They’ve got a theory.
Several moviegoers have claimed that movie theaters are intentionally sabotaging showings of the controversial film “Sound of Freedom” by either forgetting to dim the lights, or in at least one case, turning off the air conditioning in the theater.
The word-of-mouth smash hit, which shocked Hollywood by beating the new “Indiana Jones” flick at the box office, tells the real-life story of anti-child-trafficking campaigner and former Homeland Security agent Tim Ballard (played by Jim Caviezel) as he attempts to set up an organization known as Operation Underground Railroad.
The accusations of experience tampering come on the heels of the film being criticized for promoting pro-QAnon conspiracy theories. Caviezel, 54, is said to have regularly repeated such falsehoods.
Since the film opened July 4, several patrons of AMC Theatres and Regal Cinemas have complained on social media that they have been forced to evacuate theaters due to unforeseen circumstances.
The Post reached out to AMC for comment.
One TikTok user who saw the film opening day claimed the theatrical experience was “uncomfortable.”
On a post with over 900,000 views, Ohio rapper Jamskillet — born Jacob Matthews — told his followers that when he saw the film with his girlfriend, “there was no AC running” and it “was unbearably hot.”
Matthews, 30, said that he sought out an AMC employee and asked to have the AC restored — only for the worker to reply that it wasn’t working.
The rapper also claimed that when he went to purchase tickets, the entire theater was almost booked but when he arrived it was just him, his partner and “maybe eight other people in the whole theatre.”
“I didn’t think anything of this until I got on TikTok a few days later, and come to find out that hundreds of other people are experiencing the same thing,” he added. “So AMC and Regal, the people who own it, are not running AC and they’re making it hard to get tickets.”
Another user posted a video of an employee offering attendees “free passes to come back and see [the movie] again, hopefully without interruption” after the lights failed to dim.
The employee then said that they “apologize for the inconvenience. But we’re getting it hopefully looked at later in the week.”
“Really,” commented the person filming the video, which has accumulated 7 million views.
“This is called intentional,” said a bearded man near the camera. “They don’t want it to go to the box office gross. Don’t take the money.”
The camera then pans up to the lights which flicker as the movie continues to play on-screen.
Adam Aron, CEO of AMC Theatres, called out the accusers on Twitter — throwing water on the idea that the movie giant was “suppressing” the film.
“Really bizarre FUD [fear, uncertainty and doubt] floating around Twitter that we are suppressing attendance for Sound of Freedom,” tweeted Aron. “Yesterday we showed that movie 3,000 times at our 570 U.S. theatres and more than 100,000 people watched it @AMCTheatres. Misinformation on Twitter is astonishing. Bots? Haters?”
Aron followed up the tweet last week, claiming that 1 million people had now seen the film at an AMC theater.
“Sadly, conspiracy theorists are so prevalent in America. So much garbage information is spread,” read the tweet. “More than ONE MILLION people have watched Sound of Freedom at AMC Theatres. More than at any other theatre chain on the planet. Yet people falsely claim otherwise. It is so bizarre.”
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