The box office explosion of the hit film Sound of Freedom is part of a seemingly unlikely, but growing trend: a Hollywood and entertainment shift toward Jesus and Christianity.
Despite data from Pew Research showing the number of U.S. adults who identify with Christianity has declined from 78 percent in 2007 to 63 percent in 2021, the entertainment industry is greenlighting more portrayals of people of faith in a positive light.
“There’s a tremendously powerful movement toward Jesus right now that most people aren’t aware of,” Ted Baehr, the founder of Movieguide, which does movie reviews for Christians, told Newsweek. “The nature of man is to be hostile to Christianity and to salvation. But there’s more and more people in Hollywood moving in the other direction.”
While some members of the church are open in their view that Christians should avoid entertainment, directors and producers are making more religious-themed content, expanding Christianity’s footprint in a world dominated by secularism.
Movieguide found that over a 20-year period, there has been a 194 percent spike in the number of movies produced with strong Christian, redemptive content. The organization also reviewed studies showing that box office totals for such movies soared from $208.63 million to nearly $5.35 billion.
Sound of Freedom has blown out box office receipts, having generated nearly $125 million in revenue since its July 4 launch. The faith-based movie is now the 16th highest grossing North American release of the year, and is expected to pass blockbusters Scream IV and The Flash in sales.
The film’s distributor has now announced the first round of international release dates, which could pave the way for the movie to multiply its success in the global market.
“Sound of Freedom is breaking theatrical records as it continues to dominate the US box office,” Angel Studios, the movie’s distribution company, said in a press release. “The film is the only film in history to achieve a second-week jump greater than 35% during the summer blockbuster season, and is now the top grossing independent film since the pandemic.”
Multiple other major studios, including MGM, 21st Century Fox, and Sony Pictures, are preparing to roll out Christian-themed content by launching their own faith-based studios, Newsweek reported. Also, legendary director Martin Scorsese is developing a new film about Jesus, while Netflix says it is planning to bring more faith-based content to its streaming platform.
“It’s a phenomenon. Jesus Revolution 2.0 could be happening,” 70-year-old pastor Greg Laurie of the Harvest Christian Fellowship, a group of Baptist evangelical churches based in Southern California, told Newsweek. “This is a moment in time when pop culture really needs Jesus.”
