The numbers are in for July's summer blockbuster movies, but how does the surprise hit Sound of Freedom compare with the newly released Barbie and Oppenheimer?
Moviegoers have been anticipating the release of Greta Gerwig's Barbie and Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer for months now, and both have performed spectacularly at the box office on their opening weekend. However, the beginning of July brought glowing headlines for Sound of Freedom which surprised industry forecasters with an outstanding result at the box office.
Sound of Freedom, released on July 4, 2023, has made the news recently for multiple viral videos and stories from viewers who say they were unable to watch the film at theaters for a number of reasons. AMC Theatres has faced backlash despite the CEO Adam Aron saying no one is "suppressing" people from seeing the film, while the producers of Sound of Freedom told Newsweek they're thankful for AMC's support.
On multiple days in July, Sound of Freedom shocked many by outperforming international blockbusters Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny and Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One at the box office.
Sound of Freedom wrestled back the number one spot from the latest Mission: Impossible movie on Thursday July 20, the day before Barbie and Oppenheimer were released, according to numbers from Box Office Mojo. This is especially impressive given it was Sound of Freedom's 17th day in movie theaters while the seventh Mission: Impossible movie had been in theaters for just nine days.
Even now, as Barbie and Oppenheimer have taken over the top two spots at the box office, Sound of Freedom's popularity has helped it take third place ahead of Tom Cruise and Harrison Ford's respective movies for the weekend of July 21-23.
Sound of Freedom has made a total gross of $124,433,512 to date, and earned $19,825,575 over the July 21-23 weekend. It has only received a domestic release, so all of that money has come from North America alone.
Barbie and Oppenheimer, which both released worldwide on July 21, have already outperformed Sound of Freedom.
Oppenheimer has taken in a domestic opening weekend gross of $82,455,420, but a worldwide intake of $180,413,420. Barbie has earned even more with $162,022,044 domestically, and a worldwide figure of $356,322,044. Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One earned $19,354,511 for the July 21-23 weekend, as it slipped down to fourth place, giving it a worldwide gross of $370,707,980 to date. The fifth Indiana Jones grossed $6,678,501, for a cumulative $335,910,994 after three weeks of release. All figures are according to Box Office Mojo as of July 25.
While it appears as if Barbie and Oppenheimer have already smashed Sound of Freedom's box office achievements in their opening weekend alone, the starting points for each should be taken into consideration.
Sound of Freedom had a budget of $14.5 million, according to The Wall Street Journal. With its current Box Office figures, Sound of Freedom has already made more than ten times its budget back.
To achieve the same measurement of success, Oppenheimer, with a $100 million budget, would have to take in over $1 billion at the box office, while Barbie with a reported budget between $128-$145 million, would have to earn over $1.28-$1.45 billion.
Both targets are attainable for the movies, but it would be the highest grossing movie in the careers of both Nolan and Gerwig.
While Sound of Freedom's numbers have dipped, the movie's release has still been considered a success for its domestic box office alone.
The movie is based on the real life of former Homeland Security special agent Tim Ballard (played by Jim Caviezel). The plotline follows Ballard as he sets up Operation Underground Railroad (O.U.R.), an anti-child-trafficking organization.
Former President Donald Trump recently voiced his approval for the film after he hosted a screening at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey. He called the movie "unbelievable," adding, "It's something that I'm not sure if you're supposed to enjoy or learn, it's a combination, but that was a great movie. Now I understand why it's doing so well.
"It's setting records by the way, it's eating the biggest movies out there, they have some of the big summer blockbusters and this is knocking the socks off of them. So that's pretty good."
Update: This article was updated on 07/25/2023 at 06:30 a.m. ET to include information about Sound of Freedom's comparison to Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One at the box office, and updated weekend totals for Barbie and Oppenheimer.
