The film The Sound of Freedom has emerged as a box office hit, securing the number two spot over the weekend and earning $27.3 million from Friday to Sunday, with a total of over $85 million since its release on July 4, as reported by Box Office Mojo. 

For scale, this weekend performance comes after the seventh installment of the “Mission: Impossible” franchise which earned $56.2 million.

Seats all sold out … but no one’s watching?

But…and of course, there’s a but — the film has attracted criticism for its connections to the controversial QAnon conspiracy theory. And an interesting story suggests the whole box office success is a conspiracy. 

Twitter user @CyKoore shared that in his local cinema, the film has been sold out in seven out of its nine timeslots, except only seven people showed up to watch the movie across all nine screenings.

@CyKoore points to the film’s ‘Pay It Forward’ campaign where people can “pay it forward” by buying tickets for other people to claim. The Twitter user shared a screencap that shows almost 5 million tickets have so far been bought for the campaign. 

And the plot thickens with an odd pattern in seat choice. A screenshot of a Saturday screening shows that while many of the seats have been taken, it’s the seats in the front row and the sides that were actually sold — the same seats normally last to go because they just don’t give you an optimal viewing experience.

It’s the good seats — the center seats from the third row to the third to the last row — that were still strangely available. And according to the Daily Dot, this pattern holds for seats in screenings into this week. 

The Twitter sleuth also reviewed the film’s audience reviews on Rotten Tomatoes (where it has earned a 100% audience rating, and a 72% critics’ rating) and inferred that “the first 300 individuals I looked at giving it a max score,” with “only two of the reviews have any mention of specific content in the movie, the rest are faux inspiration comments.”

So many conspiracies

In the movie, Jim Caviezel as Tim Ballard, a former Homeland Security agent and founder of Operation Underground Railroad (OUR). The film plot centers on his heroic efforts to rescue child sex trafficking victims through daring sting operations. 

A Vice investigation has highlighted the possible exaggeration of OUR’s role in sex trafficking rescues, leading multiple law enforcement agencies to deem their work as “insubstantial.” Both Ballard and Caviezel have been linked to QAnon conspiracy theories. Ballard’s past support for the debunked theory about Wayfair selling children and Caviezel’s appearances at QAnon events promoting the bizarre adrenochrome theory have raised concerns. 

For the uninitiated, the adrenochrome theory is the claim that these child traffickers drain the victims’ blood to create adrenochrome — the QAnon version of the fountain of life, or what they say is a chemical that Hollywood and government elites inject to keep themselves looking young. QAnon is based on the belief that a group of Satan-worshipping elites control the world and are involved in a global child trafficking ring. 

While the distributor, Angel Studios, has denied any connections to conspiracy theories, emphasizing that the film is not about politics, right-wing personalities have enthusiastically embraced the movie. Jordan Peterson and Ben Shapiro have both interviewed Ballard and Caviezel on their YouTube channels, with Ballard telling Peterson that they condemn the majority of conspiracy theories, but he did confirm his belief in the adrenochrome blood harvesting theory.

Former president and known QAnon conspiracy theories super-spreader Donald Trump has also shared a trailer on his Twitter clone, Truth Social. 

Earlier in its theater run, fans claimed that AMC theaters are sabotaging screenings of “The Sound of Freedom.” Viral social media posts claim that AMC has interfered with screenings by shutting off air conditioning, evacuating theaters, or refunding tickets. 

AMC CEO Adam Aron has denied these allegations, calling them conspiracy theories.

Sound of Freedom will be showing in theaters until Thursday.

Information for this story was found via CNN, Forbes, The Daily Dot, The New York Times, Twitter, and the sources and companies mentioned. The author has no securities or affiliations related to the organizations discussed. Not a recommendation to buy or sell. Always do additional research and consult a professional before purchasing a security. The author holds no licenses.