If there is ever a trophy for bad choices, Disney will win it fair and square courtesy of its globally detested decisions, especially its refusal to release films that are then whisked away by its competitors and end up ruling the box office — a feat Mouse House’s recent creations have been struggling to achieve.
While Netflix is busy enjoying the roaring success of Nimona, which was dumped by Walt Disney Studios post its acquisition of 21st Century Fox, Sound of Freedom, which the production company outright refused to release, has already earned $10 million in presales before it finally releases on July 4. As reported by Deadline, the film is predicted to earn up to $20 million in its first week, which would be a big milestone for a project not backed by a big studio.
But maybe, just maybe, in this case, Disney actually had a valid and rather logical reason for backing out of the project.
Directed by Alejandro Monteverde and starring Jim Caviezel along with Mira Sorvino, Eduardo Verastegui (also the producer) and Bill Camp, Sound of Freedom had been sitting idle on a shelf gathering dust for five years, thanks to Disney. Its production wrapped up back in 2018 and it was supposed to be distributed by 21st Century Fox. But then the studio was acquired by Disney, which promptly shelved the completed film.
As revealed by Neal Harmon, CEO and co-founder of the film’s new distributor, Angel Studios, in a chat with the Washington Examiner, Disney not only refused to release Sound of Freedom, but also sat on it for a year while its producer tried to pry its rights from the studio.
“Initially made with [21st Century] Fox. After it was completed, Fox was acquired by Disney, who said, ‘We can’t release this film.’ Eduardo spent over a year before [Disney] released the rights to the film. At that time, he tried to take it to theaters, but just as they were, COVID hit, and another three years passed.”
But did Disney really make a mistake in dropping Sound of Freedom?
While the Mouse House does make questionable choices, its decision to shelve Sound of Freedom was most probably prompted by controversies around the authenticity of its source as well as the film’s star, Jim Caviezel, concerning ways of choosing to promote the film on his press tour.
Sound of Freedom is set to tell the real-life story of former Special Agent Tim Ballard, who quit his job with Homeland Security and didn’t hesitate to risk his life to rescue children from human traffickers. But many investigative reports have put a glaring question mark on the claims made by Ballard and the credibility of his anti-trafficking organization Operation Underground Railroad, which has been accused of faking evidence and fabricating statistics of rescues.
Then there is the matter of Caviezel himself. On his press tour, the actor best-known for starring in Mel Gibson’s The Passion of The Christ has been promoting the film, Ballard’s organization, and the lurid conspiracy theory that there are a group of “elites” out there trafficking and then killing children to obtain the chemical compound Adrenochrome from them. Caviezel’s interviews with noted alt-right figures including Steve Bannon and Scott McKay hoist a number of concerning, QAnon-inflected red flags.
If Sound of Freedom indeed ends up being the financial success it is expected and predicted to be, it might be the second victory Disney voluntarily lost while trying to avoid a potential PR nightmare.