Fact Check: Did Disney Own 'Sound of Freedom' Rights?

The box office surprise of the summer is a movie about child sex trafficking called Sound of Freedom whose release has been years in the making after filming wrapped in 2018.

The film tells the real-life story of the founder of the anti-sex trafficking charity Operation Underground Railroad, Tim Ballard, played by Passion of the Christ star, Jim Caviezel.

Directed and co-written by Alejandro Monteverde, Sound of Freedom shocked everyone when it beat Harrison Ford's last appearance in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.

The Sound of Freedom made almost its entire budget back at the domestic box office on its first day (July 4), taking $14,242,063 and beating the fifth Indiana Jones movie which made $11,698,989.

Then on its first weekend since premiering (July 7—9) Sound of Freedom made $19,680,879 at the box office. Indiana Jones earned $27,421,0760 on the same weekend.

A viral tweet has alleged that the controversial film was originally set to be released by Disney but that the Mickey Mouse company never did.

The Claim

A tweet by a woman named Joy Reborn on Twitter, whose bio says she is a conservative and mom, has been viewed 193,000 times at the time of writing.

In the tweet, she claimed Disney owned the rights to the film after buying 20th Century Fox film studios in 2019, but did not release it.

"🔥 Sound of Freedom was originally produced in 2018. DISNEY bought & SHELVED #SoundOfFreedom refusing to release it. 🧐Why wouldn't Disney want us to see human trafficked children saved? It took@AngelStudiosInc &@ElonMusk to get this movie to the public. GOD'S CHILDREN ARE NOT FOR SALE 🔥 BUY YOUR TICKETS NOW #GibsonChallenge TY Elon & Angel Studios.🙏🏻," the tweet read, alongside a poster for the film and screenshots of the film's Wikipedia page.

The Wikipedia page claimed Angel Studios successfully crowdfunded to market the film and get the rights to distribute it after Twitter owner Elon Musk suggested the company use the social media platform to promote its campaign.

The Facts

The Walt Disney Company announced its acquisition of 21st Century Fox in 2017 and that was completed in 2019. The acquisition meant Disney would automatically acquire the licensing to 20th Century Fox's film and television studios, cable entertainment networks and international TV businesses, and Hulu.

Both Sound of Freedom's director and the CEO of Angel Studios, Neal Harmon, claimed in media interviews that Disney shelved the movie after it bought 20th Century Fox.

"Initially made with [21st Century] Fox. After it was completed, Fox was acquired by Disney, who said, 'We can't release this film,'" Harmon told the Washington Examiner in May. "Eduardo [Verastegui, the film's producer] 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."

Director Monteverde claimed the delay in the film's release was a blessing in disguise.

"To me this is perfect timing. I do believe if this movie would come out earlier I don't think the audience was ready. Right now, there is unfortunately, there's advertisement for this film, but on the wrong side. Every day there is these atrocities happening on the news everywhere. Children trafficked. Sexually abused children all over the place," he told website Bounding Into Comics in June.

The Ruling

True.

Newsweek reached out to The Walt Disney Company by email to firstly confirm if it had acquired the rights to the film in 2019, and if it did in fact decide not to release the movie, what the reason was for shelving Sound of Freedom.

Movie studios often hold back the release of films for a number of reasons, including a perception a movie will not make enough profit, dissatisfaction with the final result, corporate restructuring, an executive decision by the top brass at a studio, licensing issues or timing issues, according to website TV Tropes.

A Disney spokesperson told Newsweek an international deal for the film's distribution had already been done prior to its acquisition of 21st Century Fox. The spokesperson said, "[Disney] studios had no knowledge of the film given the nature of the international acquisition pre-merger."

Harmon and Monteverde's accounts of wrestling the rights to the movie back off Disney are true, and Angel Studios crowdfunded for Sound of Freedom's distribution.

FACT CHECK BY NEWSWEEK by Newsweek's Fact Check team.

UPDATE: 7/12/2023, 5:24 A.M. This story was updated to include comment from Disney and to change the ruling.

CORRECTION: 7/21/2023, 6:15 A.M. This story was updated to correct box office takings for Sound of Freedom and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.