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[TwoMisfits]

12 hours ago, Ryan Reynolds said:

next Pay It Forward Event

https://www.angel.com/pay-it-forward/after-death

 

This one is a documentary, so I doubt it will have the reach of Sound of Freedom.  A crime thriller is one thing...a talkie documentary is quite another...the word that comes to mind for me and these kinda documentaries is "boring"...

 

That said, it does have Pay It Forward and a BOGO Atom deal (but no free Atom deal - free tickets seem like they will be much fewer and farther between for this one)...

[Bob Train]

Passion of the Christ 2 >$600m DOM?

[ThomasNicole]

Finally i was obligated to watch a trailer for this because it screened in my Haunting in Venice session. It’s opening here in Brazil this weekend and the marketing is absurd saying it’s the movie the industry is boycotting and Christians have to support it lol.
 

Anyway, find this gross from the trailer alone … the depiction of white saviors saving Latin children, this weird idea that these type of crimes happens only beyond US / Europe, the cringe dialogues about “God’s children” that positioned these white Christians as the chosen ones that needs to save the kids exposed to the bad world … honestly, a discourse that resembles a lot what i hear people saying about saving kids from LGBTQIA+ people. 
 

The movie itself doesn’t seem to have a clear discourse in any way beyond it’s plot, but i know semiotics good enough to see the problems with how the movie is presenting itself. 

[interiorgatordecorator]

I liked it

a pretty basic but well-made thriller

 

curious that Mel was listed as an executive producer

was that a post-release addition or was this the start of the marketing for Passion of the Christ 2? 

[Torontofan]

I didn't see any politics on this film apart from

 

"No one harms the children of God"

 

It didn't show anything really unrealistic...there is tons of open  sexual violence against kids in developing countries.

 

Like spend a bit of money and can have kids sigh

Edited October 8, 2023 by Torontofan

[Arlborn]

45 minutes ago, Torontofan said:

I didn't see any politics on this film apart from

 

"No one harms the children of God"

 

It didn't show anything really unrealistic...there is tons of open  sexual violence against kids in developing countries.

 

Like spend a bit of money and can have kids sigh

I doubt there is tons of “open” sexual violence against kids in most places around the world, it’s not open at all in most places, but  sadly it does indeed happen everywhere, just look up the British celebrity Jimmy Savile and especially the obvious indication that he was not the only one at all, or you know, the Epstein case.

 

So yes, the movie does have a bad case of the white savior trope, but honestly, so do a lot of other Hollywood movies, that’s not at all the problem with this movie, it’s just a generic white savior movie. 
 

The main problem with this movie is the toxic narrative the people marketing it (including its star, sadly) pushed.

 

 

Edited October 8, 2023 by Arlborn

[Torontofan]

3 hours ago, Arlborn said:

I doubt there is tons of “open” sexual violence against kids in most places around the world, it’s not open at all in most places, but  sadly it does indeed happen everywhere, just look up the British celebrity Jimmy Savile and especially the obvious indication that he was not the only one at all, or you know, the Epstein case.

 

So yes, the movie does have a bad case of the white savior trope, but honestly, so do a lot of other Hollywood movies, that’s not at all the problem with this movie, it’s just a generic white savior movie. 
 

The main problem with this movie is the toxic narrative the people marketing it (including its star, sadly) pushed.

 

 

Issue in the film the "white saviour" worked with local police forces and locals to save the kids in the country.

 

 

It's not really a bad case of white savior film. It just the plot that the main guy looking to save the kids was white.

 

This film could have worked with an Hispanic or black lead so don't buy into the white savior logic

Edited October 8, 2023 by Torontofan

[harry713]

8 hours ago, Torontofan said:

Issue in the film the "white saviour" worked with local police forces and locals to save the kids in the country.

 

 

It's not really a bad case of white savior film. It just the plot that the main guy looking to save the kids was white.

 

This film could have worked with an Hispanic or black lead so don't buy into the white savior logic

But the film is based on the actions of a living, breathing white savior; someone now being investigated for … *checks notes* … sexual misconduct.

 

[Mojoguy]

SOF currently beating Barbie bluray dvd sales on Amazon.

 

Pay it Forward strikes again I guess. 

[Human]

It comes to DVD on November 14th (same day as Equalizer 3 and Nun II).  Should win that week.

[interiorgatordecorator]

https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Sound-of-Freedom-(2023)#tab=summary

 

250 million

lets try at least 750 for passion 2

[ChipDerby]

Shocking.

