Some films never get a fair hearing. They get canceled before the opening weekend, buried by a media blackout, boycotted by audiences who never saw them, or literally banned in foreign markets. Others get attacked by the very audiences they were made to please.
VirtueVigil scored all ten. We do not factor in controversy, cultural politics, or who called for a boycott. We score what is actually on screen: the density of progressive messaging, the presence of traditional values, and the verdict that results. Some of the most controversial films of recent years turn out to be exactly as woke as their critics charged. Others surprise you. Either way, the data is here.
Related: Most Woke Movies of 2024, Best Conservative Movies, Woke Movies That Flopped.
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1
Sound of Freedom (2023)
STRONGLY TRADITIONAL +26.6 TRADAmazon Studios shelved it. Mainstream critics called it a conspiracy film. The media largely refused to review it. Angel Studios self-distributed it anyway and Sound of Freedom became one of the biggest surprises of 2023, outgrossing Indiana Jones on its opening weekend. Our score: STRONGLY TRADITIONAL, +26.6 margin. The film depicts child trafficking as a real and horrific crime, centers a father's faith and determination, and delivers a clear moral framework with good and evil defined. The controversy was not about what was in the film. It was about who made it and who it was made for.
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2
Am I Racist? (2024)
STRONGLY TRADITIONAL +30.1 TRADMatt Walsh's documentary was blacked out by nearly every major media outlet. Zero reviews from mainstream critics. No theatrical presence in blue-leaning markets. It was effectively canceled by omission: if you do not talk about it, it does not exist. It grossed $11 million in its opening weekend without a single mainstream review. VirtueVigil's score: STRONGLY TRADITIONAL, +30.1 margin. The film skewers DEI orthodoxy through ambush interviews and refuses to let its subjects off the hook. Whether you find it funny or infuriating depends entirely on which side of the debate you are on. That the debate was not allowed to happen is the story.
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3
Barbie (2023)
STRONGLY WOKE -32 WOKEConservative boycott calls arrived before opening weekend. Senators complained. Talk radio raged. None of it mattered: Barbie grossed $1.4 billion, the biggest film of 2023. But the boycott was not wrong about the content. VirtueVigil scored it STRONGLY WOKE with a -32 margin. The film is an extended feminist deconstruction of patriarchy delivered inside a pink candy-colored package explicitly designed to appeal to girls and their mothers. The boycott was right about the content. It was simply not powerful enough to matter commercially.
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4
Mulan (2020)
WOKE LEAN -3.1 WOKEWhen lead actress Liu Yifei publicly backed Hong Kong police during the 2019 pro-democracy protests, the hashtag BoycottMulan exploded globally. When the credits rolled and audiences saw Disney had filmed in Xinjiang and thanked provincial propaganda departments, the boycott intensified. The film bombed at $69.9 million against a reported $200 million budget. Our score is a modest WOKE LEAN at -3.1, because the film genuinely preserves filial piety and military honor. The woke content is real but not the primary reason the film failed. The Xinjiang credits were the story. No ideology score captures that.
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5
Eternals (2021)
WOKE -13.8 WOKEMarvel's most divisive film earned the franchise's worst Rotten Tomatoes score (47%) and was literally banned in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, and other countries for including the MCU's first openly gay superhero with a same-sex kiss and a domestic life with a husband and son. China also delayed its release over content concerns. Our score: WOKE, -13.8 margin. The film systematically changed nearly every character from the comics to maximize representation checkboxes. The diversity is not incidental. It is the design principle. The countries that banned it read the film correctly.
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6
Conclave (2024)
STRONGLY WOKE -38.8 WOKECatholic advocacy groups called for Conclave to be boycotted and pulled from theaters. They argued the film misrepresented Church doctrine, presented a fraudulent vision of the papal election process, and ended with a twist designed to humiliate Catholic tradition. They were right about the twist. VirtueVigil scored Conclave STRONGLY WOKE, with a -38.8 margin. The film is a sustained intellectual case for progressive reform of the Catholic Church, delivered as a thriller, culminating in a reveal that the new Pope is intersex. The craft is exceptional. The agenda is equally exceptional.
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7
Heretic (2024)
STRONGLY WOKE -27 WOKEChristian groups called for Heretic to be pulled from theaters after trailers made clear it was an extended intellectual assault on Christianity. A24 did not pull it. Critics gave it 96% on Rotten Tomatoes. Audiences were more skeptical: CinemaScore C+. Our score: STRONGLY WOKE, -27 margin. Hugh Grant delivers extended anti-religion monologues while two Mormon missionaries stand largely silent and outmatched. The villain is eventually exposed as a monster, but the film spends 90 minutes validating his theological arguments before attempting a third-act pivot. It earned its controversy.
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8
Emilia Perez (2024)
STRONGLY WOKE -22 WOKEThe cancellation campaign for Emilia Perez came from the left, not the right. Old social media posts from lead actress Karla Sofia Gascon surfaced containing racist content, prompting calls to strip her Oscar nomination. GLAAD simultaneously criticized the film for shallow trans representation. Mexican audiences and critics rejected it as cultural appropriation by a French director who does not speak Spanish. The film still won two Oscars. VirtueVigil scored it STRONGLY WOKE at -22, centering transgender identity as its core narrative engine with transition framed as liberation and moral rebirth. It managed to get attacked on all sides and still win the Academy's highest prizes.
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9
Immaculate (2024)
STRONGLY WOKE -21 WOKECatholic groups and pro-life advocates called for Immaculate to be boycotted for its central premise: a nun is impregnated without consent at an Italian convent and the film uses the horror genre to argue for bodily autonomy and reproductive rights. Sydney Sweeney spent years developing the film specifically to deliver this message. The ending involves her destroying the convent rather than accepting her assigned role. VirtueVigil scored it STRONGLY WOKE at -21. The boycott callers read the film correctly. Audiences who showed up anyway generally got what they came for.
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10
Snow White (2025)
WOKE LEAN -5 WOKEThe boycott of Snow White 2025 began in pre-production when lead actress Rachel Zegler publicly criticized the 1937 original in interviews, dismissing the romance as outdated. The film bombed spectacularly at $206 million worldwide against a $270 million budget. VirtueVigil scored it WOKE LEAN at -5: a modest margin that reflects how the film preserved some traditional elements including true love's kiss and the queen's vanity as vice. The boycott was about cultural contempt for the source material more than ideological content. On the content itself, our score is closer to the middle than the controversy suggested.
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The Verdict
What the controversy never tells you is what is actually in the film. The most canceled movie on this list, Sound of Freedom, turns out to be one of the most traditionally scored films in our entire database. The most boycotted franchise entry, Eternals, earned its controversy honestly. Barbie is precisely as ideological as its critics charged. Snow White is more complicated than either side admitted. That is what VirtueVigil exists to do: cut through the noise and score what is on screen. Browse our full review library at virtuevigil.com/reviews/, or explore our complete curated lists.