Sound of Freedom, the religious, “QAnon adjacent” child-smuggling film that has enthralled conservatives across the US, passed the $100m mark in ticket sales on Thursday.

But as the movie continues to cause controversy – with its star touring conservative media to peddle conspiracy theories about unnamed persons harvesting chemicals from children’s blood and anti-trafficking experts criticizing the film’s entire premise – questions are also being asked about who is actually watching it and whether that many people are watching it at all.

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.

Whether people are watching or not, Sound of Freedom is soaring in financial terms. On Thursday, it became the 16th highest grossing North American movie of the year.

Much of the interest appears to be driven by the right wing, including adherents of QAnon – the conspiracy theory which alleges a cabal of Democrats, Hollywood celebrities and financiers control the world, while engaging in a mass pedophilia ring.

It has helped that the film’s star, Jim Caviezel, appears to be one of those QAnon believers.

Caviezel, who is best known for playing Jesus Christ in the Mel Gibson-directed The Passion of the Christ, has repeatedly claimed that children’s blood is being harvested for the hormone “adrenochrome”, which is then used by unnamed persons in an anti-ageing effort.

In 2021, Caviezel pushed aspects of the QAnon conspiracy theory at a rightwing convention alongside L Lin Wood, a prominent QAnon believer and lawyer who worked to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

The film itself is extremely loosely based on the work of Tim Ballard, a high-profile anti-trafficking organization founder who has made dubious claims of his own.

Within days of its release, Sound of Freedom was claimed by the right wing, including some noted conspiracy theorists and Donald Trump. This week, the former president screened the film at the Trump National Golf Club, where Trump spends much of his summer living in a cottage next to the golf course’s swimming pool.

“Sound of Freedom has been a national sensation and a colossal success at the box office, really big numbers, everyone should see it,” Trump said in an email to supporters.

“This is a very important film and very important movie and it’s a very important documentary all wrapped up in one. It’s really about an issue that has to be discussed.”

Caviezel, who appeared at the screening, subsequently told Fox News that Trump was “the new Moses”, and must be re-elected.

Despite the rightwing acclaim, anti-trafficking experts have not been on board. Teresa Huizar, CEO of the National Children’s Alliance, told Rolling Stone that it was unhelpful and inaccurate to portray the trafficking of children as the snatching up of minors from public places – as Sound of Freedom does.

Instead, the majority of child victims know their traffickers, Huizar said: “In a lot of these cases, the trafficker starts out calling themselves their boyfriend or girlfriend.

“We want to believe that people trafficking children are unknown, nefarious strangers,” Huizar told Rolling Stone. “[It] makes people uncomfortable to think some of these things happen in their own communities, in their own schools, with people they might run into at the grocery store.”

Speaking to ScreenRant, Jean Bruggeman, Freedom Network USA’s executive director, agreed.

“Young people end up in trafficking situations because their family is in incredible poverty, because of political unrest, because the child is being rejected by their family for their sexual orientation or gender identity,” Bruggerman said.

At the Times Square theater, few of the audience seemed to be aware of the storm behind Sound of Freedom.

Most of the people the Guardian spoke to said they were moved by the film.

Richie Torres, a video producer from Queens, said he had been drawn to the movie due to his Colombian roots – Sound of Freedom was shot in the South American country.

“The scenes where they take these little girls … you don’t want to think about that,” Torres said. “It is very emotional.”

A man called Gedion – he declined to give his last name – was similarly moved.

“I have lots of emotions,” he said after the film drew to a close.

“I knew what it was about coming in, but I wanted to experience it. It’s a really strong movie. I hope they make more movies about that.”