'Sound of Freedom' Theater Glitch Leaves Viewers Furious: 'Intentional'

A Sound of Freedom viewer has shared video footage of a movie theater glitch that occurred during the film's screening, amid complaints from several cinema patrons across the U.S.

Sound of Freedom, based on the life of anti-child-trafficking campaigner Tim Ballard, opened to positive audience figures. The film beat Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny at the box office when it was released on the Fourth of July.

The film 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 said her theater was evacuated without explanation, while another said the air conditioning was broken in their screening making it "unbearably hot."

Newsweek has contacted representatives of AMC Theaters and Regal Cinemas for comment via email.

Over the weekend, TikTok user @leannestone2 shared footage of a lighting glitch at an unnamed movie theater as the film was screened.

In the clip, which has been viewed 6.9 million times, a theater staffer is shown offering patrons "free passes to come back and see [the movie] again, hopefully without interruption." The staffer went on to "apologize for the inconvenience. But we're getting it hopefully looked at later in the week. Sorry guys."

After the staffer walked out of the theater, the person recording the footage said: "Really?"

"This is called intentional," said another person who was also off-camera. "They don't want it to go to the box office gross. Don't take the money."

As the camera panned up toward the ceiling, it showed that the lights appeared to continuously dim and return as the movie played out on the big screen.

"The light dimmer 'was broken' and this 'has never happened before,'" read an accompanying caption. "And it's just a coincidence what movie this happened during #soundoffreedom."

The footage comes days after Florida-based social-media influencer Sarah Homrich shared her own claims of a movie theater mishap. Homrich posted a 10-second video clip on TikTok that showed two lights shining brightly as a film scene played out.

A caption posted on the video read, "They turned all the lights on during Sound of Freedom." The movie theater in question was not named.

In a caption explaining the aftermath of the situation, Homrich wrote that "they finally turned it off after they realized no one was leaving without a complaint. so bizarre #soundoffreedom GO WATCH!"

Another TikTok user wrote in a viral video that, when she went to see the movie in Madison, Wisconsin, "the lights didn't turn off for the first 10 minutes, and also there was like a voiceover, like a narrator, for blind people."

She added 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.'"

The TikTok user went to suggest that "Hollywood" was suppressing the film.

Adam Aron, CEO of AMC Theatres, shut down 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 July 8. "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 the following day to clarify some more stats about how Sound of Freedom performed over its first 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.," Aron tweeted. He went on to quote the head of distribution at Angel Studios, the production company behind the film, 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 last week, 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 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.