and it’s a very important documentary all wrapped up in one. It’s really about an issue that has to be discussed.”
The production company, Angel Studios, clarified in a recent blog post that the film “took creative liberties in depicting the different methods of child trafficking”. It said other aspects of the film, such as Ballard killing someone and going solo into the jungle, were fiction.
