“Sound of Freedom” beat out Taylor Swift’s “The Eras Tour” movie to finish in the top ten of 2023 box office tallies domestically.
The independent film from Angel Studios, which deals with the horrors of human trafficking, made it into the top ten grossing films of the year domestically after earning $184,177,725 by the end of the year, Christian Headlines reported.
It just edged out Swift’s concert film which landed in the 11th spot after it scored $179,635,196, per Box Office Mojo.
Sound of Freedom is America’s #1 movie, taking the top spot at the box office on Independence Day.
See it in theaters TODAY, get showtimes at https://t.co/tUytCofxfr #AngelStudios #2MillionFor2Million #SoundOfFreedomMovie pic.twitter.com/PZCRQJWATt
— Angel Studios (@AngelStudiosInc) July 6, 2023
“Sound of Freedom” is based on a true story of Tim Ballard — played by actor Jim Caviezel — a federal agent who quits his job and embarks on a dangerous mission to rescue a young girl from sex slavery in South America.
The movie comes from the same studio responsible for the popular faith-based television series “The Chosen.”
The film became the sleeper hit of the summer after it opened in select theaters across the country on July 4 and ended up earning $19 million at the box office opening weekend.
The movie beat out films with much larger budgets like the next installment in the Indiana Jones franchise, “Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny,” which earned $174 million for Disney — and Tom Cruise’s “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One,” which finished the year earning $172 million domestically, the outlet noted.
Its success also makes it the highest grossing independent film since 2019’s “Parasite.”
Producer Eduardo Verastegui previously told Fox and Friends he put his life on hold over the last eight years into making the film.
“I put my life in this movie because this movie is bigger than ourselves,” Verastegui said.
“I was praying to God for an angel to come and rescue this film,” he added. “And what are the odds that from all the studios, the one that picked this movie is called Angel Studios?”
Topping the list of domestic box office winners of 2023 was “Barbie” with $636 million, “The Super Mario Bros Movie” with $575 million and in third place the animated hit “Spider-Man: Across the Spiderverse,” which earned $381 million domestically.
Rounding out the top five highest grossing films domestically was the final conclusion in the “Guardians of the Galaxy” franchise, “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” which did $358 million and was the most successful superhero film of the year — and in fifth place was the hugely popular “Oppenheimer,” which made $326 million at the domestic box office.
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