Sound of Freedom Tops All Box Office on July 4th

Hollywood should take note — they won’t, but they should. A grass roots effort to spread the word for Sound of Freedom, which got no help from any of the mainstream media outlets, though it did land more than a few decent reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, has topped all box office on July 4th. That’s impressive and shocking.

What’s even more impressive is that it was in half the theaters as Dial of Destiny:

You can write it off as a “right wing” or “faith based” film but people are turning out regardless and mainly because of word of mouth outside of the mainstream.

Carla Hay remains one of my favorite critics around and I like what she had to say about the movie. And Owen Gleiberman’s review is mostly fair.  I actually want to see it now.

I still think, overall, no one in the mainstream is really getting it, or able to read the moment accurately. Or if they do they remain afraid to talk about it. We’ve never lived through anything like this, where the people who make the movies, the people who review the movies, and the people who analyze the industry are closed off in an insular bubble — or a bunker of sorts. They aren’t just afraid of the people outside of it, they actively disdain them. I don’t know how you can make movies for a country full of people you despise.

Maybe you just stop making movies for them and instead, make movies for people in other countries. Either way, I have long believed the only way out of this is for an industry to grow outside of the bubble that Hollywood has become. It is, in its own way, a few founding. And though the movies will be rough for a while, and the comedy won’t be quite as funny, over time, it will eventually lead to a Renaissance.

And perhaps then, whatever oppressive forces are wrecking Hollywood might shake loose…

That said, there are some movies to look forward to this year. All is not lost. Yet.