The studio that brought us Sound of Freedom looks like it is going to have its third straight hit in a row.
Angel Studios distributed Sound of Freedom, which has become the 10th-highest grossing film of 2023, and is set to release The Shift on December 1. Its follow-up film to Sound of Freedom, a documentary about near-death experiences called After Death,had the second-biggest opening on its first weekend.
The Shift is a modern-day retelling of the book of Job and follows Kevin Garner (Kristoffer Polaha), who gets separated from the love of his life when a mysterious adversary known as The Benefactor sends him to an alternate dystopian reality.
The book of Job looks at the "eternal problem of unmerited suffering, and it is named after its central character, Job, who attempts to understand the sufferings that engulf him," according to Britannica.
The sci-fi, dystopian love story thriller also stars Neal McDonough (Yellowstone) and Sean Astin (The Lord of the Rings trilogy).
It has already made 70 percent of its presale target and received rave reviews from Angel Studios' The Guild members.
The Guild allows members to see movies for discounted rates, have early access, discounted merchandise and also watch livestreams with the filmmakers.
One distinct feature of The Guild is that its members vote for the projects that Angel Studios takes on. According to co-founder Jeffrey Harmon, most films and TV series don't get the green light from members.
"99 percent of the projects that go through The Guild do not pass because they're not like it's a high threshold," Harmon said on the Timcast IRL podcast.
"We've had major filmmakers come in and go into The Guild they fail and get really mad."
Harmon also revealed that The Shift's writer and director, Brock Heasley, had to rework the film multiple times before getting The Guild's approval, but once it got it, Angel Studios was ready to get it into cinemas.
"It was 60 days ago or so, and The Guild passed it to get into theaters and so we went ahead and said 'right, we're going forward with December 1'," Harmon explained.
Sound of Freedom, about former Homeland Security officer Tim Ballard's efforts to end child trafficking, was a surprise hit, and the independent movie even outperformed a number of established franchises including Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny and Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One.
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