Among the self-proclaimed heroes who went to a movie theater Christmas Day and "defended" their right to freedom of speech by seeing Seth Rogen-James Franco comedy The Interview were a ragtag group in an Austin Alamo Drafthouse that sang Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the USA" at their screening.

Similar moments of pre-movie singing were reported in an Atlanta theater as well. This is the incredible, irony-free lede from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's story: "The movie, and the singing, served as a statement from many theatergoers that a foreign power would not dictate what forms of entertainment Americans could or could not enjoy."

The Sony flick grossed about $1 million across 300 participating theaters, mostly independent cinemas like the Drafthouse; the major movie chains (AMC, Regal) boycott screening the film in protest of Sony making The Interview available on demand on Christmas Eve. Variety reports 17 Alamo Drafthouse locations sold out of all their showings of the film yesterday.

"We put forth a petition, which we passed on to Sony, that says, 'Listen, there are a lot of theaters that really want to do this and want to support freedom of speech and here we are,'" Alamo Drafthouse founder Time League told KTBC. "It's more than watching silly Seth Rogen buddy comedy. Today it's really, in a small way, it is sort of an act of patriotism to come and watch this movie this week."

Sort of an act of patriotism.