Unlikely blockbuster 'The Sound of Freedom' repays crowdfunding investors

The Sound of Freedom, the child trafficking drama that's the summer's most unlikely blockbuster, beating the domestic hauls of $200-million-plus movies like Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning and the fifth Indiana Jones film, has made a profit for its crowdfunding investors, too.

To date, the Jim Caviezel-starring thriller that was produced by Angel Studios has made roughly $173 million on a production budget of around $14.5 million, and unlike the usual summer fare, relied on a word-of-mouth campaign to drive the movie's business, instead of a hundred million dollar marketing budget.

Caviezel plays real-life former government agent Tim Ballard in the film, who quit his job busting child pornographers to take on his own mission of rescuing a little girl from sex traffickers in the Colombian jungle. He saved 123 people, including 55 kids, in the process.

Crowdfunding both paid for the movie and its marketing, with 6,678 people invested to support the P&A [Prints & Advertising] costs for the film. Angel reported Wednesday, August 16, that these investors are being paid back $1.20 for every dollar they tossed in to get the movie into theaters.

"[W]e are thrilled to be able to get funds back to them in three months," said Neal Harmon, CEO of Angel Studios, in the announcement. "The Angel Guild is key to our theatrical strategy and paying out as quickly as possible is always our first priority."

The announcement comes ahead of the movie's first international roll-out: The Sound of Freedom will be launching in 21 countries before September 1, moving toward a global goal of 75.