Sound of Freedom beats out Taylor Swift’s ‘Eras Tour’ film for top 10 highest-grossing films of 2023 in US

Sound of Freedom took tenth place, raking in over $184 million domestically between its July 4 release and the end of the year, according to Box Office Mojo. This beat out 11th place finisher Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour by around $5 million. Taking the top spot for the year was the Barbie movie, bringing in over $636 million.

Despite being a smaller budget, smaller studio film that faced mainstream media backlash, has become one of the highest-grossing independent films of all time.

Outlets such as Jezebel, Guardian, the Washington Post, and Rolling stone claimed that the film was filled with QAnon conspiracy theories, with the Washington Post noting that the film has been "promoted on QAnon message boards" and plays into the theory that "global elites are kidnapping children, having sex with them and harvesting their blood."

Critics have given the movie bad ratings, with the movie scoring a 57 percent on Rotten Tomatoes among critics, while audiences, who had a hand in the movie’s promotion, gave the film a 99 percent.

The film followed the real life story of Tim Ballard, who worked for the CIA and the Department of Homeland Security before forming the organization, Operation Underground Railroad (OUR), to combat child sex trafficking.

The film stars Jim Caviezel, who plays Ballard as he embarks on a mission to rescue children from sex trafficking in Colombia.