 

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/sound-of-freedom-angel-studios-audience-business-practices-1234928374/

 

Quote

However, according to two filmmaking partners who have worked with Angel, legal experts, and a review of Angel’s public business records, these popular audience engagement strategies may violate financial regulations, and could invite scrutiny from either the Securities and Exchange Commission or the Federal Trade Commission. The precise mechanics of these operations also offer a glimpse into a burgeoning conservative media empire essentially controlled by one Utah family, a collection of companies that a former partner describes as an “octopus.”

 

[titanic2187]

 

“Angel says it spent $6.4 million to market the availability of the free tickets, as well as $1.1 million on third-party fees to facilitate the plan. In all, the number of tickets given away totaled 1,827,634 seats. Harmon said major theater circuits including AMC, Regal and Cinemark had verified the seat stats. “

 

[PlatnumRoyce]

3 hours ago, titanic2187 said:

 

“Angel says it spent $6.4 million to market the availability of the free tickets, as well as $1.1 million on third-party fees to facilitate the plan. In all, the number of tickets given away totaled 1,827,634 seats. Harmon said major theater circuits including AMC, Regal and Cinemark had verified the seat stats. “

 

Quote

105% of the initial commitment.

 

$15 ATP (including fees) is obviously too high for a real ticket average especially given that x% were used in INT markets with significantly lower ATP. 

 

edit: but it appears they folded in PiF marketing (and online fees) so 21.8M in box office + 1.1M in fees + 6.4M in theatrical P&A.

 

So ATP was 11.92(!!!) + .61 cents in fees

Edited March 4 by PlatnumRoyce

[JustLurking]

Oh yeah, I watched this I guess. Felt like a mediocre criminal minds episode for most of it. Not terrible but I was pretty bored.

 

And uh, not sure why so much controversy over it. It's not really worth it.

[PlatnumRoyce]

How do you get to 19M in tax withholdings? From the rare studio film example I've seen it's ~10% INT (so 6-7M here) and functionally nothing domestic. Am I missing something obvious?

Edited March 4 by PlatnumRoyce

[Mojoguy]

1 hour ago, JustLurking said:

Oh yeah, I watched this I guess. Felt like a mediocre criminal minds episode for most of it. Not terrible but I was pretty bored.

 

And uh, not sure why so much controversy over it. It's not really worth it.

Mainly for the pay it forward stuff. I was facepalming so hard as the lead actor was pleading for donations to buy more tickets for others as the credits rolled with a QR code, and I was watching on dvd!

 

It was pure greed plain and simple.

Edited March 5 by Mojoguy

[BoxOfficeFangrl]

3 hours ago, JustLurking said:

Oh yeah, I watched this I guess. Felt like a mediocre criminal minds episode for most of it. Not terrible but I was pretty bored.

 

And uh, not sure why so much controversy over it. It's not really worth it.

The alleged QAnon associations with some of the cast and supporters of the film, plus the Pay It Forward tickets, which detractors considered cheating the box office. Social media posts were made claiming to present sellout shows as supposedly empty, even though theater chains said this wasn't true (last summer the r/movietheateremployees subreddit was also filled with accounts of the...challenges of dealing with SoF fans). There was skepticism that the main guy in real life (Tim Ballard) actually helped/saved as much as he claimed. Then later in the movie's run, he was hit with harassment allegations.

 

 

My feeling was that Angel Studios acquired this generic thriller made in 2018 and saw an opportunity in how they could promote it and to whom, while maintaining plausible deniability with various audiences.

 

Also, I think Pay It Forward isn't cheating but still quite the grift: instead of copying major movie studios that pay Fandango or T-Mobile offering customers "discount codes", Angel just got fans to pony up the discount ticket money themselves. They charged $15 a ticket for Pay It Forward, even when a ticket in that market was way cheaper, and had the faithful convincing themselves it was evangelism!

 

But Angel Studios offers Pay It Forward with all their movies. If they were really cheating the box office so much, wouldn't they always have huge hits? Neither The Shift nor After Death could even cross $15 million.

Edited March 5 by BoxOfficeFangrl

[PlatnumRoyce]

Angel Studios is apparently paying the director (Monteverde) what amounts to $15M to be an in-house director (really director/producer if I read it correctly) for the next decade. 

[Torontofan]

The movie it self didnt have much politics at all I think.

Was a generic thriller about child trafficking done so by a man who was religious.

 

The only time it was direct was the famous line "god's children are not for sale"

 

Which ironically is the most powerful moment in the film.