As Sound of Freedom continues to expand in markets worldwide, hitting $210M in gross sales since its July 4 domestic release, film producer Eduardo Verástegui has announced the filed paperwork to run in Mexico’s 2024 Presidential race. According to the Guardian:
Verástegui, 49, is a familiar face in Mexico, where he was a pop star and soap opera actor for many years. More recently, he has become an ultra-conservative activist, campaigning against abortion and conducting prayers on social media, where he has millions of followers.
He hinted at a presidential run for months, posting a video where he called on his followers to build “the Mexican dream” and riding on the surprise success of the independent feature film Sound of Freedom.
Despite his name recognition, aided by the film topping the box office in Latin America, Verástegui is considered a long-shot candidate and needs to acquire signatures from 1% of voters spread across 17 states by January to get on the ballot- around 1 million signatures.
The Sound of Freedom was originally filmed in 2018 for $14.5M, it sat unreleased for years until Angel Studios picked it up and distributed it, using a blend of faith-based marketing and encouraging fans to ‘pay it forward’ by buying multiple tickets to give away to others to watch. The film has a 68% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 99% audience score based on over 10,000 verified reviews.
Starring Jim Caviezel, the film is “based upon the true story of former government agent Tim Ballard who quit his job to rescue a little girl from sex traffickers in the Colombian jungle. In the process, Tim saved 123 people, 55 children, from one mission alone.”
Notably, it has outperformed many other tentpole studio films, grossing more domestically than Fast X, whose $340 budget film is nearly 25 times larger, as well as Disney’s Elemental and The Flash. It is expected to pass Creed 3, Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning, and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny this weekend or early next week, putting it in the Top 10 grossing films of the year.
