and movies getting  banned from being screened

Angel Studios, the film’s distributor, set up a controversial “pay it forward” scheme for Sound of Freedom. There’s a message at the end of the film and a prominent link on the studio’s website urging viewers to buy an extra ticket “for someone who would not otherwise be able to see the film”.

It has clearly been working. On 4 July, the day of the film’s release, nearly 20% of its sales came from people who bought those extra tickets, IndieWire reported. But there are growing suggestions that a lot of those extra tickets aren’t actually being used: that the sales figures might be over-inflating Sound of Freedom’s significance.

In a theater located in New York City’s Times Square on Thursday afternoon, there seemed to be evidence of this.

According to Fandango, all but 28 seats had been sold for the 3pm screening of Sound of Freedom. As the lights dimmed, however, the Guardian counted 45 vacant seats dotted around the half-empty theater. Minutes before the 6.30pm screening, Fandango showed that only two seats were still available. Again, there were more than two vacant spots as the film began.

The Daily Dot has also reported on suspicious sales of Sound of Freedom tickets in a theater in Vancouver, while others have shared videos on social media showing swathes of empty seats in supposedly sold-out theaters.